Twenty-one roads shut for the Winchester Half Marathon, from 6am to 3pm on the High Street and in short windows elsewhere. The full list, road by road, with times.

The Winchester Half Marathon closes 21 roads across the city and puts one-way restrictions on three more. Most of them shut for well under two hours. Two do not: the High Street and The Broadway are closed from 06:00 to 15:00, and so is the stretch of Colebrook Street between the High Street and Market Lane.

The 2026 race was run on Sunday 20 September. The restrictions were made by Hampshire County Council under section 16A of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, and the order ran “from Sunday 20th September 2026 between the hours 06:00 to 15:00 for 1 day or until the event has ended, whichever is sooner”. The list below is that order in full, and it is the list to work from for next year’s race, because the course has been stable and the county council reissues essentially the same notice each September.

Every road closed, and when

Road Extent Closed
The Broadway Eastgate Street to High Street 06:00 to 15:00
High Street The Broadway to Market Street 06:00 to 15:00
Colebrook Street High Street to Market Lane 06:00 to 15:00
St Swithun Street Whole length 08:55 to 09:30
Great Minster Street Whole length 08:55 to 12:30
Symonds Street Whole length 08:55 to 12:30
Market Street Whole length 08:55 to 12:40
The Square Whole length 08:55 to 12:50
St James’ Lane Whole length 09:05 to 09:40
Sarum Road Whole length 09:05 to 10:00
Collins Lane A3090 to Port Lane 09:15 to 10:30
Port Lane Whole length 09:20 to 10:45
Old Kennels Lane Whole length 09:20 to 11:00
Olivers Battery Road South Whole length 09:25 to 11:15
Ridgeway Whole length 09:30 to 11:30
Rooks Down Road Ridgeway to Ashbarn Crescent 09:35 to 11:35
Ashbarn Crescent Rooks Down Road to Ivy Close 09:35 to 11:35
Ivy Close Whole length 09:35 to 11:45
Stanmore and Lower Stanmore Lane Drummond Close to B3335 St Cross Road 09:35 to 11:45
Five Bridges Road Whole length 09:40 to 12:15
College Street College Walk to Kingsgate Street 10:00 to 12:30

Three roads go one-way instead of closing

These stay open but only in one direction, which is the detail that catches out drivers who assume they can turn round and come back.

Road Extent Direction allowed When
B3040 Romsey Road St James’ Lane to Sarum Road Eastbound only 09:05 to 09:45
A3090 Main Road Sparsholt Road to Collins Lane Southbound only 09:00 to 10:30
B3335 St Cross Road Lower Stanmore Lane to Five Bridges Road Southbound only 09:35 to 12:00

How the closures move through the morning

Reading the times in order tells you how the race runs, and it is the most useful thing on this page if you are trying to work out when your own street reopens.

  • 06:00. The city centre goes first. The High Street, The Broadway and Colebrook Street close nine hours before anything else reopens, because that is the start, the finish and the event village rather than the course.
  • 08:55. The closures around the cathedral go in: Market Street, The Square, Great Minster Street, Symonds Street and St Swithun Street.
  • 09:05 to 09:40. The runners head west. St James’ Lane and Sarum Road shut, and Romsey Road goes one-way eastbound for forty minutes.
  • 09:15 to 11:45. The Olivers Battery and Ridgeway loop closes in sequence and reopens in the same order, road by road, as the field passes.
  • 10:00 to 12:30. College Street, the last of the course closures, covers the return into the city.
  • 15:00. The High Street and The Broadway reopen.

So the outlying residential roads are shut for an hour and a half to two hours each, not for the day. Only the three city centre streets lose the whole morning and early afternoon.

If you live inside a closure

The notice says, in terms, that “reasonable facilities will be provided to allow access to adjacent premises while the event is taking place”. That is the standard wording and it means marshals will let you across on foot and, where it is safe, by car between runners, but it is not a right of way through a live course. If you need to be out at a fixed time, move the car outside the closure the night before.

Telephone enquiries on the order go to Hampshire County Council Roads and Transport on 0300 555 1388. The notice was issued by Patrick Blogg, Director of Universal Services, The Castle, Winchester, SO23 8UD.

Getting to the cathedral and the city centre on race day

Winchester Cathedral sits inside the 08:55 ring of closures, and its own services run as normal, so the practical advice is to arrive before 08:45 or after 12:50, when The Square reopens. The park and ride sites are outside every closure on the list, and none of the council’s city centre car parks is itself closed by the order, but the routes into several of them are.

For everything else being dug up around the city, see our Winchester roadworks and travel page.

Frequently asked questions

What roads close for the Winchester Half Marathon?

Twenty-one, plus three more that go one-way. The longest closures are the High Street, The Broadway and Colebrook Street, all shut 06:00 to 15:00. The rest are short windows between 08:55 and 12:50 as the course passes.

What time do the roads reopen?

Most residential roads on the course reopen between 09:30 and 12:15, each one about an hour and a half to two hours after it closed. The city centre streets stay shut until 15:00.

When is the Winchester Half Marathon?

The 2026 race was Sunday 20 September. It is held on a Sunday in September each year, and Hampshire County Council publishes the road closure order a few weeks beforehand on its public notices pages.

Can I get to my house if it is on the route?

Yes, with help. The order provides “reasonable facilities” for access to adjacent premises, which in practice means asking a marshal. It does not guarantee you can drive along the course while the race is running.

Sources