The SportsShoes.com Podium Festival was one of few meets in the UK to attract both elite athletes and focus on fan engagement

This past weekend, I covered the SportsShoes.com Podium Festival (March 16) at New College in Leicester and one moment stood out.

Around halfway through the event which started at 12pm and finished around 8pm I was approached by someone who told me theyd watched a couple of the videos wed posted on AWs socials earlier on in the day and had driven up from London to Leicester to watch the action unfold.

Those clips in question were behind the scenes recordings of the festival itself, including the finish line and a stage for bands/artists/DJs to perform on.

The fact that someone had viewed those clips and thought itd be a good idea to make the 100 mile plus distance journey from London to Leicester at the drop of a hat, spoke volumes of what SportsShoes.com Podium Festival organiser and Podium 5k founder Chris Barnes was trying to achieve.

Podium 5k was created back in 2014 with the philosophy of putting the athlete first. Over more than 50 non-profit races for affiliated and non-affiliated athletes have since occurred in the past decade.

Hello Leicester

Were at the @sportsshoes_com @podium5k Festival and its bound to be an exhilarating day of action

Action is from 12pm to 8pm and finishes off with British & European record attempts over 5km

Live stream: https://t.co/2bdvUMG9i8 pic.twitter.com/1AN2vNKJRY

AW (@AthleticsWeekly) March 16, 2024

Last year, SportsShoes.com acquired Podium 5k and the first event that took place after that announcement was Breaking 10, which saw Emile Cairess run 45:57 and smash Richard Nerurkars European 10-mile record of 46:02.

The ultimate aim of the Podium 5k series is to provide athletes the best possible chance to break records, set personal bests and reward them with enticing prize money. However, there is also a significant emphasis on fan engagement and thats what is most striking.

Fans lined the barriers of the SportsShoes.com Podium Festival. Coaches, club members and the friends/family of those running helped create a visceral atmosphere, with those both watching and racing yards away from each other.

As a fan, you could literally go and grab a pizza, watch both the racing and a live band simultaneously before going to try out some of the latest shoes from some of the biggest global brands.

Thats because, alongside the electric guitar, drums or saxophone being blasted out of the loudspeakers, the SportsShoes.com Podium Festival also attracted Adidas, Puma, Asics, Hoka, Garmin, Saucony, New Balance, Mizuno and Salomon to Leicester, to name just a few.

This is even before mentioning the quality of the racing involved.

With an overall prize pot of 30,000 and the backing of brands, a collection of Olympic and world medallists flocked to the event. The final 5km races of the day were earmarked as British and European record attempts 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 however was world 5km champion and Olympic and double world 5000m medallist Hagos Gebrhiwet.

Gebrhiwet, in what was, safe to say a deluge, set a stunning British all-comers 5km record in the mens race with 13:19, bettering Marc Scotts 13:20 from Barrowford also a Podium 5k event four years ago.

Fellow Ethiopian Asmarech Anley claimed victory in the womens competition with 14:59 and beat Kenyan Caroline Nyaga by hundredths of a second.

Elsewhere, Nick Griggs finished fourth in a Northern Irish record of 13:39, Will Barnicoat set a stunning best of 13:43 to finish as the top Brit and Jake Wightman ran his fastest ever 5km with 13:52.

Abbie Donnelly also went joint-seventh on the UK 5km all-time list with 15:18, Courtney-Bryant ran a best of 15:27 and Kate Axford ran her quickest 5km in 15:34.

Perhaps more impressively though was the sheer scale of personal bests throughout the meet.

Across the 11 5km races throughout the day, there was an estimated 65% personal best strike rate.

In the male category, 13 runners secured sub-14 minute 5km race times, while sub-15 and 16-minute times were clocked by 156 and 289 entrants respectively.

Across the female runners, two achieved sub-15 minute race times and 21 completed in under 16 minutes. Sub-17 minute times were seen with 76 runners and 133 recorded sub-18 minute times.

The prize money also helped.

For each of the elite 5km races, the winners got 25000 with 1000 and 500 given to those who finished second and third respectively. That money filtered down to those between seventh and tenth who got 100 each.

The SportsShoes.com Podium Festival also put on an innovative 1km time trial earlier in the day, something out of the Tour de France playbook.

Erin Wallace and James Young secured victories in the TT and took home 2000 each.

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. pic.twitter.com/X6peNg8zLu

AW (@AthleticsWeekly) March 16, 2024

In comparison to other sports, this might not seem a great deal at a quick glance. However, to put that into perspective, those who finished fifth at last years Diamond League final at Hayward Field received $2500 the equivalent of just under 2000.

Events like the SportsShoes.com Podium Festival are important because when you look below the canopy of a Diamond League in London the 50,000 sell-out meet was the single highest attended athletics event in the world last year the UK is largely bereft of elite level competitions.

There are exceptions. Ben Pochees staggeringly good Night of the 10,000m PBs has set the standard when it comes to providing captivating races and enthralling entertainment. The British 10,000m Olympic trials will take place at Highgate on May 18.

The British Milers Club also produce a number of excellent meets and this year will be no exception, with 10 gold standard races across the outdoor track season.

Significantly, Night of the 10,000m PBs and five 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).

Thats nine in total.

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, theyd 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 years World Championships in Budapest. In comparison, Great Britain claimed 10 medals and didnt hold a single meet on the indoor tour this past winter.

Its obvious that the UK is well behind mainland Europe when it comes to hosting athletics events. Were 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 Britains 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 youd get in Germany, Belgium or Switzerland.

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 wouldnt be against seeing it in other events.

Its 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 OFarrell (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