Like any race distance, whether you’re training for your first competition or have a lot of races under your belt, there will always be a point when you want to start comparing yourself to others and see how you fair.
Like most people reading this, you’ve probably researched and started to look at what a good half-marathon time is and how you’ll get on against the average runner.
The average half marathon time for Men is 1hr 55mins, and for Women, it’s 2hrs 11 mins.
Many factors, such as age, gender, ability level, form, experience and weather conditions, play a role in your Half Marathon time.
A half marathon is a race that is 13.1 miles long. It can be broken into smaller units: 13.1094 miles, 21.0975 kilometers, and 23072.5 yards.
According to the research, the average half marathon time for men of intermediate level is around the 1:55 mark. The average pace for intermediate male runners is around 7:15 min/mi.
| Age | Time |
| 20 | 1hr 43mins |
| 25 | 1hr 43mins |
| 30 | 1hr 44mins |
| 35 | 1hr 43mins |
| 40 | 1hr 46mins |
| 45 | 1hr 51mins |
| 50 | 1hr 56mins |
| 55 | 2hr 01mins |
| 60 | 2hr 07mins |
| 65 | 2hr 13mins |
| 70 | 2hr 20mins |
The average half marathon time for women is 2.08:00 The average pace for women is 9:57 minutes per mile. Women in their 30s and 40s are the fastest runners, with times of around 9 minutes and 57 minutes, respectively.
| Age | Time |
| 20 | 2hr 01mins |
| 25 | 2hr 01mins |
| 30 | 2hr 01mins |
| 35 | 2hr 01mins |
| 40 | 2hr 04mins |
| 45 | 2hr 08mins |
| 50 | 2hr 16mins |
| 55 | 2hr 20mins |
| 60 | 2hr 35mins |
| 65 | 2hr 42mins |
| 70 | 2hr 55mins |
Many factors can affect half marathon times. Age, gender, fitness level, weather, and course terrain are all significant factors. As runners age, they typically lose muscle mass, leading to slower times. Male runners usually outperform female runners in terms of speed. Fitter runners can run faster than less fit runners. After age 40, most runners’ times start to slow down. Most half-marathons use age grading to compare times to provide fair and equal opportunities. Weather and course terrain can affect half-marathon times significantly. Running on a flat rather than a hilly one will generally result in a faster time. It can be tough to race in the cold if you live and train in the heat.
RunBundle has a great little calculator which enables you to input your time and your age and it will adjust your results accordingly. This is great to see if your time works out better compared to your siblings or kids.
According to the research, the average beginner will take between 2:05 and 2:15 to run a half marathon. A good time for a beginner runner is anything under 3 hours.