The 1970s saw continued expansion of club activities, particularly amongst the younger age groups, both in track and field and cross-country. This was the time when running in general began to boom across the world and a number of influential road races were born. Dartford Harriers in response to this road running boom developed our own road race, the Dartford Half Marathon. This was first run in 1977, with the winner being Steve Ovett who went on to become 1980 Olympic 800m champion and set multiple World track records in distances ranging from 1000m to 2 miles.The Dartford Half Marathon remains to this day and is one of the most successful and friendly annual road races in Kent.