The SportsShoes.com Podium Competition was one among few meets within the UK to draw each elite athletes and deal with fan engagement
This previous weekend, I coated the SportsShoes.com Podium Competition (March 16) at New School in Leicester and one second stood out.
Round midway by means of the occasion – which began at 12pm and completed round 8pm – I used to be approached by somebody who instructed 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 look at the motion unfold.
These clips in query have been behind the scenes recordings of the pageant 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 Competition organiser and Podium 5k founder Chris Barnes was attempting to attain.
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.
Hey Leicester 😍
We’re on the @sportsshoes_com @podium5k Competition and it’s certain to be an exhilarating day of motion 💥
Motion is from 12pm to 8pm and finishes off with British & European report 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 occurred after that announcement was ‘Breaking 10’, which noticed Emile Cairess run 45:57 and smash Richard Nerurkar’s European 10-mile report of 46:02.
The last word intention of the Podium 5k collection is to offer athletes the absolute best probability to interrupt information, set private bests and reward them with engaging prize cash. Nevertheless, there’s additionally a big emphasis on fan engagement and that’s what’s most hanging.
Followers lined the boundaries of the SportsShoes.com Podium Competition. Coaches, membership members and the buddies/household of these working helped create a visceral ambiance, with these each watching and racing yards away from one another.
As a fan, you could possibly actually go and seize a pizza, watch each the racing and a reside band concurrently earlier than going to check out among the newest sneakers from among the largest world manufacturers.
SportsShoes.com Podium Competition (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 Competition additionally attracted Adidas, Puma, Asics, Hoka, Garmin, Saucony, New Steadiness, Mizuno and Salomon to Leicester, to call just some.
That is even earlier than mentioning the standard of the racing concerned.
With an total 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 have been earmarked as British and European report 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 nonetheless was world 5km champion and Olympic and double world 5000m medallist Hagos Gebrhiwet.
Gebrhiwet, in what was, protected to say a deluge, set a shocking British all-comers’ 5km report 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 girls’s competitors with 14:59 and beat Kenyan Caroline Nyaga by hundredths of a second.
Elsewhere, Nick Griggs completed fourth in a Northern Irish report of 13:39, Will Barnicoat set a shocking 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 checklist 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 day, there was an estimated 65% private finest strike fee.
Elite males’s 5km at SportsShoes.com Podium Competition (Jerry Solar)
Within the male class, 13 runners secured sub-14 minute 5km race occasions, whereas sub-15 and 16-minute occasions have been clocked by 156 and 289 entrants respectively.
Throughout the feminine runners, two achieved sub-15 minute race occasions and 21 accomplished in beneath 16 minutes. Sub-17 minute occasions have been seen with 76 runners and 133 recorded sub-18 minute occasions.
The prize cash additionally helped.
For every of the elite 5km races, which additionally included the England Athletics 5km Championships, the winners acquired £2500 with £1000 and £500 given to those that completed second and third respectively. That cash filtered all the way down to these between seventh and tenth who acquired £100 every.
The SportsShoes.com Podium Competition additionally placed on an progressive 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 £2000 every.
A very cool idea on the @sportsshoes_com @podium5k Competition.
A 1km time trial the place athletes have the prospect to win £2k.
The athletes who’ve the present quickest time maintain 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 awesome deal at a fast look. Nevertheless, to place that into perspective, those that completed fifth ultimately 12 months’s Diamond League last at Hayward Subject obtained $2500 – the equal of just below £2000.
Occasions just like the SportsShoes.com Podium Competition are vital as a result of if you look beneath the cover of a Diamond League in London – the 50,000 sell-out meet was the only highest attended athletics occasion on the planet final 12 months – the UK is essentially bereft of elite stage competitions.
There are exceptions. Ben Pochee’s staggeringly good Evening of the ten,000m PBs has set the usual on the subject of 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 wonderful meets and this 12 months will likely be no exception, with 10 ‘gold customary’ races throughout the outside observe season.
Considerably, Evening 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.
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.
Results
Elite men (A Race): 1 H Gebrhiwet (ETH) 13:19; 2 A Langat 13:24; 3 D Kosen (KEN) 13:27; 4 N Griggs (IRE, U20) 13:39; 5 B Magnusson (ICE) 13:42; 6 W Barnicoat 13:43; 7 V Ortiz-Rivera ((PUR) 13:43; 8 J West 13:44; 9 D Kimaiyo 13;48; 10 AV Christensen (DEN) 23;49; 11 J Wightman (Edin) 13:52; 12 I Balabanov (BUL) 13:54; 13 Z Seddon (Brack) 13;55; 14 M Chazarra 14:00; 15 R Allen (Leeds) 14:01
B Race: 1 T Crockett (Exe U) 14:13; 2 J Woods (Worth) 14:21; 3 J O’Farrell (Liv) 14:21
Sub 15 race: 1 J Smith (Kend) 14:18; 2 H Jonas (Norw, u20) 14:25; 3 L Sone (AFD) 14:30
Elite women: 1 A Anley (ETH) 14:59; 2 C Nyaga (KEN) 14:59; 3 M Yeshaneh (ETH) 15:14; 4 A Donnelly (Linc W) 15:18; 5 M Courtney-Bryant (Poole) 15:27; 6 V Ockenden (Swan) 15:27; 7 J Lau (NED) 15:33; 8 K Axford (Belg) 15:34; 9 M Davies (Sale) 15:34; 10 A Quirk (Brack) 15:35; 11 C Ruiz (ESP) 15:35; 12 C Gallardo (ESP) 15:37
B Race 1 H Taunton (Taunt) 16:41; 2 L Armitage (Sale) 16:44; 3 V Hiscock (Read) 16:47
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