Half marathon saved by Hawks

THE Henley half marathon will take place this year after the town’s rugby club came forward to help organise it.

Henley Rugby Club has struck a deal with a running events company to take over the event, which has been going for almost 40 years.

It hopes to introduce a family fun run and 5km route alongside the existing 10km and half marathon in a bid to attract more people to take part.

Last month, Henley’s two Rotary clubs announced that they couldn’t run the event any more because of the the increasing age of their members and a decline in the number of participants.

The main race, which has been held almost every autumn since 1983, had lost hundreds of entrants in recent years to rival events.

Hawks chairman Chris Nixon said: “Like everyone else, we picked up the news from the Standard about how the marathon could vanish. It is a great event and it would be a shame to let a community asset such as this disappear. I understood the reasons why the Rotary clubs wanted to step away and we waited 10 days or so to see if anyone would come forward to help run it as we didn’t want to step on anyone’s toes. When this didn’t happen, we made contact to understand more about the practicalities involved in running it.”

Mr Nixon brought in Craig Thornton, of AAT Events, to help.

He said: “Craig organises half marathons and other runs and it became clear that we could get the logistics sorted so we have gone into partnership.”

The deal has the approval of the Rotary clubs, half marathon founder Tony Hobbs and Swiss Farm owner Joseph Borlase whose land next to the club is used for the start and finish of the races.

Meetings with potential sponsors and other stakeholders, such as the town council, are due to take place shortly.

Mr Nixon said it was hoped to replicate the existing event with the same route that runners knew and loved. He said: “We don’t want it to change much except, perhaps, encouraging more youngsters to take part, which may include introducing a fun run.

“At the rugby club we have worked very hard over the last five years to become a hub for the community because that is what we are all about and organising the half marathon dovetails with that. It is not just about the rugby, it is also about the community.

“That is why we have the Henley Cycling Club based here now as well as Henley Hawks netball and we are keen to encourage the community to use our facilities.”

This year’s race will take place on Sunday, October 9, and will start and finish in Borlase Field, off Marlow Road.

The main race follows a route over Henley Bridge, along Remenham Lane to the Flower Pot pub at Aston, back along the towpath and over the bridge. Runners then go along Marlow Road, up Icehouse Lane to Fawley, down Fawley Hill and then back to the start via the Fair Mile.

Mr Thornton, 38, from Marlow, set up AAT Events in 2012 and now organises 150 events nationwide.

He said: “We do lots of events in the local area and we look to rejuvenate events that maybe would have ceased to continue without our input.

“With the Henley event we are looking to widen the scope of it by adding a fun run and maybe a 5km to make it more inclusive.

“The hope is that people would do the fun run with their young children and then maybe the children would then do the 5km, the 10km and then the half marathon itself in future. This will hopefully give the event more longevity.”

Mr Thornton said his company would look after essentials such as licences, road closures and marketing and he pledged to give some of the profits from the event to local good causes.

Rotarian Peter Thomson, chairman of the half marathon committee, said: “We are delighted that the Hawks are going to take it over and we would be happy to collaborate with them and help as much as we can.

“It was regrettable that we had to step back from organising it but we are still here and happy to help.”

Mr Hobbs, who is a founder member of Henley Rugby Club, organised the half marathon until 2003 when the Rotary Club of Henley Bridge took it over and in 2019 Henley Rotary Club became a partner.

Mr Hobbs, from Peppard,  said: “I think it is great that it is going to continue. It needed someone who knows what they are doing to come in because it is not an easy event to organise and I am really proud that the rugby club is going to have a go.”