Freckleton Half Marathon
UK half marathon
The Freckleton Half Marathon is an annual road running event held in Freckleton, Lancashire, United Kingdom.
The event was the idea of the then chairman of the local sport committee who was inspired by Ron Hill's performance in the 1964 Summer Olympics, and Ron accepted the invitation to run. Ron won that first race and later described the distance "The half marathon is a great distance, as you can push yourself almost flat out without the risk of blowing up". Ron returned to Freckleton in 2007, aged 70, and wore the race number 65 in honour of the first year.
The race provided three of the first six world records at this relatively new Half Marathon distance, two achieved by Ron Hill in 1965 and 1969, and one by Pete Ravald in 1966.
Ben Fish of Blackurn Harriers and Team Fish holds the record for the most wins with a record nine wins in nine years m.
The race is the oldest continuously running Half Marathon event in the UK, after the demise of the Romford Half Marathon and The Morpeth.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Freckleton Half Marathon” as uK half marathon. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as uK half marathon. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q21008557. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1964, 2007, 1965 and 1969.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Freckleton Half Marathon”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Freckleton Half Marathon primary sources, Freckleton Half Marathon archive and Freckleton research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Freckleton Half Marathon”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Freckleton Half Marathon” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.