5k Runs UK 2026-2027
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Every 5k run in the UK on one calendar: 1243 5K races in 2026 and 2027, with dates, venues and links to the official entry. Five kilometres is where most British runners begin, and a good number never see a reason to move on. It is the distance of the NHS Couch to 5K plan, of Race for Life, of the junior and family races bolted onto the big marathon weekends and of the Santa runs that fill December. The quickest club runners are finished in a little over a quarter of an hour; the bulk of any field crosses the line somewhere between 25 and 40 minutes, walkers included, and nobody minds which.
5k runs by region
Pick your part of the country: London, South East, South West, East of England, East Midlands, West Midlands, North West, North East, Yorkshire and The Humber, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Popular cities
The fullest 5K diaries belong to the big cities: London, Birmingham, Glasgow and Liverpool.
What counts as a 5k here?
Any event with a race of 5 km on its programme appears in this calendar, whether the organiser calls it a 5K, a 3.1-mile run or simply a fun run. More often than not the 5K is the shorter option at a weekend built around a 10K, a half marathon or a marathon, and the race page sets out every distance with its start time and a link to entry. After a 3K, a 4K or a 6K instead? Slide the distance range at the top of the page and the list adjusts. One thing you will not find is parkrun: the free Saturday morning 5K is timed but not a race, so it stays off the calendar, even though it is where many of these entrants started out.
Who runs a 5k?
Almost everyone, at some point. Couch to 5K graduates book a race number to turn nine weeks of training into a finish time. Families sign up together once the children are old enough for a bib of their own, since the 5K usually carries the lowest minimum age on the programme. Offices enter teams for corporate 5Ks on summer evenings, and Race for Life brings Cancer Research UK's pink-clad fields to parks in most large towns between May and July. For faster runners a road 5K on a measured course is a serious PB target in its own right.
When is 5k season?
The distance never really goes out of season. Spring and early summer belong to Race for Life and the charity 5Ks, midsummer to the after-work series in the city parks, September and October to the 5Ks that sit beside the big half marathons and marathons, and from late November the Santa runs and Boxing Day dashes take over. A festive 5K in fancy dress is the closest most British runners get to a winter race, and it is often the one they remember.
Other distances
Ready to double the distance? The 10k runs calendar is the natural next step, and the full running calendar covers everything else, with separate listings for the half marathon calendar, the marathon calendar and the trail running calendar. Know of a 5K we have missed? Send it in with the + Event button at the top of the page and it will join the calendar.
Get new running races (and updates) in your inbox every month.