If you’re still sticking to your New Year's resolution of exercising more, or if you’re already a fitness fanatic, you might want to sign up to one of the many running events taking place in Dorset and the New Forest this year.

Whether you’re aiming to tackle a full marathon, or looking to try something a bit less challenging, there are a whole host of events to put your name down for. 

1. Returning for another year is Boscombe’s Salty Sea Dog Triathlon on the seafront. It’s ideal for novices looking to enter their first race and athletes who want to keep sharp mid-season.

It takes place at The Overstrand, outside Urban Reef, on Saturday, July 1, and Saturday, August 5, and includes a series of three sprint and super sprint distances ranging from 750m to 11.5km.

2. The ever-popular Poole Festival of Running will take place on the weekend of June 3-4.

The event features children's minithons, a 5k charity race supporting the cancer centre at Poole Hospital, and the main 10k road race.
In response to feedback from last year’s event, the organisers have moved the 10k race to 10.30am on Sunday, to avoid the afternoon heath.

3. The 2017 Bournemouth Marathon Festival is set to take place on the weekend of October 7 and 8, bringing many distances together in one unique festival of running.

It includes the traditional half and full marathons, as well as the ‘supersonic 10k’ and ‘supernova 5k’.

This year’s festival will offer even more races for younger runners including the junior 5k, 2k, 1.5k, and Kids’ Kilometre.

4. The Bournemouth Race for Life features 5k and 10k events to raise money for Cancer Research UK.

It's a great one for beginners as you can run, walk or even dance your way round the course, according to the organisers.

The event takes place on Sunday, June 11, starting from Pier Approach. 

Registration is temporarily closed until mid-January. However, if you enter your details on the website the organisers will email to let you know as soon as they're back up and running on their new website.

5. This year will see the first night time Dorset Neon Runs come to the county to raise funds for local charity Diverse Abilities, which supports children and adults with disabilities in Dorset.

The first event is being held at Poole Park on Saturday, April 8 with a second Dorset Neon Run taking place at Lodmoor Country Park in Weymouth on September 23.

Those that sign up can run, dance or walk around the 5km route and will be provided with glow sticks, bracelets and neon paint to help light up the night and glow as they go.

6. The fifth annual Swanage 10k run takes place on Sunday, February 5. Runners meet outside Swanage Town & Herston Football Club.

7. The 35th Bournemouth Bay Run, in association with the British Heart Foundation, takes place on Sunday, April 2. Choose from a half marathon, 10k road race, 5k fun run and a kids’ (under 13s) 1k fun run.
To celebrate 35 years, this year’s theme will be the 1980s, with runners invited to take part in fancy dress.

8. The 2017 Bournemouth East Cliff Rotary Club annual Easter Quarter Marathon will take place on Easter Saturday, April 15.

9. The Wimborne Dental 20 mile road race takes place on Sunday, March 5. Starting at the playing field at St James’ First School, runners will follow a rural, scenic route with water stations situated every 3.5miles or so.

10. The Maverick Original Dorset Half Marathon is on Saturday, April 8. The route takes in Old Harry Rocks, wild garlic woodlands, the heathlands around Agglestone and the Rempstone Estate.
If you can’t manage the half marathon, there are also 14km and 9km routes available.

11. The New Forest Marathon 2017 will take place on Sunday, September 10, at New Park Showground in Brockenhurst. As well as the marathon, entrants can take part in either the 1k junior race, the 5k and 10k races, or the half marathon.

A few more for those who enjoy running in Purbeck…

12. The Purbeck Running Festival consists of The Purbeck Marathon and Purbeck 16 event and takes place on Sunday, September 17.

The marathon is the main event and the course has around 3,000ft of climbs and is predominantly off-road – the route is closer to 27 miles rather than the conventional 26.2 miles.

It starts and finishes in Swanage and takes in Durlston Country Park, the Jurassic Coast Path, Worth Matravers, Tyneham, and Corfe Castle. 

All proceeds are donated to charity, and over £16,000 has been raised so far.

Purbeck 16 is close to 16.5 miles and starts and finishes in Swanage. From the Downs overlooking the beach, it heads towards Durlston Country Park and along the Jurassic Coast Path before going through the villages of Worth Matravers and Kingston.

The route then heads towards Swanage to finish on the seafront.

13. Don’t try this one unless you’ve trained *really* hard… A 46 mile ultra marathon is taking place on Saturday, May 20. The Jurassic Quarter covers almost half of the Jurassic Coast, and participants are challenged to run the entire course non-stop from Portland Bill Lighthouse to Old Harry Rocks.

Highlights along the way include Durdle Door, Lulworth Cove and Kimmeridge. 

And if one marathon’s not enough...

14. For truly heroic runners, the Jurassic Coastal Challenge involves 78 miles over three days along the picturesque coastal path.

Starting Friday, March 24, runners, joggers and walkers will all take on the challenge (you’re even welcome to crawl if it gets too much…).

Day one starts in Charmouth and finishes at Portland Ferry Road. Day two continues to Lulworth Cove and day three finishes at Shell Bay.

15. And new for this year...

The Dorchester Marathon (and Casterbridge Half) will involve the standard 26.2 miles on closed roads, taking in some of the rural villages of West Dorset. The marathon is organised by the Rotary Club and Whitestar Running and is in aid of Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance.  It takes place on Sunday, May 28, and there are still places available.