2:09 Events

20/06/2025

A magnum of English sparkling wine from the South Downs created a stir recently when it out-performed Champagne at the 2025 Decanter World Wine Awards to be named one of the top 50 wines in the world.
We were not suprised. We've been promoting the merits of English wine, particularly sparkling wine, for more than a decade now. The difference is we offer the wine with running at our annual Bacchus Wine Half Marathon and 10K, which we organise in partnership with Denbies Vineyard in Dorking. This year the event takes place on Sunday September 7.
If you are taking part in the half marathon, you'll have the chance to sample six different English wines during the race (it's two for the 10K), including Denbies own award winning sparkling wine.
Your chance of being part of the event and sampling the wines is fading as the weeks go by because we are down to our last 400 entries from the 3000-limit we can accept for the day. Find out more about the race and Denbies at www.run-bacchus.com

18/06/2025

Round two of the 2026 Abbott Marathon Majors series is just around the corner. Sydney is first off at the end of August, quickly followed by Berlin (September), Chicago (October) and New York (November). Due to some injury cancellations one or two spots have opened up for our 2025 trips to Berlin as well as Chicago and New York. If you are interested in any of these races, drop us a line at [email protected]. There are more details on our website (www.209events.com) of prices and available hotels for each trip. We are a travel partner to each race so we can not sell 'entry only' to any of these races.

10/06/2025

Now would be a good time to start thinking about your fancy dress outfit for this year's Bacchus Wine Half Marathon and 10K on September 7. To offer you some inspiration here are a few of our favourites from last year. Don't forget there are no prizes for fast times at Bacchus - it's not that kind of event or race - all the goodies (which are bottles of wine) go to the best fancy dress we see on the day. The judging is done by our marshals and it's completely subjective.
Of course if you haven't entered yet, get a move on, we have less than 300 entries available now for both the half marathon and the 10K and with just three months to go before race day, we are certain to sell out.

10/06/2025

Just a quick one from us, the photos from the South Downs are now available from the weekend. ENJOY!!

2:09 Events Photography (Click Sports)

05/06/2025

We still have plenty of available space for both weeks of our spring running camp in the Algarve next March but we are now sold out of poolside rooms for the second week (March 14-21) and have only a couple of those premium rooms left for week one (March 7-14).

04/06/2025

We had been sold out of this autumn's Abbott Marathon Majors for some months but due to some recent cancellations we now have one place available for each of the TCS Sydney Marathon (August 31) and the Bank of America Chicago Marathon (October 12) and three places for BMW Berlin Marathon (September 21). As our places are part of the travel partner program for each event, the entries are only available with some form of travel package. If you are interested in taking part in any of these races you can book them via our website. www.209events.com

03/06/2025

We have only just opened for bookings for next year's Spring Running camp on the Algarve but we are already down to a limited number of poolside rooms particularly for week two. The camp which is based at the Victoria Sport and Beach hotel near Falesia Beach in Portugal takes place over two weeks, March 7-14 and 14-21.

30/05/2025

We are busy selecting the wines, designing the food menu and recruiting the musical entertainment. We are expecting a record field at this year's Bacchus Wine Half Marathon and 10K hosted by Denbies Wine Estate in Dorking. Although the race will take place on Sunday September 7, which is still over three months away, we are already down to just over 500 remaining entries. Our limit, dictated by the narrowness of large stretches of the course, is 3000 runners; 1800 in the half and 1200 in the 10k, each going off in waves of 300 runners every 10 minutes from 9.30am.
There will be no exceptions, when it's sold out we will be closed for 2025, so don't wait too long if you want to be part of England's biggest wine/running festival.

29/05/2025

We are approaching last call for entries for this year's South Downs Half Marathon and 10K in Queens Elizabeth Country Park near Petersfiled on Saturday June 7.
We are also still looking for a few more potential 'volunteers' to marshal or work at a drinks station. We pay our 'volunteers' a £50 fee in cash on the day or offer a free entry to one of our future races. In the case of the ever popular Bacchus Wine Half Marathon, which takes places on September 7 in Dorking, that would be a £69 saving!

28/05/2025

It takes time to build an event. You have to believe it and continue to promote it year after year. The rewards are slow. We have always believed in Bhutan, the tiny, uniquely different Himalayan Kingdom that plays host to our Thunder Dragon Marathon and Half Marathon every May.
We've been going to Bhutan for more than 15 years now. When we first visited the country, there was no running and no one had a clue about the marathon and why you would want to run that far for no good reason. In the first year of the event we had to 'bribe' the local 'runners' to take part with free entry, free meals and free transport to and from the event.
That tradition has continued. The race is still free for local runners, funded by the entry fees from the international field which also covers generous prize money for the Bhutanese.
It is slowly working. There are now running clubs in Thimpu, the capital of Bhutan and Paro, where we hold our races and there is real competition to win one of the free local slots in the race.
At the same time the international field has grown. Overall it's still a small race, albeit the biggest by some way in Bhutan, but last Sunday we had our biggest field with 174 runners representing 15 different countries across the two races.
Run at an altitude over 2000 metres with a numbers of significant climbs, it's a tough race but performances are improving along with the size of the field. At this year's race the two first men in the marathon both broke the old course record with the winner Jampei Choda coming home in 2:59:39, our first sub three performer.
To provide some context to that time, the course record for an international runner in the marathon is outside four hours and this year's top international marathon performer, Switzerland's Corinne Hofstetter finished in 4:52:40. But you don't come to Bhutan to run fast times.
There is still some way to go before the Thunder Dragon Marathon and Half Marathon match our ambition for the event but each year we are moving closer.