World-class athletes will feature alongside 1,000 runners at a free community running and brand exhibition event being held at New College Leicester.
Olympic medallists including Ethiopia’s Hagos Gebrhiwet and Team GB triathlete, Alex Yee will take part in the Sportsshoes Podium Festival, on March 16, alongside Commonwealth Games medallist, Jake Wightman.
Athletes in the women’s class include Commonwealth Games medallist, Melissa Courtney-Bryant and European Games medallist, Hannah Nutall. Kenyan long-distance runner and African Championships gold medallist Caroline Nyaga will also run alongside European Cross Country Championship medallist Abbie Donnelly.
More than eight hours of racing ranging in format and distance will take place over the course of the event. The total prize fund is over £30,000, which is one of the biggest domestic racing has ever seen.
The event has been set up to cater for athletes of all abilities, ranging from junior levels to Olympians. There will also be attempts to break both the British and European 5-kilometre records in both the elite male and female races.
It is free for spectators to attend and the event will also be livestreamed across SportsShoes.com’s channels.
Dan Cartner, head of marketing at Sportsshoes.com commented: “Our mantra of ‘it’s no fun standing still’ means we always look to do things differently here at Sportsshoes.com.
“Proof of this is the record breaking pedigree by runners at our previous Podium 5k events. Now, with Sportsshoes.com Podium Festival, we can stake a claim as one of the UK’s fastest running festivals with amongst the largest prize pot.
“It’s fantastic to see world class talent sign up and run alongside the 1,000 confirmed entries for what will truly be an unmissable event in the running calendar.”
The event will also have an exclusive brand village which will house 10 of SportsShoes.com’s brand partners and believed to be the first of its kind at any community racing event.
The village provides brands with the opportunity to showcase their products and will serve as a platform for new product and community activations, as well as featuring their run crews and brand ambassadors. Brands that have signed up include Adidas, Puma, Asics, Hoka, Garmin, Saucony, New Balance, Mizuno and Salomon.
Alongside the racing and brand village, additional entertainment at the event will include 10 hours of DJs, bands and live entertainment.
Additional record-breaking runs at Podium 5K events include the British men’s road record of 13:20 achieved by Marc Scott and an unofficial women’s world record of 14:41 by Beth Potter. At the SportsShoes.com Podium 5K ‘Breaking 10’ event, British distance runner Emile Cairess broke the European 10-mile run record, clocking a time of 45:57.
