I’m working on the definitive list of wheelchair half marathons I’m going to take part in next year (2023) in aid of nia. This is more difficult than you might expect; it’s obvious that not all half marathons are suitable for wheelchair users, but some of the reasons might not have occurred to you.

• Terrain. An obvious one, this. Hills are hard. My first half marathon was the Sheffield one. The first half is uphill at a 45 degree angle for about a month and a half, then the second half is back down again, which takes about four minutes but will result in casualties. Some – but not all – half marathon websites have a terrain map. They are useful, especially considering how much disabilities vary. I’m looking for routes that don’t have very long, steep uphill sections not because I can’t manage them (I can) but because they’re a bit slow and miserable.
• Surface. This one is more complicated than it seems. The main distinction between surfaces for half marathons is “trail” vs “road”. For most wheelchair users, trails are probably out. Even with off-road wheels, there’s no telling whether the route is going to be muddy or bumpy sandy or otherwise very hard (or imposible) to take a wheelchair down. Besides, I can’t say I’d fancy doing a half marathon with my off-road wheels on. They’re heavy and there’s a lot of surface area on the ground. But even if the surface is “road”, it might not be very suitable for wheelchairs. There might be potholes, seriously dodgy cambers, kerbs and so on. So I need to focus on routes that are in city centres, where I can be sure that the roads will be suitable.
• Size. With smaller half-marathons, the roads can begin to open fairly quickly after the start time. In the case of the Sheffield one, this was a problem since the first half was very slow for me (punishingly uphill all the way). I was constantly worried that they wanted to open up the roads and I wouldn’t be able to finish. I really didn’t need that anxiety on top of everything else. So I want to stick to the larger events, such as the Great North Run, where I can be sure of getting round the course before they start to open the roads.

There are other factors, of course, to do with getting to and from the event because travel is always more difficult in a wheelchair. And if I’m staying in a hotel overnight, getting from there to the race start can be tricky because of the closed roads. That’s true for everyone, of course, but sometimes the wheelchair accessible route will turn out to be a lot longer than expected.

So having taken all this into account, here are my targets for next year. This might be subject to change. Some events, such as the Great North Run, allocate places on a lottery basis, so I might not get a place. And I might add some more just for the hell of it. Any suggestions?

• The Great North Run
• The Great Birmingham Run
• The Great Manchester Run
• The Great Scottish Run
• Leeds Half Marathon
• Derby Half Marathon

Perhaps I’ll see you there!

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