Seven free places left! Run for CDA and learn sign language for free

We have seven free #TeamCDA places at the Great Eastern Run half marathon in Peterborough on Sunday 11 October. Take one and we will teach you British Sign Language, free, for you and a guest.

Date: Sunday 11 October 2026
Start: 10:30am
Distance: Half marathon, 13.1 miles
Start and finish: The Embankment, Peterborough PE1 1EF

You do not need to be an experienced runner. If you have ever thought “maybe I could do a half marathon one day”, this is the year — and CDA will get you to the start line.

Whether you already run every week or have never run further than for a bus, we would love to have you on the team. There are seven places left and, with the race just over six weeks away, we need the final team signed up quickly.

Learn British Sign Language, free

Every #TeamCDA runner gets a free beginner’s British Sign Language class — two hours of tuition covering the basics — and you can bring your partner, a friend or a family member along with you at no cost.

Lots of people tell us they would love to learn BSL but never quite get round to it. Run for CDA and you start that journey at the same time as you take on the run.

What you get as part of #TeamCDA

A free race place
A free beginner’s BSL class for you and a guest
A training plan to help you prepare
A Team CDA running top
Group training runs with other Team CDA runners
Help with your fundraising, and plenty of encouragement along the way
Team CDA supporters cheering you on from our gazebo on race day

What we ask

We ask each runner to aim to raise £200 or more — and we will help you do it. Every pound goes into CDA’s sports programme, which brings deaf and hard of hearing people together through pickleball, boxing and the Cambs Hammers deaf football teams. We have just launched deaf and hard of hearing walking football at Power League in Stanground, starting on 21 September.

Sport is about far more than fitness for our community. It supports physical health and wellbeing, and it creates spaces where deaf BSL users, CODAs, and hearing family and friends all take part together — open to anybody, at any age.

This is a chance to combine three things — taking on something great, raising money that genuinely makes a difference, and starting your sign language journey. A lot of people tell us they would love to learn BSL but never quite get round to it. This is a great opportunity to learn some for free, at the same time as running the Great Eastern Run and raising important funds for Cambridgeshire Deaf Association.
Andrew Palmer, Cambridgeshire Deaf Association

About the Great Eastern Run

The AEPG Great Eastern Run is Peterborough’s biggest running day. It first ran in 1982, and the half marathon now fills up to 8,000 places. The route starts and finishes at The Embankment beside the River Nene and takes runners through the city centre and the grounds of Peterborough Cathedral.

It is one of the flatter half marathons in the country — entirely on roads, with around 65 metres of climb across the whole 13.1 miles — which makes it a good choice for a first half marathon as well as for anyone chasing a personal best. The race is run on closed roads, with chip timing, five water stations, pacers, a finisher’s medal and a cut-off of three hours 30 minutes.

CDA is there every year with a gazebo at the event village, cheering our runners in and teaching passers-by their first signs.