The Race
| Next Race Date | Sunday 9 May 2027 |
|---|---|
| Course type | Loop: start and finish both at AMT Headingley Stadium |
| Registration | Open, direct entry via Active/endurancecui (linked from runforall.com), no ballot. Entrants must be 18 or older on race day. |
| Ballot Opens | Not applicable: open entry |
| Total finishers | Not confirmed for the marathon alone. Over 12,000 ran the combined marathon, half marathon and fun run in 2025. |
| Avg race-day temp | Not confirmed. Early May in Leeds is generally cool at the 9am start, warming through the morning as slower finishers are still on course. |
| Cutoff time | Not published by the organiser |
| Free race-day transport | Partial. First Bus and West Yorkshire Metro services continue running with diversions, and the Stourton Park & Ride runs a direct bus to the stadium, but runners pay standard fares. |
| Course certification | Not stated |
| Sleeper Train | Not accessible |
The MND Wave and Rob Burrow’s legacy
One of the marathon’s five starting waves is named the MND Wave, starting at 09:19, an acknowledgement built into the race itself of its origin and purpose: raising funds and awareness for motor neurone disease research and care, in honour of former Leeds Rhinos player Rob Burrow. The race benefits the Rob Burrow Centre for Motor Neurone Disease Appeal and the MND Association as principal partner charities, alongside a wider group of local causes including Candlelighters, St Gemma’s Hospice and the Leeds Rhinos Foundation. Runners are free to fundraise for a charity of their own choosing, but the MND Wave itself signals that this is not a generic city marathon with a charitable sideline: the cause is built into the event’s structure.
History
The Rob Burrow Leeds Marathon was established in 2023, named for and dedicated to former Leeds Rhinos scrum-half Rob Burrow, who was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in December 2019. Burrow and his family have campaigned publicly to raise awareness and funds for MND research and care since his diagnosis, and the race is organised by Run For All, the Leeds-based event organiser founded around the endurance fundraising legacy of Jane Tomlinson, which also stages the Leeds 10K, Leeds Half Marathon and Yorkshire Marathon.
The inaugural 2023 race drew more than 10,000 participants across its combined distances, according to the official event page, quickly establishing it as one of the larger UK city marathons outside the historic group of London, Manchester, Brighton, Edinburgh and Chester. By its third running in 2025, participation had grown to more than 12,000 across the marathon, half marathon and fun run combined, per contemporary Leeds press coverage. The event benefits the Rob Burrow Centre for Motor Neurone Disease Appeal and the MND Association as its principal partner charities, alongside a wider roster of local causes, and runners are encouraged to fundraise for a charity of their choice.
No course record or notable elite result has been sourced for this race.
The course
The race starts and finishes at AMT Headingley Stadium, accessed on race day via Gate G behind the western terrace off Kirkstall Road, long the home of Leeds Rhinos rugby league and Yorkshire County Cricket Club. No official elevation gain figure has been published, and the course is hilly by city-marathon standards: a long climb out of Headingley up Otley Road, a steep descent to the River Wharfe at Arthington, and a climb of about 130 m from Otley over Pool Bank before a long, mostly downhill return.
Km 0-2: Out of Headingley.The race leaves AMT Headingley Stadium via St Michael’s Lane and St Michael’s Road, turning onto Headingley Lane toward the city centre through Leeds’ busy student district. Expect noise and crowd support early, since this section stays close to residential Headingley.
Km 2-5: Woodhouse Moor and the city edge. The route circles Woodhouse Moor park anticlockwise via Hyde Park Road before rejoining the Headingley Lane dual carriageway and running a short triangle around Cavendish Road, Hilary Place and Blenheim Terrace, the most urban section of the course.
Km 5-11: North on Otley Road. A long, sustained stretch heads north up Headingley Lane into Otley Road, climbing about 80 m over 8 km through Weetwood to Lawnswood. Around mile 7 the route turns right onto Church Lane in Adel, leaving the main road.
Km 11-19: Adel, Eccup and the drop to the Wharfe.From Church Lane the course runs through Adel and along Eccup Lane and Black Hill Lane, a rare stretch with minimal traffic that runners and local guides consistently single out as the course’s most pleasant section, to Bramhope at about km 16. It then drops steeply down Creskeld Lane, about 100 m in 3 km, to the valley floor at Arthington, the lowest point of the course.
Km 19-42: Otley, Pool Bank and the return. The route runs west along the flat Wharfe valley through Pool-in-Wharfedale to Otley, the furthest point from the stadium at about km 27, then climbs out of the valley on Leeds Road over Pool Bank, about 130 m in 6 km to the course high point of 178 m at km 31. The return is mostly downhill: back through Bramhope, past Golden Acre Park at about km 35, and down Otley Road to Headingley.
Final approach: back to the stadium. The finish is at AMT Headingley Stadium, the same venue as the start. The half marathon and fun run fields start an hour later on much of the same roads; be aware of merging traffic with slower-distance events on the shared sections, a point flagged specifically in runner race reports from 2025.
This is not a course measured with a published blue tangent line in the way a closed-arena marathon is; the racing line follows standard road-race positioning on largely open, marshalled roads through suburban Leeds and outer villages.
Course Map
The map shows the loop route from AMT Headingley Stadium through Woodhouse Moor and up Otley Road to Adel and Bramhope, down to the River Wharfe at Arthington, west to Otley, and back over Pool Bank past Golden Acre Park to the same start/finish. Tap a marker for details, and scrub the slider or press play to move the orange marker along the course with the elevation profile beneath it.
Leaves the stadium through Leeds’ student district, circling Woodhouse Moor before a short residential loop around Cavendish Road and Hilary Place. Loud, close-in crowd support early.
A long, sustained climb of about 80 m north on the main Otley Road before turning off onto Church Lane in Adel around mile 7. Settle into race pace here; the gradient is gentle but steady.
The course’s standout section: quiet lanes with minimal traffic through Adel and Eccup to Bramhope, then a steep 100 m drop down Creskeld Lane to the River Wharfe at Arthington.
West along the valley to Otley, the furthest point from the stadium, then the big climb over Pool Bank, about 130 m in 6 km, and a long, mostly downhill return past Golden Acre Park to AMT Headingley Stadium.
Pacers
Pacers are provided, sponsored by Arla Protein, identifiable by flags showing their target finish time. Wave allocation is by estimated finish time, corresponding to bib colour. Specific target finish times carried by each pacer have not been published in the material reviewed for this guide.
| Wave | Start time |
|---|---|
| Blue | 09:00 |
| Red | 09:04 |
| Green & Yellow | 09:10 |
| MND Wave | 09:19 |
| Purple | 09:21 |
The half marathon and fun run start separately at 10:00am, an hour after the first marathon wave.
What to wear
Early May in Leeds typically runs cool at the 9:00am start, warming through the morning as the marathon field is still on course into early afternoon for slower finishers; no race-day-specific temperature data has been sourced for this guide, so treat any published average as a general climate normal. Plan for a real temperature swing between the start and a finish that, for the back of the field, may come several hours later.
Headphones are restricted to bone-conduction models; the organiser’s official partner Shokz offers a discount to entrants, and runners are asked to keep volume low so marshal instructions remain audible. Any clothing discarded at the start is collected and donated, worth noting for runners planning a throwaway layer, since items left in the starting area cannot be reclaimed unless dropped at the baggage store beforehand.
Entry
Entry is direct and open with no ballot, via the Active/endurancecui platform linked from the official Run For All event page. Entrants must be 18 or older on race day. Race numbers are posted 7 to 10 days before the event to the address given at registration, with a deadline for address changes six weeks before race day. Entry includes chip timing, a finisher’s goody bag, an exclusive medal, and the option to pre-order a finisher T-shirt with sublimation print and an engravable iTAB race-result tag.
An upgraded “Erdinger Runners Lounge” VIP experience is available for an additional fee, and a Yorkshire Double Season Ticket bundles entry with the same organiser’s Yorkshire Marathon in October. The current entry fee for the 2027 edition has not been published at the time of writing; check the live Active/endurancecui entry page for the confirmed price.
No fast-runner or GFA qualifying-time entry pathway is offered; entry is open to all abilities and the event markets itself explicitly as welcoming first-time marathoners as much as experienced runners.
Fast Runner / GFA Standards
Not applicable. The Rob Burrow Leeds Marathon has no fast-runner or Good for Age entry pathway.
Race Weekend
Expo
There is no separate ticketed expo for this race; the organiser’s term is the “Event Village,” located at AMT Headingley Stadium, offering pre- and post-run food and drink for purchase, plus stalls for the event’s partner charities. Race numbers are posted to entrants 7 to 10 days ahead, which removes the need for a separate number-collection queue on race weekend. Whether the Event Village opens on any day before race day itself has not been confirmed; check the current year’s event guide before travelling.
Race Morning
Marathon runners start in five colour-coded waves from AMT Headingley Stadium: Blue at 09:00, Red at 09:04, Green & Yellow at 09:10, an MND Wave at 09:19, and Purple at 09:21, with wave allocation based on estimated finish time and corresponding to bib colour. The half marathon and fun run start separately at 10:00am, an hour after the first marathon wave, sharing much of the same route; runner reports from 2025 note this as a point where full-marathon finishers can encounter half-marathon traffic in the closing miles.
The only race-day access point to the start is Gate G, behind the stadium’s western terrace off Kirkstall Road. The organiser recommends public transport over driving: First Bus and West Yorkshire Metro services run throughout the day, with diversions for road closures, and the Stourton Park & Ride offers a direct bus service to the stadium for drivers who do not want to navigate the closure zone directly.
Bags larger than an A4 sheet are not permitted inside the stadium, and bag searches are in place; runners who bring a permitted bag use the tear-off strip from their race number to tag it before dropping it at the designated Baggage Store, and should allow extra time pre-race for this. Toilets are provided around the stadium and on course, with eight toilet stops and water stations combined along the route; the organiser operates a zero-tolerance policy on runners urinating outside the provided facilities, backed by disqualification.
First aid stations are sited near the water stations, with a dedicated first aid unit and recovery area at the start/finish and roaming first aiders through the Event Village. No changing room, shower, or specific post-finish massage provision has been confirmed; the official page notes massage details are published closer to race day. No pregnancy or medical deferral policy is published.
Nutrition on Course
The course has eight combined toilet and water station stops. Water stations provide 330 ml bottles of water; exact locations are shown on the official route map. Separate Applied Nutrition energy stations, an official event partner, are positioned on course offering Applied Nutrition Hydration Electrolyte Tablets, Applied Nutrition Isotonic Drinks and Applied Nutrition Energy Gels; runners who train with a different gel brand should plan to carry their own. The organiser asks runners to dispose of bottles and packaging in the recycling bins provided at each station.
Spectating
The organiser designates two main spectator hubs away from the start/finish, at Adel and Otley, connected by a dedicated spectator shuttle running between Queenswood Drive and both hubs, the clearest organiser-endorsed way for spectators without a car to follow the race at more than one point. Exact shuttle timings and Queenswood Drive pickup details were not accessible in the material reviewed for this guide; check runforall.com’s dedicated spectator information page before travelling. Because the route runs a genuine outer loop from Headingley through Adel and Golden Acre Park to Bramhope and Otley before returning, spectators based at the stadium see runners at the start and the eventual finish, but not at any point in between unless they travel to one of the two hubs.
Itinerary A: Take the dedicated spectator shuttle from Queenswood Drive to Adel, see runners passing through Adel and Golden Acre Park (roughly mile 8-15), then return by shuttle to Queenswood Drive or continue to Otley on the same service if timings allow.
Itinerary B: Take the dedicated spectator shuttle from Queenswood Drive to Otley, see runners at the furthest point of the course from the stadium, then return by shuttle in time for the finish back at AMT Headingley Stadium.
No confirmed third spectator route beyond the two organiser-designated hubs has been sourced. Regular First Bus and West Yorkshire Metro services continue running on race day, with diversions around road closures, offering a general public-transport option beyond the dedicated shuttle.
Post-Race Food
The Event Village at AMT Headingley Stadium sells food and drink for pre- and post-race fuelling, and the official event page notes several bars and cafes in the immediate area around the stadium that welcome runners and spectators after the finish. No specific named restaurant, address or dish recommendation near Headingley Stadium has been sourced with confidence for this guide; Headingley’s Otley Road strip is the practical area to check closer to race week.
Where to Stay
Both the start and finish of the Rob Burrow Leeds Marathon are at AMT Headingley Stadium, so unlike a point-to-point city marathon, there is no separate start-versus-finish trade-off; proximity to the stadium serves both.
Headingley
Puts a runner within walking distance of the start line itself. The Headingley Stadium Hotel sits inside AMT Headingley Stadium overlooking the Yorkshire cricket pitch, as close as accommodation gets to the start/finish, though its 36 rooms mean it should be booked well ahead of race weekend. Premier Inn Leeds Headingley offers a more standard, wider-availability option a short walk or drive from the stadium. Headingley itself is Leeds’ main student district, with a busy Otley Road food and drink strip, useful for casual dining before or after the race, though it can be loud on weekend nights given the area’s nightlife reputation.
Leeds city centre
Roughly 3-4 km south of Headingley Stadium, trades a short race-morning journey for far stronger restaurant, shopping and onward-transport options. The Queens Hotel, an Art Deco building dating to 1937, sits directly by Leeds railway station, useful for runners flying or training in and out via rail. Dakota Leeds, a five-star hotel a short walk from Trinity Leeds shopping centre, and Clayton Hotel Leeds, a four-star, eco-certified option close to the city centre’s main attractions, both put a runner within easy reach of Leeds’ wider restaurant scene for the night before and the recovery day after.
Given the wave-start system beginning at 9:00am and the Gate G-only access point on race morning, runners staying in the city centre should build in extra time to reach the start, and should check First Bus and West Yorkshire Metro’s race-day diversions in advance.
Recommended hotels
As close to the start and finish as accommodation gets, with rooms overlooking the Yorkshire cricket pitch. Only 36 rooms, so this books out well ahead of race weekend.
A reliable, wider-availability option a short walk from the stadium, useful once the Headingley Stadium Hotel itself is fully booked.
An Art Deco landmark hotel dating to 1937, directly by Leeds railway station, useful for runners travelling in and out by train.
A five-star option a short walk from Trinity Leeds shopping centre, for runners prioritising city-centre restaurants and comfort over race-morning proximity.
A four-star, eco-certified hotel close to the city centre’s main attractions, a solid mid-tier option for runners staying downtown.
Booking timeline
There is no ballot for this race, so there is no single results-announcement date that triggers a hotel booking rush the way it does for a ballotted major. Demand instead builds steadily as the field, over 12,000 across the combined distances in 2025, fills its open-entry places. Headingley’s limited stadium-adjacent accommodation, in particular the 36-room Headingley Stadium Hotel, should be booked as early as possible once entry is confirmed. Leeds city centre has considerably more hotel stock and is less likely to sell out completely, but May in Leeds coincides with a broader UK spring events calendar, so booking a few months ahead is the sensible general guidance.
See & Do
Since the start and finish sit at the same venue, these attractions are shown by distance from AMT Headingley Stadium.
Woodhouse Moor
~1.5 km (1 mile) from start/finish. The public park the course circles anticlockwise early in the route, useful as an orientation point for anyone staying in Headingley or the university district and wanting a flat, low-effort walk the day after the race.
Golden Acre Park
~8 km (5 miles) from start/finish. The course’s standout parkland section, with lakeside paths and gardens, worth returning to by car or bus the day after the race to see it as a destination.
Royal Armouries
~4.5 km (2.8 miles) from start/finish. A major national museum of arms and armour on Leeds’ waterfront, with free general admission, an indoor, largely flat option that suits a runner not up for much walking the day after.
Leeds Art Gallery
~3.5 km (2.2 miles) from start/finish. A city-centre gallery with a strong 20th-century British collection, free to enter, an easy add-on to a city-centre hotel stay without requiring any significant walking distance.
Kirkstall Abbey
~3 km (1.9 miles) from start/finish. A substantially intact 12th-century Cistercian abbey ruin set in parkland, close to the Kirkstall Road the marathon start gate sits off, with flat paths through the grounds suitable for a gentle post-race walk.
Read Before you Run
Too Many Reasons to Live
Rob Burrow
Rob Burrow’s own account of his rugby league career and his life since his motor neurone disease diagnosis, the direct source of this race’s name and its charitable purpose. Reading it before travelling to Leeds gives the race’s MND Wave and fundraising focus real context.
After the Race
The Rob Burrow Leeds Marathon runs in May. These itineraries range from a same-day trip to York or Harrogate to a one-night step out to Ilkley and the edge of the Dales.
York Minster, the medieval Shambles and the National Railway Museum, all within a flat, compact old-town core that suits limited post-marathon walking.
The Royal Pump Room and Bettys Tea Room in Harrogate, plus Knaresborough’s riverside walk and castle ruins a short onward hop away. A gentler, spa-town pace suited to the day after a hilly marathon.
Ilkley Moor’s lower paths, the town’s spa-era architecture, and an edge-of-the-Dales feel without the driving a full Yorkshire Dales trip requires.
Saltaire’s UNESCO World Heritage Victorian mill village and the Salts Mill art galleries, combined with Bradford’s National Science and Media Museum a short onward hop away.
Frequently asked questions
Should I stay near the start or the finish?
They are the same place. The Rob Burrow Leeds Marathon starts and finishes at AMT Headingley Stadium, so there is no start-versus-finish trade-off. Staying in Headingley means walking to the line; staying in Leeds city centre means a short bus, train or drive on race morning in exchange for far more restaurant and hotel choice.
How far in advance should I book a hotel?
Book as soon as your entry is confirmed. There is no ballot for this race, but the Headingley Stadium Hotel has only 36 rooms and sells out well ahead of race weekend; Leeds city-centre hotels have far more capacity but May sits within a busy UK spring events calendar, so booking a few months ahead is sensible.
Is there free transport to the start?
Not a dedicated free scheme. First Bus and West Yorkshire Metro services keep running on race day, with diversions around road closures, and the Stourton Park & Ride runs a direct bus to the stadium for drivers, but these are standard fares.
What is the best area to stay?
Headingley for race-morning convenience, ideally at the Headingley Stadium Hotel itself if available. Leeds city centre, around The Queens Hotel by the railway station or Dakota Leeds near Trinity Leeds, suits runners who want a wider choice of restaurants and easier onward travel.
When does the expo open?
There is no separate ticketed expo. Race numbers are posted to entrants 7 to 10 days before the event, and the race-day "Event Village" at the stadium provides food, drink and charity stalls; there is no packet-collection expo.
What is the weather typically like?
No confirmed race-day-specific average exists for this race. Early May in Leeds is generally cool at the 9am start and can warm through the morning, but treat any published average as a general climate normal.
How do I get from the airport?
Leeds Bradford Airport is the nearest airport to the race. A specific transfer route and journey time have not been confirmed for this guide.
Is there a bag drop?
Yes. Bags larger than an A4 sheet are not permitted inside the stadium, and bag searches are in place; runners use the tear-off strip from their race number to tag a permitted bag before dropping it at the designated Baggage Store.
Should I bring a throwaway layer?
Yes. The race starts at 9:00am across five waves, with a genuine wait for later waves, and any clothing discarded at the start is collected and donated, so a throwaway layer is a practical choice.
How do I get back to my hotel after finishing?
Runners staying in Headingley finish steps from their accommodation. Runners based in the city centre can use First Bus or West Yorkshire Metro services, which continue running on race day with diversions, or a taxi from the immediate stadium area once road closures lift.