It's still London's flattest 10K and has been ironed out even more than last year's inaugural Kew Gardens 10K, with a net drop of three metres and a 'peak' of just 11m to climb! A few tweaks to the route have made the Kew Gardens 10K an even more exciting prospect and the next chance to blast that PB will be on Saturday 1 April, 2023

This is day one of Kew The Run weekend which concludes with the Kew Gardens Half Marathon on Sunday 2 April. Unlike the 10K, which stays entirely within the world heritage site Royal Botanical Gardens, the half marathon starts by The Hive in Kew Gardens, then follows the Thames Towpath through leafy Richmond to loop around Ham Polo Club before returning to finish inside Kew Gardens.

The half marathon course has a net drop of 5m and a total elevation gain of 65m – still London's flattest 13.1-mile race and surely one of the most beautiful half marathons to run anywhere. You will also be running in the footsteps of Olympians as Kew was chosen to host the Tokyo Olympic Marathon Trials in March 2021 – won by Chris Thompson (pictured above). It's only 2-3 weeks out from London and Manchester Marathons so it's the perfect tune-up race for your big day.

Last year's first staging of Kew Gardens 10K was won by Jonathan Parr (Fairlands Valley Spartans, 33:54) and Molly Chilton (Bristol & West AC, 39:38) – the 31st of 34 finishers inside 40 minutes. There were 1,887 runners home in just over two hours.

The 2022 Kew Gardens Half Marathon champions – from a field of 2,255 finishers in 3:21:03 – were London 2012 Olympian Scott Overall (Blackheath & Bromley Harriers, 1:09:23) and Catriona Paterson (Hillingdon AC, 1:22:57). More than 80 runners completed the course inside 90 minutes.

Every finisher receives a superb medal; a technical running T-shirt in male and female cut and as a real bonus – free entry into Kew Gardens (check for any restrictions when entering). So why not make a weekend of it and perhaps enter both races? 

GoFundMe Kew The Run weekend is presented by the same team who are behind the hugely successful Worthing RUNFEST (30 April 2023) and Richmond RUNFEST (9-10 September 2023). For full details and entries go to the Kew The Run website now.

Previous results and reports of the Kew Gardens 10K and the Kew Gardens Half Marathon at runABC South race listing.

 Images courtesy Tom Bedford, Kew The Run website