TUI taps into UK's running craze with marathon holidays in three EU countries

The going was getting tough. Twelve miles into my first half , a hill I had skipped up six miles earlier now loomed large as the final straight neared. Sweat dripped onto my TUI-branded running shirt. All the training plodding around the park near my house while listening to bangers had brought me to this point.

By my side was my brother Louis, a teacher who had flown to Rhodes on the first available flight come the start of the Easter holidays, to take part in the island’s 10th annual running race.

His veteran marathon runner status would prove crucial for pace-setting as the crest of the hill neared. I squeezed a coffee-gel pouch snatched from a volunteer into my mouth and pounded on up the tarmac, a roadside Afrobeat ensemble providing the perfect upbeat tempo to power us on.

Over the top and down the other side we went, the early morning Greek sun shining as we turned into the final straight. We crossed the finish line together, lifting our hands up like young Eliud Kipchoge/Brownlee brother hybrids, drinking in the cheers.

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Right now the world, and the UK in particular, is in the grips of a running boom. Strava runs rose 9% last year, and the number of participants in UK races increased 39% in 12 months. Participation in running clubs shot up 59% globally in 2024, according to Strava, and over a quarter of Brits now run at least one to three times per week - a 5% increase compared to last year.

TUI is clearly aware of this trend and is looking at ways of drawing in the running market. It wants to see if the joggers of this world can be tempted to get hot and sweaty around the pool of a Mediterranean resort, as well as while pounding the pavement.

The German travel giant is throwing its sponsorship weight behind three sports, rather than a whole catalog of slightly random teams, races and events as it was several years ago. Although the other two sports are yet to be announced, TUI's relationship with running is full steam ahead, with backing for races in Palma, Cyprus and Rhodes.

"It is a way to extend the tourist season," Thomas Ellerbeck, a member of the TUI’s Executive Committee and the chief sustainability officer, tells a group of run-tired journalists in a boardroom in the TUI Atlantica Hotel on the Greek island. One study found each travelling runner brought along 2.9 guests - a significant boon for hotels in the typically quieter months of April and October when most races take place.

The plan clearly worked in the first year of TUI's sponsorship of the Rhodes race, with around 4,500 runners from 60 countries turning up. Among their number was a group of Northern lads (later to be found downing beers in the airport departure lounge) who had decided to wrap a few days of holiday around the race.

Andrew, from Balham in south London, made it to the starting line in a different way, having heard about the run from a stranger on the flight over. Deciding to forgo an official chip-measured time, he snuck his way onto the starting line in the spur of the moment. "I'm not even doing this race, really," Andrew explained happily at around the five-mile mark, having only meant to jog back to the hotel before getting caught up in action.

While most took things a little more seriously, not everyone was quite as high-performance as Moses Kiptoo, a Kenyan who won the overall marathon gold medal for a second year in a row in a time of two hours and 21 minutes.

Several dads triumphantly carried their babies over the finishing line. Another entrant kept me going for a kilometer with their White Lotus theories. A group from a Greek running club saw off the half in around one hour 40 before they lit cigarettes in the morning sunshine.

TUI is pitching its races at the casual runner curious to throw themselves in a little more; those who may be tempted by the cheap and hassle-free entry that is at odds with most UK marathons. For some, this meant a first 5km race, weaving through the streets beneath the Rhodes Town’s UNESCO Knights Hospitaller fort. For me, it meant accepting my fate as an early 30s Londoner and running a half marathon for the first time.

I now fully understand what the fuss is all about. It was a totally different activity from my slogs around the park, music blaring in my ears to drone out the sound of the London traffic and feeling of January rain. Running en-masse makes it easy to slip into the rhythm of a fellow runner and go for a PB, or find another to chat to, taking it easy and soaking up the sights of a new route. However you approach it, the day will be a special one.

It was my first half marathon, but four days on and I’m already eyeing up my next race.

Book it

Entry places and package holidays to the TUI Palma Marathon on October 19 TUI offers a seven-night holiday to Rhodes, Greece staying at the 5T on an all-inclusive basis from £1,646 per person.