The Virgin Sport Hackney Half Marathon in 2019 was a fully sold-out fusion of running, music, fitness and food in the happening London Borough of Hackney. More than 17,500 ran the main event and a further 1,000 took part in the previous day’s Hackney Free 5K. Our picture above shows a delighted Joseph Ng during the 2018 race in which he finished 5,050th with 1:50:38.  

The 2020 event was cancelled due to the Covid pandemic and race management was transferred to Limelight Sports Club, the team who are also responsible for ASICS London 10K and Oxford Half Marathon plus numerous high profile cycling, duathlon, and triathlon events. 

Hackney Moves is the new name for the UK's largest outdoor fitness festival incorporating the free to enter Hackney 5K – with an exclusive NIKE Dri-Fit technical tee and medal for all finishers – on Saturday 15 May.

Hackney Moves weekend starts the previous day and concludes with the flagship Hackney Half on Sunday 16 May 2021. With 2020 being a necessarily fallow year, this will be the third running of this great event in the vibrant Borough of Hackney.

The inaugural champions in 2018 were Paul Whittaker (Southend, 1:06:55) and Isabel Clark (Serpentine, 1:18:10). The current Hackney Half title holders from 2019 are Jonathan Cornish (Hercules Wimbledon, 1:06:58) and Emily Stewart (Edinburgh, 1:19:45).

Limelight Sports Club tells us the deadline for entry transfers from the postponed 2020 event has now passed and a few spaces remain for the Hackney Half for anyone who is ready to: “move silly or move serious over three epic days”. 

Limelight Sports Club also states they are: “Reaching out to the first-timers, the fast-timers, the old-timers and the good-timers”. Sounds like that's just about all of us, then!

Race details and previous results are available via runABC South race listing here

Register your interest for Hackney 5K, or enter Hackney Half here

Image: Limelight Sports Club on Facebook