A major half marathon event with 16,000 entries with runners starting and finishing in the Madejski Stadium - home of premiership Reading Royals and London Irish.

More information about the event can be found on the official race web-site

Pancreatic Cancer UK was one of the Official Charities in 2009. This was in recognition of our provision of an excellent team of marshals most years since 2004.

We have raised over £30,000 so far from the event.

Thank you to all our sponsors, supporters, runners and marshalls for such a fantastic result.

Runners in 2009 included survivor Trace Allen and his wife Joy, Irena Amber who also lost her father to pancreatic cancer and her friend Francesca Liparoti, Martin Lau who lost his father to pc 11 years ago and will be running in a suit, Fiona Craig whose best friend died of pancreatic cancer last year at only 26, Jason McNaboe who lost his father to pancreatic cancer in June 2008, Jon Cassin who lost a family friend to the disease Burnham's Jogging Jon to tackle half marathon in friend's memory , Burnham-On-Sea runner is ready for marathon fundraising effort, Trucker Jon clocks up the miles - on foot! , Liz Eagling-Vose whose father in law died 3 years ago from this disease , philippa christophersen who recently lost her uncle to pancreatic cancer , Jason Blow whose close work collegue had this cancer recently and Michael Lister whose uncle died of pancreatic cancer late last year. Also Rob Davis, Phil Giles, Catherine & George Harris-Hughes, Simon Eden, Paul Greenfield, Ian Stephens, Andrew Johnson, Chris Corse, Ben Johnson, Joanne Santa Maria (lost her father to pc a few years ago), Ben Clark and Diana and Steph Langford, Busta and Mark Waters, Jo Hoare whose uncle died 25 years ago from pancreatic cancer, Jonathan and Sue Allen Sue's Grandad died of pancreatic cancer about 18 months ago (he was in his late 90s though!), and one of their friends called Ian Barber (who ran with them) lost his mum to Pancreatic Cancer about a month before the race , Will Bouma (family member recently diagnosed), Peter Tozer, Rye Harding, Michael Heffernan, James McLauglin, Emma Neilson who lost her mother-in-law to pancreatic cancer, Mark Waters and Maria Muscat from Malta whose mother has pancreatic cancer are running for PCUK.

Rebecca, Nina and Kimberley Sampson are doing the Green Park Challenge.

Times were: Ben Clark 1:28:32, Maria Muscat 1:29:48, Jon Cassin 1:31:02, Rob Davis 1:33:35, Ian Stephens 1:36:33, Chris Corse 1:36:34, Emma Neilson 1:45:18, Paul Greenfield 1:45:24, Jason Mcnaboe 1:50:05, Diana Langford 1:50:18, James McLaughlin 1hr 50:34, Catherine Harris-Hughes 1:54:55, George Harris-Hughes 1:54:56, Joy Allen 1hr 55:09, Trace Allen 1hr 55:10, Martin Lau 1hr 55:49, Simon Eden 1hr 56:46, Irena Amber 1hr 58:32, Michael Lister 2:01:22, Michael Heffernan 2:01:41, Christina Weisz 2:02:46, Peter Tozer 2hr 03:31, Rye Harding 2:04:20, Steph Langford 2:04:40, Ben Johnson 2:06:40, Andrew Johnson 2:09:23, Jason Blow 2:14:29, Francesca Liparoti 2:15:48, Suzanne Allen 2:18:13, Jonathan Allen 2:18:19, Fiona Craig 2:20:29, Joanne Santa Maria 2:25:38, Philippa Christophersen 2:27:29, Joanne Hoare 2:32:50, Mark Waters 2:35:45, Will Bouma 2:41:50, Phil Giles 3hr 15min

The early arrivals. Trace Allen had to get to an interview with Radio Berkshire at 9.20am

the slightly later arrivals

The Sampsons who ran the Green Park Challenge, Peter Tozer from the Daily Mail Sports desk with Martin Lau from the London Stock Exchange who ran in his business suit without training (although he does do triathlons) and Irena Amber (who raised a fantastic £8000 plus gift aid) and Joy Allen after the race. Irena was interviewed by Meridian TV after the race.

Sue and Jon Allen with friends Julie, Ian and Steve.

Irena Amber and Phil Giles after the race. Phil had injured his calf and despite having no connection with pancreatic cancer (originally although recently knows someone who has been diagnosed with the disease) was so keen to support the cause that he walked the 13.1 miles (with a run at the end) carrying a bucket to collect from the crowds - this weighed 9kg by the end and came to £127.97 - he did this in 3hrs 15mins


The very early arrivals - the marshals in men's kit tent 1-6500 who had to be there for 7.15am. Graham Fuller who helped last year and then ran Henley half marathon later in the year said the half marathon was easier than the marshalling where you have a rush at the start (all the elite runners leave it to 9.30 to drop their kit) and after the finish where the elite runners are the first back. You have an hours break after the race starts to sort the bags into numerical order, get a hot drink and snack before the rush after the finish.

John Copley from Reading, who lost his father to pancreatic cancer last year, raised over £3000. Unfortunately he suffered a head injury the weekend before the race and was then struck down with acute gastroenteritis so had to withdraw. He said “This meant so much to me. I am devastated that I couldn’t do this as it’s for Dad and Reading is my home town." However he was determined to run later and took part in the Hereford half Marathon on 17th May 2009. He said "Just to let you know that I finally managed to run the half marathon in Hereford today. The torrential rain actually cleared for a couple of hours so it was a good run, very hilly and I managed to do it in 1 hour and 48 minutes. I am really pleased as my goal was to come in under 2 hours and I raised £3140 which is much more than the £2000 target."

2008 was the first year we were selected as one of the local supported charities in recognition of all the work undertaken by our supporters and the Millenium Volunteers working in the baggage tents each year.

Chris Sumner, race organiser from Sweatshop said "We are pleased to announce we will be supporting two new local charities in 2008, The Duchess of Kent House Trust and Pancreatic Cancer UK. We would like to thank these charities for the support that they have given to the event since we took over the organization in 2002." Sue Ballard of Pancreatic Cancer UK said " Pancreatic Cancer UK, a national charity based in Reading, has worked with the organizers of the Reading Half Marathon over the past few years providing teams of marshals in the baggage tents. We have been very ably supported in this task by the Berkshire Millennium Volunteers. These are local 16-24year olds who give up their spare time to help in the local community. Pancreatic Cancer UK is delighted to have been chosen as one of the official charities for 2008. There is also a sad connection as Chris Brasher, Olympic gold medalist and the founder of Sweatshop who organise the event , died of pancreatic cancer in 2003."

We had over 35 marshals and a large team of runners

See full report on web-page on 2008 Reading Half Marathon

Reading Half Marathon 2007 25th March 2007 Green Park to Madejski Stadium via Oracle and Reading University Some of our runners and marshals Reading Half Marathon 2006 9th April 2006 Green Park to Madejski Stadium via Oracle and Reading University sponsor the team. They raised £14,000 The Sweatshop took over the running of Reading Half Marathon in 2003. That year its founder and the founder of the London Marathon, Chris Brasher, died from pancreatic cancer. Hugh Brasher, Managing Director of Sweatshop said "The vital need of pancreatic cancer patients and their families for support and more effective diagnosis and treatments is dear to my heart as my father Chris died from pancreatic cancer in 2003. It is fantastic to finally see a national charity dedicated to helping current as well as future patients. I wish all the Pancreatic Cancer UK runners success on 9th April." Pancreatic Cancer UK had 36 runners and 19 marshals so there was a good purple presence at Reading Half Marathon. We even had extra unexpected runners from Joy and Trace Allen's running clubs so thank you to them all for their support with especial mention to Katherine and Stephen Ind and apologies to any we missed. Photo shows from back left to right: Martin Haley, Arj Shankar, Adrian Tomkins, Harriet Kemp, Ian Kemp, Graham Robinson, Andy Ciecierski, Les Niewiara, Gary Langridge, front left to right: Markus and Joy Allen, Jenny Gray, Rosa and Immi Niewiara and Sue Davison. It proved impossible to get everyone together at once although at one stage we did have John Walters, the Lygo family and Darren James with us. Thank you also to the Millenium Volunteers and Pancreatic Cancer UK supporters who joined our team of marshals. Photo shows some of the Pancreatic Cancer UK marshals in the Madejski stadium at 7.30am waiting for instructions. They worked all morning in the kit tent looking after the baggage of half the runners (1-7000). The runners finished in front of a crowd in the stadium. There were around 13,000 runners in total entered in this major event and just under 9000 finished as Reading is one of the top UK half marathons. There were elite international runners and wheelchair athletes. The winner finished in 1hr 5mins. Reading Royals chairman John Madejski also ran the half marathon to celebrate Reading's promotion to the premiership! See full report on web-page on 2006 Reading Half Marathon