London Half Marathon at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park

In this interview series, Ahotu will be speaking with the people behind some of the most unique races across the globe. We’ll be discussing the history of the event, challenges and how to overcome them, attracting sponsors, reaching new runners and more! In this month’s interview, we’re catching up with Matt Wood founder and Race Director at RunThrough Events. With over 100 events a year across the UK, RunThrough are one of the largest race organisers in the UK. ‍ Thanks for joining us Matt. Runners across the UK will no doubt be familiar with your races, but for those who aren’t, could you tell us a little bit about RunThrough? RunThrough was founded in 2013 by myself and Ben Green. We have been friends since university but known each other for around 20 years while we competed against each other over the 800 and 1,500m on the track as kids then at Loughborough University. Now, helped by our experience as ex-England international track athletes and our shared passion for running, RunThrough has grown to become one of the UK’s largest and most popular running brands and event organisers. In our last full year we staged around 170 event days across the UK, attracting more than 120,000 runners. In the next 12 months that will be over 200 events. RunThrough stage events at many prestigious locations, including popular London venues such as Hyde Park, Regents Park, Clapham Common, Greenwich Park, Richmond Park and Battersea Park, as well as Hampton Court Palace, Knebworth House, Colchester Zoo, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and Thorpe Park. We also collaborate with other major UK tourist attractions such as Alton Towers, Aintree Racecourse, Tatton Park, Media City and many more. Along with organising some of the UK’s fastest road closed races like the Cheshire 10k & Ribble Valley 10k. How did you get involved in organising races? Where did it all start for yourself and RunThrough? I personally have worked on sporting events all over the world, had my own nightclub events business and contracted for some of our now competitors like London Marathon and Great Run. The idea for RunThrough came about over a beer after we chatted about the way Ben and I saw running events and how we thought they could be run in a more professional way, by a team of people who actually LOVED to run. With the hope we could bring people who were not sure if a running event was for them, into a world we know they’d enjoy!‍ You’ve recently hosted a number of events since restrictions have eased across the UK, in particular the Leicestershire Half Marathon. How has it been returning to in-person events?‍ It’s great to be back! We have taken to it like a duck to water. RunThrough have probably staged more Covid-safe events than any running organiser in the world, definitely the UK. Last year around 25% of all races under UKA guidelines since Covid were organised by RunThrough.‍ What are the main differences to your races pre and post Covid? Has the atmosphere changed at all? Not having spectators does change things a lot, but runners are so happy to be back running that their enthusiasm still does help keep that atmosphere motivational for everyone!‍ We all know the challenges Covid has presented for races, what have been the positive impacts of the pandemic for RunThrough / your races? ‍We hosted a lot of virtual races! We tried to launch RunThrough Virtual in 2016 but there wasn’t the appetite then. But now with 10,000’s of people running a RunThrough Virtual from around 60 countries all over the world in 2020 it has been fantastic to see. Has your strategy regarding virtual events changed now that in-person has returned?‍ As we now have Virtual Marathon Series, which continues to provide challenges for people wanting to run virtually for charities. We have seen that people do still want a virtual option so we are pleased to have such a cool platform where people can find challenges to do virtually. With the launch of RunThrough Kit in 2020, how has it been managing a busy race schedule, whilst also launching and running a sportswear company? RT Kit has really taken off for us! Maintaining a full range of clothing for men and women is a challenge but we hope, over the next few years, we can become a permanent fixture in the sportswear market as we continue to innovate. We’ve got a great range of pieces that can be found on www.RunThroughKit.com. With your races taking place right across the country, where do your runners tend to come from? Is it mainly locals or do people travel from further afield for your events? It’s a mix dependent on the venue and size of event. It’s always great to see international runners, as I said earlier we had people from almost 60 countries run a virtual event so we hope they make the trip to the UK to see us after the restrictions end! What can runners expect from a RunThrough event? What are the upcoming races on the horizon that they can take part in? A passion for running, a smiley face and a professionally organised event! We have so many it’s hard to pick but you can find them all on RunThrough.co.uk. We have some really cool new events this year with a 10k at Hampton Court Palace to add to our popular Half Marathon there. We also have a 10k & Half Marathon at Alton Towers with some cool road closed events in Warrington and Altrincham near Manchester. Aside from Ahotu, are there any partners / tools that RunThrough work with that you want to give a special mention to? ‍This year we have partnered up with Macmillian Cancer Support, Kind Bars, Runners Need, Actiph Water and Love Corn! Some fantastic brands that we are very proud to be working so closely with. ‍Thanks for taking the time to talk with us Matt. It’s really encouraging to hear how positive your return to in-person racing has been and we look forward to working with you and watching RunThrough continue to put on great races across the UK!‍ Interested in taking part? You can register for upcoming RunThrough Events like the On London Half Marathon with Ahotu – London Half Marathon at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park Matt also posts regular running and RunThrough related content on his instagram www.instagram.com/mattwoodywood To feature in our interview series you can drop us an email on [email protected] Interested in promoting your race with World’s Marathons or Ahotu? Contact us on [email protected]