Birmingham 2022 Marathon: What’s the route and how can I watch?

This Saturday (30 July), Birmingham will host the 2022 Commonwealth Games Marathon.

As the Games opening ceremony gets underway on Thursday night (28 July), there will be a host of events taking place in conjunction with the tournament, including the marathon. The marathon will run from Smithfield to Victoria Square on July 30 - the first Saturday of the Games. The event features the men’s marathon, women’s marathon and men’s and women’s T53/ T54 events.

It travels from Smithfield to Edbaston Stadium, Stirchley, Bournville, Selly Oak and Arena Birmingham before finishing in Victoria Square.

What is the marathon route exactly?

Each race will start at Smithfield, also the venue for the Birmingham 2022 beach volleyball, basketball and wheelchair basketball competitions.

The marathon is made up of distinct sections. An 18km loop which all athletes will complete twice. From Smithfield, the athletes will head south out of the city towards Bournville. This is followed by a 6.2km section through the city centre, which finishes in Victoria Square, the location for the Town Hall and the Council House.

The Looped Section

At the end of Sherlock Street the route passes over the Belgrave Middleway via Belgrave Interchange and onto the Pershore Road (A441), the start of the looped section of the course. Only 2km into the course, the athletes will go past the internationally renowned Edgbaston Stadium, home of the women’s cricket T20 competition for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

After going past Edgbaston Stadium, the athletes will turn left into Cannon Hill Park. The athletes will continue along Pershore Rd towards Stirchley and Bournville and enter the most southern section of this large loop.

The athletes will then head back towards the Pershore Road via Bournville Village Green and Sycamore Road, continuing north, past Edgbaston and back to the Belgrave Interchange for the start of the second lap.

The City Centre Section

After completing the second lap of the southern section – 36km - the athletes will continue straight over the Belgrave Middleway back onto Sherlock Street and then turn left onto Hurst Street. The route passes through the Chinese Quarter and Gay Village, via the Hippodrome Theatre, towards New Street Station.

From New Street Station, the athletes will pass through Paradise Circus and complete a loop in front of Centenary Square, taking in the ICC, REP and Library of Birmingham, before continuing north toward the Jewellery Quarter, passing the Chamberlain Clock and St Pauls Church after 41 km, before making their way into the City Centre for the final kilometre.

The final kilometre of the route winds its way through the Colmore Business District area before turning right onto Colmore Row and travelling past St Phillip’s Cathedral.

The Athletes will travel down Colmore Row into the finish line at Victoria Square, right outside Birmingham Council House and the Town Hall.

The course for the marathon has been split into two distinct sections – a southern loop which the athletes must complete twice, followed by a shorter city centre section which will showcase some of Birmingham’s best loved landmarks to millions of TV viewers, as the runners pass Centenary Square, the Jewellery Quarter, St Paul’s Square and St Phillips’s Cathedral, before crossing the finish line in Victoria Square.

See the route on the map below

Road closures

Roads will be closed inside and around the course.

The majority of these closures will be in place from 2.30AM to 3.30PM on the day of the race. During this period, residents and businesses will not have access to the closed roads until the closures have been removed. Pedestrian and bicycle access will be available across the course at all existing pedestrian crossing points.

Some other roads will see changed traffic conditions, which will be in place for the same time period. Please see the “Affected Roads” section below for more detail and to find out whether your road is affected.

Will I need a ticket to watch the marathon?

You won’t need a ticket to watch the race as it’s a public event. There will be dedicated viewing areas for those who want to watch the event in the city centre.

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