SportsShoes.com announces first ‘Podium Festival’ with races and ‘brand village’

SportsShoes.com will be hosting its first ‘Podium Festival’ in Leicester on 16 March 2024, with a race featuring 1,000 runners and a ‘brand village’ housing 10 brands including Adidas, Puma and New Balance.

Approximately 2,000 spectators are expected to attend as more than eight hours of racing, ranging in format and distance, will take place over the course of the event, with a total prize fund of £30,000 – "the biggest domestic racing has ever seen".

The exclusive brand village, believed to be the first-of-its-kind at any community racing event, will provide brands with the opportunity to showcase their products and will serve as a platform for new product and community activations, as well as featuring their run crews and brand ambassadors.

Other brands that have signed up include Asics, Hoka, Garmin, Saucony, Mizuno and Salomon.

There won’t be any on-site purchasing of products, that will all be done online, however attendees will be able to order with some exclusive promotions on the day.

The festival has been set up to cater for athletes of all abilities, "ranging from junior levels to Olympians". There will also be attempts to break both the British and European 5-kilometre records in both the elite male and female races.

Plans for the event follow the retailer’s acquisition of community race organiser Podium 5K to enable further record attempts and the diversification of its running events.

Dan Cartner, Head of Marketing at SportsShoes.com, said: "Since Podium 5K was founded, it has set a new standard for community running events. Now, with the inaugural SportsShoes.com Podium Festival, we are taking it to the next level.

"This will be something the running community has never seen before with the fastest runners competing for the biggest prize pot ever seen in a domestic running event.

"It’s great to also welcome our brand partners to exhibit in our first-ever brand village to showcase their latest product activations to event attendees.

"The event will truly be an unmissable opportunity and is another example of us breaking the mould for our brand partners and the athlete community."

Since its launch, Podium 5K has organised more than 45 non-profit races for affiliated and non-affiliated athletes and expanded to include events in London, the Midlands and Wales.

Sportsshoes.com Podium Festival Race Manager, Chris Barnes, said: "It’s a very exciting prospect to have all the brands come together for one big event.

"We look forward to welcoming them to SportsShoes.com Podium Festival and hope to see some record-breaking race action across the day from the runners taking part."

Alongside the racing and brand village, additional entertainment at the event will include 10 hours of DJs, bands and live entertainment.

Bradford-headquartered SportsShoes.com was established in 1982 and offers customers more than 17,000 products from around 150 running and outdoor brands.