Teesside's newest running festival could hardly have asked for a better start. The first two-day Middlesbrough Runs festival, held over the weekend of 29 and 30 August, drew thousands of runners onto the town's streets in warm sunshine, with organisers reporting record participation across the programme as the rebranded event replaced the long-running Middlesbrough 5K and 10K.
Sunday's centrepiece pairing of the Middlesbrough 10K and the Ali Brownlee 5K carried particular emotional weight this year. 2026 marks the tenth anniversary of the death of Alastair Brownlee, the beloved local commentator known as the Voice of the Boro, and organisers worked closely with his family to make the weekend a celebration of his life and legacy. Local media described a wave of positivity carrying runners around the course.
The festival also introduced Families on Track, an event created by marathon great Paula Radcliffe that gives family groups of all ages the chance to complete a 10K relay together in a controlled, traffic-free environment. The format is designed to lower the barrier to entry for households who might never otherwise pin on a race number, and early signs suggest it struck a chord.
Elsewhere in the British running community it was a weekend of contrasts. In London, Clare Elms became the oldest ever winner of the Serpentine Last Friday of the Month 5km in Hyde Park, taking victory just months before her 63rd birthday and adding another line to one of masters running's most remarkable careers.
There was frustration in the East Midlands, however, where the Nottingham Running Festival was called off after travellers occupied the event venue overnight, leaving organisers with no safe way to stage the races. The cancellation was a reminder of how fragile mass-participation events can be — and, set against Middlesbrough's success, of how much they matter when they go right.