This previous weekend, I coated the SportsShoes.com Podium Pageant (March 16) at New School in Leicester and one second stood out.
Round half-way by way of the occasion – which began at 12pm and completed round 8pm – I used to be approached by somebody who advised me they’d watched a few the movies we’d posted on AW‘s socials earlier on within the day and had pushed up from London to Leicester to observe the motion unfold.
These clips in query had been behind the scenes recordings of the competition itself, together with the end line and a stage for bands/artists/DJs to carry out on.
The truth that somebody had considered these clips and thought it’d be a good suggestion to make the 100 mile plus distance journey from London to Leicester on the drop of a hat, spoke volumes of what SportsShoes.com Podium Pageant organiser and Podium 5k founder Chris Barnes was making an attempt to realize.
Podium 5k was created again in 2014 with the philosophy of ‘placing the athlete first’. Over greater than 50 non-profit races for affiliated and non-affiliated athletes have since occurred prior to now decade.
Howdy Leicester 😍
We’re on the @sportsshoes_com @podium5k Pageant and it’s sure to be an exhilarating day of motion 💥
Motion is from 12pm to 8pm and finishes off with British & European document makes an attempt over 5km ⚡️
Stay stream: https://t.co/2bdvUMG9i8 pic.twitter.com/1AN2vNKJRY
— AW (@AthleticsWeekly) March 16, 2024
Final 12 months, SportsShoes.com acquired Podium 5k and the primary occasion that came about after that announcement was ‘Breaking 10’, which noticed Emile Cairess run 45:57 and smash Richard Nerurkar’s European 10-mile document of 46:02.
The last word purpose of the Podium 5k collection is to supply athletes the very best likelihood to interrupt data, set private bests and reward them with engaging prize cash. Nonetheless, there may be additionally a major emphasis on fan engagement and that’s what’s most placing.
Followers lined the boundaries of the SportsShoes.com Podium Pageant. Coaches, membership members and the chums/household of these operating helped create a visceral environment, with these each watching and racing yards away from one another.
As a fan, you might actually go and seize a pizza, watch each the racing and a stay band concurrently earlier than going to check out among the newest sneakers from among the greatest international manufacturers.
SportsShoes.com Podium Pageant (Jerry Solar)
That’s as a result of, alongside the electrical guitar, drums or saxophone being blasted out of the loudspeakers, the SportsShoes.com Podium Pageant additionally attracted Adidas, Puma, Asics, Hoka, Garmin, Saucony, New Stability, Mizuno and Salomon to Leicester, to call only a few.
That is even earlier than mentioning the standard of the racing concerned.
With an general prize pot of £30,000 and the backing of manufacturers, a group of Olympic and world medallists flocked to the occasion. The ultimate 5km races of the day had been earmarked as British and European document makes an attempt and included the likes of world 1500m champion Jake Wightman, world 800m bronze medallist Ben Pattison and double European indoor 3000m bronze medallist Melissa Courtney-Bryant.
The headline act nevertheless was world 5km champion and Olympic and double world 5000m medallist Hagos Gebrhiwet.
Gebrhiwet, in what was, protected to say a deluge, set a surprising British all-comers 5km document within the males’s race with 13:19, bettering Marc Scott’s 13:20 from Barrowford – additionally a Podium 5k occasion – 4 years in the past.
Hagos Gebrhiwet (SportsShoes)
Fellow Ethiopian Asmarech Anley claimed victory within the ladies’s competitors with 14:59 and beat Kenyan Caroline Nyaga by hundredths of a second.
Elsewhere, Nick Griggs completed third in a Northern Irish document of 13:39, Will Barnicoat set a surprising better of 13:43 to complete as the highest Brit and Jake Wightman ran his quickest ever 5km with 13:52.
Abbie Donnelly additionally went joint-seventh on the UK 5km all-time listing with 15:18, Courtney-Bryant ran a better of 15:27 and Kate Axford ran her quickest 5km in 15:34.
Maybe extra impressively although was the sheer scale of non-public bests all through the meet.
Throughout the 11 5km races all through the afternoon/night, there was an estimated 65% private finest strike price.
Elite males’s 5km at SportsShoes.com Podium Pageant (Jerry Solar)
Within the male class, 13 runners secured sub-14 minute 5k race instances, whereas sub-15 and 16 minute instances had been clocked by 156 and 289 entrants respectively.
Throughout the feminine runners, two achieved sub-15 minute race instances and 21 accomplished in below 16 minutes. Sub-17 minute instances had been seen with 76 runners and 133 recorded sub-18 minute instances.
The prize cash additionally helped.
For every of the elite 5km races, the winners acquired £2.5k with £1k and £500 given to those that completed second and third respectively. That cash filtered right down to these between seventh and tenth who acquired £100 every.
The SportsShoes.com Podium Pageant additionally placed on an modern 1km time trial earlier within the day, one thing out of the Tour de France playbook.
Erin Wallace and James Younger secured victories within the TT and took residence £2k every.
A very cool idea on the @sportsshoes_com @podium5k Pageant.
A 1km time trial the place athletes have the prospect to win £2k.
The athletes who’ve the present quickest time preserve the cheques till somebody goes faster. pic.twitter.com/X6peNg8zLu
— AW (@AthleticsWeekly) March 16, 2024
Compared to different sports activities, this won’t appear an ideal deal at a fast look. Nonetheless, to place that into perspective, those that completed fifth eventually 12 months’s Diamond League ultimate at Hayward Discipline obtained $2.5k – the equal of just below £2k.
Occasions just like the SportsShoes.com Podium Pageant are necessary as a result of whenever you look under the cover of a Diamond League in London – the 50,000 sell-out meet was the one highest attended athletics occasion on this planet final 12 months – the UK is essentially bereft of elite degree competitions.
There are exceptions. Ben Pochee’s staggeringly good Night time of the ten,000m PBs has set the usual with regards to offering charming races and enthralling leisure. The British 10,000m Olympic trials will happen at Highgate on Might 18.
The British Milers Membership additionally produce plenty of glorious meets and this 12 months can be no exception, with 10 ‘gold customary’ races throughout the outside monitor season.
Considerably, Night time of the ten,000m PBs and 5 BMC meets [Manchester – May 25, Watford – June 8, Loughborough – June 22, Birmingham – July 6 and Bury – August 10) are on the World Athletics Continental Tour. Also on the list is the Belfast Milers Irish Meet (May 11), Loughborough EAP Meet (July 24) and Monument Mile Classic (August 24).
That’s nine in total.
Night of the 10,000m PBs (Getty)
The fact that the SportsShoes.com Podium Festival was labelled a World Athletics Label Road Race, meaning that like events on the continental tour ranking points were up for grabs, is important.
Earlier in the season, I chatted to a number of British athletes who mentioned that due the dearth of competitive domestic opportunities for them indoors, they’d have to travel to mainland Europe and beyond to collect ranking points.
Ben Bloom, in a recent article for AW, pointed out that 14 World Indoor Tour events took place in France, with nine in Germany and five in Czechia. These were three countries who claimed a combined total of three medals at last year’s World Championships in Budapest. In comparison, Great Britain claimed 10 medals and didn’t hold a single meet on the indoor tour this past winter.
It’s obvious that the UK is well behind mainland Europe when it comes to hosting athletics events. We’re not on about the glitz and glamour of a Diamond League but those meets which attract a couple of thousand spectators at a time.
Holly Bradshaw, who claimed Great Britain’s first ever Olympic medal in the pole vault at the Tokyo Games, was at the SportsShoes.com Podium Festival with Mizuno. She told me the atmosphere was akin to a pole vault street meet you’d get in Germany, Belgium or Switzerland for example.
Mondo Duplantis (Getty)
Above all, the SportsShoes.com Podium Festival highlighted that it is possible to innovate successfully without leaning too far away from the traditional elements. Fans can understand the metrics of a quick 5km as it translates into a parkrun. Maybe less so for a 1km time trial but that cycling style format worked a treat and I wouldn’t be against seeing it in other events.
It’s one of the reasons why that person travelled up all the way from London to Leicester. Innovation done properly sells and this was evidence of it.
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