Hometown favourite Omar Ahmed of Birchfield Harriers powered to victory in the half-marathon on Sunday, clocking 1:06:10 to claim the AJ Bell Great Birmingham Run on the streets where he learned to race as a junior. Border Harriers' Esme Davies took the women's half title in 1:13:48 in front of cheering crowds packed onto Broad Street, leading home a field that pushed the weekend's combined finisher total to 18,000 across 10K and half-marathon distances.
Ahmed's winning time, into a sneaky headwind on the long pull back through Edgbaston, was just 24 seconds outside the course record and put him 24 seconds clear of Thames Valley Harriers' Mohamud Aadan in 1:06:34. Drew Clark, racing unattached, was a distant third in 1:09:49. The Birmingham 2026 European Athletics Championships are now barely 11 weeks away, and Ahmed used Sunday's race as a final, full-blooded tempo run before he switches into European Championship-specific work for the 10,000m at Alexander Stadium in mid-July.
Davies's women's half-marathon win came in only her third 13.1-mile race, off a programme of mountain ultras and short trail races that previously yielded a Border Harriers club record. The 28-year-old broke clear of the lead group inside the first three kilometres and ran the entire second half effectively alone, reaching the line nine minutes clear of Aoife Mooney in second (1:22:59). Birchfield's Grace Williamson was third in 1:26:26, the second Birmingham-based athlete on the women's half-marathon podium.
Saturday's 10K served as the curtain-raiser for the Bank Holiday weekend and delivered a Cornish surprise as Cornwall Athletic Club's Freddie Fielding took the men's title in 31:24, the fastest 10K winning time at the event for three years. Birchfield's Daniel Swain was second in 32:14, with Wells City Harriers' Mark Duffett third in 32:43. The women's 10K was won by Leamington Cycling and Athletics Club's Rachel Gifford in 35:03, who outsprinted Caitlin Smith (35:25) over the final descent into Centenary Square.
The 2026 staging was the largest Great Birmingham Run since the event was rebooted as a half-marathon-led festival in 2018, supported by a Junior and Mini Great Birmingham Run on Saturday at Alexander Stadium that featured Gladiators stars Matty Campbell and Karenjeet Kaur Bains as honorary starters. Iwan Thomas, the Lord Mayor of Birmingham Cllr Zafar Iqbal MBE and the European Athletics Championships mascot Bab the Bull fired the starter horns on Sunday morning. Entries for the 2027 weekend, scheduled for 1-2 May, opened on Sunday afternoon at a Super Earlybird price of £42 for the half marathon.