New Forest Marathon

The Race

History

The New Forest Marathon is organised by ORA Events Ltd and run entirely within New Forest National Park, starting and finishing at New Park Showground on the edge of Brockenhurst, Hampshire. The event has published results back to 2016, indicating over a decade of continuous running under some form of the current branding. Garmin holds the title sponsorship, alongside a partner list that includes Ordnance Survey for course measurement, Alexandra Sports, High 5 for on-course nutrition, the New Forest National Park Authority, and Rhinefield House Hotel, a Handpicked Hotels property inside the forest itself, as an event partner. Race day carries seven distances on a single Sunday: Full Marathon, Half Marathon, 10K, 5K, a Woodland Walk, Junior 200m/1 mile races, and a Team Challenge, all starting and finishing at the same Race Village. The race is not affiliated to UK Athletics, so results do not count toward the Power of 10 national rankings, though the course itself is measured by Ordnance Survey. The organiser nominates the New Forest Marathon Community Fund as its principal charitable cause, asking any runner fundraising for a separate charity to donate their first £10 to the fund. No specific founding year or year-on-year field-size history has been sourced.

The course

The Full Marathon shares its early route with the Half Marathon, 10K and 5K fields, all of which the organiser describes as pretty flat. This first half runs on a mix of tarmac forest roads and compacted gravel tracks through New Forest National Park’s enclosures, part of the roughly 50% of the full route that sits on forest track rather than road. Once the shorter-distance fields peel off toward their own finishes around km 21, the Full Marathon continues alone into what the organiser’s FAQ calls its more undulating second half, still on the same compacted gravel and tarmac forest-road mix. A Mapometer-drawn route from a recent edition shows the course’s highest point falling around km 31, well into this solo second-half stretch, before descending to its lowest point near km 39.8 not far from the finish.

No official elevation-gain figure has been published by the organiser. The route shown here derives roughly 226m of gain and 226m of loss from a 100m-resampled, 300m-smoothed read of the supplied GPX; treat this as indicative course shape rather than a certified statistic.

The course returns to New Park Showground for the finish, the same Race Village where all seven of the day’s distances start and finish, with the medal, finisher T-shirt and baggage area all handled by volunteer community groups. Eight drinks stations are spread across the routes, stocked with water, High 5 Energy Drink and High 5 Gummies, all self-serve; toilets are positioned on the Half and Full Marathon routes and marked on the official route maps.

Pacers

No pacer programme has been sourced for this race. Do not assume pacers from previous editions without current confirmation.

What to wear

Mid-September in the New Forest is generally mild, though at least one runner discussion thread has flagged a warm-weather edition reaching around 27°C, a reminder that this is not a guaranteed cool autumn race. No official average race-day temperature has been sourced. The organiser advises road shoes rather than trail shoes, since the forest sections are predominantly compacted gravel and tarmac forest road rather than technical trail. Personal stereos and MP3 players are permitted but not recommended, with the organiser instead endorsing bone-conduction headphones such as Aftershokz, since parts of the course remain in a working National Park rather than a fully closed environment.

Entry

Entry is direct and online only, with no ballot, via EntryHub (FR Systems). Entries close 10 September 2026 or when the event sells out, whichever comes first. UK Athletics-affiliated runners pay £65; unaffiliated runners, including anyone entering without a club or leaving the team/club field blank, pay £67. Race packs are posted to the address on file from 2 September onward; anyone entering after that date collects their pack from the Registration Marquee in the Race Village.

There is no deferral policy: entrants who cannot run have four standing transfer options instead, all actioned before 31 August: transferring the place to another person at no cost, transferring to a different race distance (subject to space, with a top-up charge if upgrading and no refund if downgrading), transferring to the event’s own Virtual Race (medal and T-shirt still issued, virtual run completed by 31 December), or transferring into ORA Events’ sister event, The Chase, at St Giles House, Dorset, the following April. Refunds are available in full only within 14 days of purchase; after that window, no refund is issued for a non-start. Runners must be 18 or over for the Full Marathon.

Fast Runner / GFA Standards

Not applicable. New Forest Marathon has no GFA entry pathway. Entry is open, priced by UK Athletics affiliation status rather than by qualifying time.

Race Weekend

Expo

There is no separate multi-day expo. Race packs are posted from 2 September to entrants who registered before that date; late entrants and anyone who has not received their pack collect it from the Registration Marquee in the Race Village at New Park Showground on race day. The Race Village itself operates as a genuine event hub around this collection point, with food and drink vendors, an on-site bar (NFM Bar, serving real ale and wine), a stage with live bands and solo artists, and trader pitches.

Race Morning

Start times are staggered by distance from the same New Park Showground start line: Full Marathon at 10:00am, Half Marathon at 10:45am, Woodland Walk and 10K both at 11:15am, 5K at 11:30am, and the Junior 200m/1 mile races at 3:30pm. On-site parking at New Park Showground costs £5 for the day, purchased when signing up; a paid shuttle bus also runs a 20-minute loop between Brockenhurst Railway Station and the showground from 7:00am to 5:00pm, at £6 one-way or £9 return, a practical option for runners arriving by train rather than driving into the National Park.

A staffed baggage area in the Race Village accepts labelled bags (the label is included in the race pack), staffed by volunteers who return bags on sight of the runner’s race number. Buggies and dogs are not permitted on any of the routes for safety and space reasons on the forest tracks, though both are welcome in the Race Village itself, dogs on leads at all times; runners wanting a dog-friendly race should look instead to ORA Events’ sister event, The Chase. The Full and Half Marathon courses close 6 hours after their respective start times; any runner not finished by then is collected by a sweep bus rather than continuing to a manual finish, and does not receive a chip-timed result or medical cover beyond that point.

Logistics Map

The map below shows the loop route from New Park Showground through New Forest National Park, with the course’s highest point around km 31, before returning to the same start/finish. Tap any marker for details.

Nutrition on Course

Eight drinks stations are spread across the routes, all self-serve, stocked with water plus High 5 Energy Drink or a jelly-baby station, and High 5 Gummies, as marked on the official route infrastructure maps. The organiser is explicit that all rubbish must be dropped only at the marked rubbish areas or handed to a marshal, given the course runs through a working, ecologically sensitive National Park; runners seen dropping litter outside these areas face disqualification.

Spectating

The Race Village at New Park Showground functions as the natural spectator hub, hosting both the start and finish for all seven of the day’s distances, with food and drink vendors, an on-site bar, live music through the day and toilets available throughout.

Itinerary A: Take the shuttle bus from Brockenhurst Railway Station to New Park Showground (20-minute loop, 7:00am to 5:00pm, £6 one-way / £9 return) to spend the day at the Race Village covering both start and finish, avoiding the £5 on-site parking charge and any road congestion around the showground on race morning.

Itinerary B:Drive to New Park Showground directly and park on-site for £5, purchased at sign-up, then remain at the Race Village for the day, given the course’s forest-track sections limit casual mid-course viewing compared with a closed-road event.

No confirmed named mid-course spectator point has been sourced for this race; New Forest National Park’s access tracks are not straightforwardly comparable to a road-race spectator route.

Post-Race Food

The Race Village itself offers a full range of food and drink vendors alongside the NFM Bar (real ale, wine) and water points, so many runners will eat and drink without leaving New Park Showground. For a sit-down meal beyond the Race Village, The Huntsman of Brockenhurst, a country pub a short distance from Brockenhurst railway station with a wood-fired pizza oven and pub garden, and The Pig Hotel’s Courtyard restaurant, also in Brockenhurst and built around ingredients sourced within a 25-mile radius, both sit within the immediate area. The Filly Inn, positioned on the road between Brockenhurst and Lymington, is a further option for runners heading toward Lymington after the race.

Where to Stay

The New Forest Marathon starts and finishes at the same point, New Park Showground on the edge of Brockenhurst, so there is no separate start-versus-finish trade-off; every accommodation option here is judged on proximity to that single venue.

Brockenhurst village

The closest settlement to the start and finish, and the practical base for runners without a car, given its own railway station and the marathon’s own paid shuttle bus running directly to New Park Showground.

Inside the forest itself

Rhinefield House Hotel, an official event partner of the marathon, puts a runner genuinely within the National Park setting rather than in the village centre, a distinctive option given its direct sponsorship link to the race.

Lymington

A coastal market town roughly 20 minutes’ drive from Brockenhurst, offering a wider hotel and restaurant base for runners wanting a genuine town centre and harbourside setting, at the cost of a slightly longer journey to the start on race morning; a car is the practical option, since the marathon’s own shuttle bus runs only from Brockenhurst station.

Recommended hotels

Booking timeline

There is no ballot for this race, so demand builds steadily through the entry window that closes 10 September 2026 or on sell-out, rather than spiking around a single results date. September is within the New Forest’s peak visitor season, and Brockenhurst’s own accommodation stock is genuinely limited for a village of its size, so runners should book as soon as their entry is confirmed rather than waiting, particularly for anything within walking distance of New Park Showground or the railway station.

See & Do

Rhinefield Ornamental Drive

Within New Forest National Park, close to the course itself. A historic drive lined with towering redwoods and other ornamental conifers planted in the Victorian era, one of the New Forest’s most distinctive and photographed stretches of woodland, and a natural post-race walk given its flat, well-maintained path.

New Forest ponies and open heathland

Throughout the National Park, including sections of the course itself. The semi-wild ponies that graze freely across the forest’s open heathland are one of the region’s defining sights, visible without any special effort simply by driving or walking the park’s open sections near Brockenhurst.

Beaulieu

~10 km (6 miles) from Brockenhurst. A village built around Beaulieu Abbey, Palace House and the National Motor Museum, a genuinely varied half-day stop combining monastic history with a substantial classic and motorsport car collection.

Buckler’s Hard

~13 km (8 miles) from Brockenhurst. A preserved 18th-century shipbuilding village on the Beaulieu River, where warships for Nelson’s fleet were once built; the riverside setting and small maritime museum make for a quiet, low-effort visit suited to recovering legs.

Lymington

~10 km (6 miles) from Brockenhurst. A Georgian market town on the Solent with a working harbour, a cobbled high street of independent shops, and the passenger ferry to the Isle of Wight, a practical and pleasant base for a full day beyond the forest itself.

After the Race

The New Forest Marathon runs in September. These itineraries stay within reach of the forest itself or extend to the Solent coast and nearby cathedral and port cities.