A DATE has been fixed for the 2020 Swindon Half Marathon.

Hundreds of runners will lace up their trainers on Sunday, September 20 after the event was saved from the axe last year.

And with the race still more than eight months away, there is plenty of time for those who have made a 13.1-mile run their New Year's resolution to get involved.

The event, which starts at the County Ground at 9,30am, is sponsored by Nationwide and this year will be staged by The Race Organiser. The London company has taken over from the local team of organisers and is responsible for big events in Queen Elizabeth, Hyde and Regent's parks in the capital.

One of the previous organisers, Graeme Hardie, has been involved with organising this year’s race but says his input has been limited this time around.

“I’ll still be involved for the next few years,” he said: “The company isn’t Swindon-based but I am and I have all of the community contacts to help make it run.”

Despite designing the course, Graeme has never run his own race. That will change now he is no longer in charge of organising it.

He said: “I’m going to run this year.

“In our first draft of the track we wanted to go round the sights of Swindon that people would know and love, and what we could be proud to show off to visitors.

“But when we designed it, I always said it would be something I’d like to run myself.”

When the race was taken over there were fears that the layout could be changed to limit the cost of road closures. Graeme has put those to rest – at least for this year.

“The first year will be the same as it was last year,” Graeme told the Adver“Well, 99 per cent the same, there will only be subtle changes like the direction round a roundabout or something.

“But whether it’s changed in the future or not, I don’t know.

“It would be significantly cheaper to make it a two-lap race or something like that, to cut down on the road management costs.”

Despite no longer having the pressures of organising such a big race, it is something that Graeme says he misses.

He said: “It’s bittersweet. It was a lot of work, for me it was probably 500 hours' worth of work each year so it was a huge undertaking. But at the same time, a lot of it I enjoyed. I will miss it but I hope we planted the seed for them to grow.

“Hopefully it’s a race that the runners of Swindon will enjoy, love and be proud to call their own.”

To enter, visit https://www.theraceorganiser.com/race-course-map/the-nationwide-new-swindon-half-marathon-half-marathon-20-09-2020-09-30