Europe’s Iconic 5K Race Unveils Its Out-of-the-Box Secret Sauce to Buck Trends and Triumph with Tradition

As the 2024 Paris Olympics is only a few days away, anticipation across various sports can be felt in the air. Amidst the preparations for the Summer games, track and field spectators’ attention is on the upcoming Podium 5K. Interestingly, the Podium 5K festival, commencing on 16th March this year, is coming up to celebrate a decade of its foundation since its first event in 2014.

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With the top-ranking 1500m athlete, Chris Livesey’s inaugural race, Podium 5K, has developed strength over the years. Now, the event features more than 1000 runners across the nation, witnessed by over 2000 sports lovers at the best-ever 5K run. However, this year’s 5K is quite different from others.

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As the 5K Podium is commencing today, Athletics Weekly took to their official Twitter account to share ecstatic news along with a couple of pictures of the participating athletes. Alongside the pictures, they penned, “A really cool concept at the @sportsshoes_com @podium5k Festival. A 1km time trial where athletes have the chance to win £2k. The athletes who have the current fastest time keep the cheques until someone goes quicker.“

This year, the Podium event has welcomed a 1k time trial with Hannah Nuttall, Erin Wallace and Niamh Bridson-Hubbard on the women’s side, whereas Tiarnan Crorken is on the male side. The major reason for welcoming these fastest athletes is that the current fastest will be keeping the cheques until surpassed by quicker athletes.

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In an exclusive interview, Dan Cartner, head of marketing, said, “This will be something the running community has never seen before, with the fastest runners competing for the biggest prize pot (£30,000) ever seen in a distance running event.” With a chance to win 2K euros, the 5K podium festival will feature over eight hours of racing with several activities and products from lucrative brands, including Adidas, ASICS, Saucony, Mizuno, Salomon, New Balance, Puma, and Hoka.

What makes Podium 5K much more attractive is its record-setting athletes.

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Podium 5K: setting the pace for record-breaking performancesBeing no stranger to the record-shattering process, Podium 5k comprises Beth Potter, who clocked in a time of 14:41 to clinch a British record in 2021. In addition to this, Marc Scott is another athlete who is shining on the track, with a record of 13:20 under his name. Apart from this, European Runner Emile Cairess accomplished a 10-mile record with a 45:57.

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As per the entries registered so far, elite races will be comparatively faster this year. With Robin Hendrix on the Men’s side, Podium 5k will be targeting to break the European Record. “Nothing has really changed for me with Podium 5k. It has always been athlete first. I’m also very fortunate that Sportsshoes.com have allowed Podium 5k to continue with this ethos,” says Chris Barnes.