For any event organisers, there’s nothing more special than hosting an event in your home town. On Sunday this dream became a reality for Ben Green, as he opened up the Golden Gates of Warrington’s Bank Park, allowing 1500 runners to take to the streets. The inaugural Warrington Running Festival hosted fields of 5k, 10k, Half Marathon runners of all abilities and were all won in some fast times with Chris Hazeldine taking the Half title in a rapid 1.15.35 and Sarah Ryder taking the women’s title in 1.22.28.
Ben Green, a founder of RunThrough, had this to say: “We do events all over the country and some huge races but to come to Warrington and close down the town centre to get all of these runners on the road doing something I’ve been involved in my whole life – it is quite special”.
Hosting on the same day as the famous Great Manchester 10k had its challenges, with several runners opting for the more well known event.This coupled with the reputation of previous running events in Warrington, stacked the odds against this event. But nevertheless, the sun came out and the town massively got behind making this a great day out.
The event village was a buzz throughout the day, with live music, coffee and cake stalls and Bach95 beer to enjoy, with the Physio lounge providing the hype via mass warm ups for all the races, and post race massages. With the finishers being greeted home with unique themed medals, Kind bars, love corn and Actiph water.
The race was started off in style by Cllr Maureen Creaghan, the mayor of Warrington clapping on the 10k and Half marathon, and walking the 5km runners down the high street to start their run. The kids race went down a treat with a local karate club taking on the mile route with force.
This event is a landmark for Warrington, with high hopes for Ben and RunThrough to expand on for next year. With the support of the council and community, there’s hopes this could double in size for the return of the Running Festival proposed for the 25th September 2022.
