ASICS London 10K, organised by Limelight Sports Club, takes runners through the true geographical centre of London on a scenic route from Green Park to the finish on Whitehall, just past Downing Street.

The latest edition of this hugely popular race did not feature any of the Members of Parliament who are currently engaged in their own race to reach number 10 Downing Street but there were 7,327 athletic members of the public who were involved in their own battle in the capital.

Runners assemble in Green Park and head along Picadilly, Regent Street, Pall Mall, and Strand before passing opposite London Eye on Victoria Embankment (pictured above). They then rub shoulders with Big Ben after crossing Westminster Bridge twice just before the finish line.

Finisher numbers have been static at around 8,000 since the pandemic restrictions eased and the quality at the front has also been maintained with Andrew Heyes (Hallamshire Harriers, 29:02) defending his title with an improvement of 23 seconds over his 2021 time and finishing just six seconds outside his 2019 PB of 28:56 set at the Brighton Marathon 10K.

Runners-up this year were ASICS-sponsored athlete Dewi Griffiths (Swansea Harriers, 29:16) and Daniel Jarvis (Bedford & County, 30:26) – coincidentally the same time as the third-placed finisher achieved last year when runners started in waves to mitigate Covid risks.

W40 Irish Olympian and ASICS FrontRunner Kerry O'Flaherty (Windsor, Slough & Eton, 35:09) won a close women's race from Anya Culling (Best Athletics, 35:25) – whose recorded PB for 10K was 55:01 back in 2018 – and ASICS Polish FrontRunner Beata Popadiak (35:51). 

Just under 300 runners beat 40 minutes and more than 1,600 finished before 50 minutes appeared on the clock. Even more impressively, some 3,844 managed better than 6min/km pace for a sub-60-minute finishing time despite the hot conditions. The timing clock stopped at 2:32:56 for the 7,327th finisher.

Results and 2021 race report at runABC South race listing here

Image courtesy Limelight Sports Club on Facebook