The Parish Walk — 85 miles, 17 churches, 24 hours, and how to take part or watch

The Parish Walk 2027 is on Saturday 26 June, starting at 8am from the National Sports Centre in Douglas, and the 24-hour limit runs to 8am on Sunday 27 June. It’s the Isle of Man’s own endurance event: 85 miles on foot, past every one of the island’s 17 parish churches. More than a thousand people start it each June and about a hundred finish. This page covers the route and its cut-offs, who can enter, the records, and how to watch without getting in the way. It’s for residents thinking about entering and for visitors who are on the island that weekend.

For the rest of the year’s events, see what’s on in the Isle of Man.

Parish Walk 2027 date

The walk is always on a Saturday in the second half of June, running through the night into Sunday.

Year	Date	Start
2026	Saturday 20 June (held)	8am, National Sports Centre
2027	Saturday 26 – Sunday 27 June	8am, National Sports Centre

The 2027 date is on the front page of parishwalk.com (opens in a new tab) (checked October 2026). The walk is organised by Manx Harriers (opens in a new tab), the island’s biggest athletics club, and sponsored by Manx Telecom. In 2027 it falls two weeks after the TT ends, so the island is quieter, but beds in Douglas and Peel still go early.

The route and cut-off times

From Douglas the route heads south round the churches of the south, then up the west coast to Peel, across the flat north, and back down the east coast through the night. Distances are from the official route description (opens in a new tab). Closing times are from the organisers’ time ranges at churches (opens in a new tab) (2026). If you’re not through a church by its closing time, your walk ends there.

Church	Miles	Closes
1. Braddan	1.5	—
2. Marown	4	—
3. Santon	11	11.30am
4. Malew	15	12.40pm
5. Arbory	17	1.10pm
6. Rushen	19	1.35pm
7. Patrick	30.5	—
8. German (Peel)	32.5	5pm
9. Michael	39	7pm
10. Ballaugh	42	7.50pm
11. Jurby	45	8.45pm
12. Bride	52.5	10.50pm
13. Andreas	55.5	11.45pm
14. Lezayre	61.5	1.25am
15. Maughold	67	2.50am
16. Lonan	78.5	6.05am
17. Onchan	83	7.30am
Finish, War Memorial	85	8am

Rushen and Peel stay open after their cut-offs for walkers who are finishing there. Peel was open until 6pm for them in 2026. The German checkpoint is at Peel Town Hall, not at the cathedral.

Entering

The rules (opens in a new tab) that matter:

• Age: 21 or over on the day for the full 85 miles. Walkers aged 18 to 20 do the junior race to Peel, 32.5 miles.
• Walking only: judges enforce the contact part of the race-walking rule, so one foot must visibly be on the ground at all times. Running or jogging means instant disqualification. Headphones are banned.
• Beyond Ballaugh: you can’t carry a backpack past Ballaugh, and from there you must be supported by an attendant in a car. Only one support vehicle per walker is allowed on the restricted roads.
• No pacing: nobody can walk, cycle or drive alongside you.
• Registration: in 2026 it was one evening only, the Wednesday before the walk, at the National Sports Centre. Entry fees aren’t refunded.

Entries open on the Parish Walk website (opens in a new tab), usually in the spring. In 2026 they closed on 4 May. When we checked in October 2026 the site still showed the 2026 registration details, with no 2027 entry fee or opening date. Watch the site.

Training

There’s no qualifying standard, which is why so many people start. Most people who finish have trained for months, and the organisers’ own times calculator (opens in a new tab) will tell you how fast you need to walk to beat each cut-off. Some practical points:

• Learn to walk fast without running. The disqualification rule is the one that catches first-timers who break into a jog on the downhills.
• Walk the route in sections using the organisers’ GPX file (opens in a new tab), especially the stretch from Rushen over to Patrick and the night leg from Maughold to Lonan.
• Practise at night. If you’re aiming beyond Andreas, most of your walking will be in the dark.
• Brief your support crew. They have their own rules, including hi-vis from Ballaugh onwards, and time penalties are applied to walkers if the crew breaks them.

Records and results

The 2026 walk (opens in a new tab) broke the oldest record in the event. Callum Gawne won in 14 hours 22 minutes 45 seconds, taking 17 minutes off Richard Gerrard’s 2015 time. The last finisher, Manx Radio reported (opens in a new tab), came in at 23 hours 53 minutes.

Record	Holder	Time
Men’s (overall)	Callum Gawne, 2026	14:22:45
Women’s	Karen Chiarello, 2017	15:53:44
Under-21 men (to Peel)	Alex Eaton, 2014	5:44:58
Under-21 women (to Peel)	Keira Heavey, 2022	6:17:35

Records other than the 2026 men’s time are from the official 2026 programme (opens in a new tab). Lorna Gleave and Samantha Bowden shared the 2026 women’s win in 17:21:08.

The idea is older than the race. In 1852 a man called John Cannel rode round the parishes on horseback, and walked them the following year. The first organised Parish Walking Match was held in 1913, and the event has run as an annual race since 1960, apart from a few cancelled years, including 2020. Full results by year are on the historic results page (opens in a new tab).

How to watch

You don’t need a ticket, and the best spots are free:

• The start. 8am at the National Sports Centre in Douglas, with over a thousand walkers in one go.
• Any church in the south from mid-morning. Santon, Malew and Arbory are the busiest.
• Peel. It’s where the junior race and many adult walkers finish, so it has the best atmosphere of the afternoon. In 2026 a free shuttle bus ran between Douglas and Peel every 20 minutes from 3.30pm to 6.30pm.
• The finish. Douglas promenade by the War Memorial, opposite the Villa Marina. The leaders arrive in the late evening; the bravest finishers come in through Sunday morning.
• Online. Live timing for every walker is on the organisers’ race entry and live timing page (opens in a new tab).

If you’re visiting that weekend, the walk won’t close your roads the way the TT does, but expect slow traffic on the west and north coast roads in the afternoon and evening. See getting around for buses, and our Isle of Man walks if you’d rather do your 85 miles over a week.