Beckenham Place Run on Sunday (6th March) was the inaugural event in the brand new Greater London Challenge presented by UK Running Series who have established a network of five beautiful trail races in South East, South West, North East, North, and West London. This exclusive series is strictly limited to the first 150 applicants for each location.

The format at each venue will be the same with a 5K out and back loop course and options to run 5K, 10K, or the half marathon that started proceedings at 10:00am. Beckenham Place Park is the largest green space in the London Borough of Lewisham and boasts 237 acres of ancient woodland, rolling hills, a lake, and several miles of pathways and trails.

Despite the intentionally challenging terrain, there were some impressive results in all categories. Lloyd Gray (1:31:30) and Sophie Smith (1:46:16) headed the timesheets in the half marathon and the final competitor was only 52 minutes in arrears.  

The 10K route was led by Barney Wareing (40:56) and the exceptional W65 master Janet Lenton (Orpington, 48:20) while the 5K winners were Will Withecombe (17:26) and Christine Leang (17:41).  

Each Greater London Challenge event has a bespoke, colour-coded medal and the reward for those dedicated athletes who complete all five races is a superb Greater London map medal in gold, silver, or bronze – a real collector's item.  

UK Running Series is spearheaded by the team behind international company Z Adventures Europe, specialising in bespoke marathon running adventures in over 40 countries spanning six continents. The company plans to organise events in over 80 counties throughout England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.  

Race organisation at all UK Running Series events includes fully stocked, vegetarian and vegan-friendly aid stations; custom-designed finisher's medal; first aid support; fully marked and marshaled course, and an environmentally-friendly, cupless hydration system (bring a bottle!).  

For information on future events visit UK Running Series here.

For results of Beckenham Place Run visit runABC South race listing here

Image courtesy Derek Harding, Race Director, UK Running Series