The green shoots of the much-vaunted 'new normal' seem to have finally arrived, judging by the tremendous response to the inaugural Kew the Run Half Marathon, Kew the Run 10K, and Kew the Mile races at the weekend (9-10 April). 

Nearly 5,000 runners voted in favour by racing in and around the world-famous Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew. And many more family members and supporters enjoyed free admission to the gardens as part of the winning package from the Richmond RUNFEST team.

The inaugural timeoutdoors sponsored Kew Gardens 10K kicked off the weekend with 1,887 finishers in just over two hours. The entire course was within the lush grounds of Kew Gardens and about as flat as you will find anywhere. The top three men were Jonathan Parr (Fairlands Valley Spartans, 33:54), George Bailey (34:12) and Dillon McEvoy (Fulham RC, 34:49).

The leading women's trio were Molly Chilton (Bristol & West, 39:38 PB), Steph Macleod (Bedford Harriers, 41:07 PB) and Eleanor Buckmann (Queens Park Harriers, 42:41).

The brand new Kew Gardens Half Marathon topped the bill on Sunday (10 April) with 2,255 completing the course that started and finished inside Kew Gardens before taking a scenic tour of Richmond alongside the River Thames on what is claimed to be London's flattest half marathon, with a net drop of 5 metres and a total of just 65 metres elevation across the entire 13.1 miles.

First back to the spectacular Kew Gardens finish line was London 2012 Olympian and 61:25 half-marathoner Scott Overall (Blackheath & Bromley Harriers, 1:09:23) nearly three minutes clear of James Boustead (Kent AC, 1:12:14). Third-placed Roman Banias (1:14:56) – who ran 1:14:48 in last year's RUNFEST Half Marathon – was also just inside 75 minutes. 

Kew The Mile took place during the half marathon on the broad boulevards inside the Royal Botanical Gardens. The pacemakers were Nick Shasha (5:02) and Eva Barton (5:40) – who was second fastest overall.

The RUNFEST team is now looking ahead with confidence to the next events: Worthing RUNFEST on Sunday 24 April; Kempton Park Running Festival on Sunday 29 May and the original Richmond RUNFEST weekend on 10-11 September 2022. Click here for details.

Results from Kew Gardens 10K and Kew Gardens Half Marathon are available via runABC South race listing.

Image courtesy Kew the Run/Richmond RUNFEST