On your marks to celebrate Sussex race’s 40th birthday

It’s four decades since the first Barns Green Half Marathon and to celebrate the milestone, a VIP reception will be held on the green on with guests including many who have been involved in the event since it began.

This year’s races will include the half marathon starting at 10am, the 10k starting at 10.20am and a new race, the Jennings Junior Jog which is a colour run for four to 11-year-olds and which will take place on the Village Green at 12.30pm.

The two adult races which follow routes on closed roads through the lanes of Barns Green, Itchingfield, Dragons Green, and through the grounds of Christ’s Hospital School.

Event chairman Nigel Currie said: The organisers, who are all volunteers, look forward to welcoming as many runners as possible to take part in one of the three races.

"Once again the official race charity will be St Catherine’s Hospice and more than 70 runners taking part in the adult races will be running on behalf of St Catherine’s this year.”

For competitors there is plenty of free parking and a warm-up routine for all three races.

For the adult races there is chip timing for each runner as well as pacemakers to help runners to achieve their target finish time.

The Jennings Junior Jog will have on-the-day registration and for the half marathon and 10k, registration is open at unbarnsgreen.org.uk.

Watch out for race coverage in the County Times next week and at sussexworld.co.uk/sport​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​