runABC South brings you breaking news of decisive action taken by the ever agile Richmond RUNFEST team in the face of the ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic and all the knock-on effect that's had on major sports events.

RUNFEST has revamped their entire programme and announced a new events calendar for 2021, with the advice to: “start KEW-ING now for Richmond RUNFEST 2021!” The headline changes are that Richmond Marathon moves to a new spring date of Saturday 27 March; the brand new AIR:10K event moves both venue and date to Kew Gardens on Sunday 28 March and Richmond Half Marathon returns with all the usual RUNFEST trimmings in September.  

Race Director Tom Bedford explains the changes: “Richmond Marathon was sadly postponed in 2020 but will be back with many social distancing measures and will be the only mass spring marathon in London, as the London Marathon has moved to an autumn date”.

Tom adds: "I’m really excited about the AIR:RUN finally happening as the event was postponed twice due to COVID-19, but with our successful, socially distanced 10K’s inside Kew Gardens, we have a venue that will make it third time lucky! We also look forward to welcoming our runners back to our normal Richmond RUNFEST event in September; this will include a 5K, 10K, Half Marathon and Kids’ races, accompanied by our music after-party in Old Deer Park (COVID-19 permitting)”. 

Richmond RUNFEST organisers have the recent experience of holding two COVID-secure Kew Gardens 10K events over one weekend, setting the blueprint for March 2021 and the launch of AIR:10K. AIR stands for ‘Audio Inspired Running’ and runners will be able to hear an audio tour of Kew Gardens as they run, whilst listening to their own music at the same time.

Looking forward to better times ahead, Tom Bedford said: “2020 was a tough year for many of our events but we were still able to put on two socially distanced 10K's that are about to raise £200,000 for charity. We would like to say a big thank you to our runners and volunteers who have supported us through this year, and we look forward to a more positive 2021!”

Entries for the spring Richmond Marathon and AIR:10K are now open with COVID-19 safety procedures and a refund policy to protect runners, just in case 2021 is not what we all hope it will be. Richmond RUNFEST 2019 raised over £730,000 for charity during last year’s event and in seven years they have raised £3 million in total. 

To register for any of the 2021 events, visit Richmond RUNFEST here

Image courtesy Richmond RUNFEST