It was warm and breezy and a Walker won the 5K at the Quicksilver Running promoted Kempton Park Running Festival on Sunday 28 May 2023.

Ollie Walker was the man who aced the pace in the 5K race, finishing five seconds clear of the pack in 16:34. Lee D'Arcy (16:39) was the close runner-up and Callum Bond (17:42) was third. The top three women were Alexa King (18:29), Nicola Jedrej (23:58) and Georgia Parsons (26:33).

The four-race card included a 10K, a half marathon, and a full marathon with 326 finishers across all distances. The newly introduced 5K extends the previous programme that started life in 2021 as an important post-Covid test event.

The flat and fast courses at Surrey's famous Kempton Park Racecourse are a delight for runners chasing times and beginners looking for a safe, traffic-free event that is not too taxing in terms of terrain.

Next under starter's orders were the 10K runners and M50 Simon Shaw was almost two furlongs clear in 35:05 from Robert Knight (36:25). M50 Dan Johnson (39:15) was third male but he was pipped by Pippa Monk (38:11) who comfortably won the women's race from W55 Jacky Balfour (42:31) and Danielle Enwright (43:11).

Stepping up in distance to 13.1-miles there was a clear victory for Josh Holman (1:15:43) ahead of a great battle between James Carty (1:20:26) and Adam Mayall (1:20:41). Sophia Wilson (1:38:03), Clare Forman (1:44:26) and W55 Michele Coe-O'Brien (1:46:28) led the women's field.

Finally, it was the turn of the marathon runners and the winners (pictured above) were M40 Neil Pollard (2:42:08) and Gaby Reynolds (2:49:59) – who finished first and second overall. The men's podium was completed by Zekeriya Adem (2:57:24) and Dylan Queen (2:58:44) in sub-three-hour times. The women's battle for the rostrum was close as Isabel Richardson (3:25:54) held off Anastasia Hancock (3:25:58) by four seconds.

The full results can be found via the runABC South race listing here.

Image of marathon champions courtesy Quicksilver Running on Twitter