Yorkshire comes out in full force to support the 10th Anniversary of the Yorkshire Marathon Festival

The city of York was a buzz with excitement today as the Yorkshire Marathon Festival celebrated its 10^th Anniversary. A running festival for everyone, this year’s 10^th Anniversary edition featured the Yorkshire Marathon, Yorkshire 10 Mile and Yorkshire Marathon Relay.

Records were also broken as Katy Wood set the Run For All 10 Mile and Yorkshire 10 Mile Female Course Record. 

The Yorkshire Marathon Festival is staged under the umbrella of Jane Tomlinson's Run For All, the UK’s largest not-for-profit events company.

Drawing participants of all ages and abilities both nationally and internationally, over 10,000 fun-runners, fundraisers and club runners returned to the city’s streets in a carnival-like celebration of running, fundraising and Yorkshire pride.

As per previous years, the Yorkshire Marathon Festival championed and celebrated the unbeatable spirit and qualities of Yorkshire – pride, warmth, inclusivity and community spirit.

Attracted by the opportunity to run through the city of York and surrounding Yorkshire countryside, the Yorkshire Marathon has proved itself a destination marathon since 2013.

Showcasing the true beauty of Yorkshire and encapsulating the city of York and surrounding Yorkshire landscape and terrain, the marathon course decorates local sights such as York Minster and the ancient city walls, before travelling north eastwards out of the city.

Participants travelled through surrounding villages Stockton on the Forest, Grange Wood, Upper Helmsley, Stamford Bridge, Gate Helmsley, Turkers Wood, Murton, Osbaldwick and back towards Heslington.

A huge standout moment of the day was Harvey Gration, the son of the late BBC Yorkshire Broadcaster Harry Gration MBE, officially starting the Yorkshire Marathon. Lacing up his trainers in aid of Myeloma UK, a type of blood cancer his dad had in the later years of his life, Harvey then joined the masses of marathon runners to take on the 26.2-mile challenge.

Marathon runners were joined by a host of famous faces including British rugby league coach and former professional player, Jamie Jones Buchanan MBE and comedians Rob Deering and Paul Tonkinson. 

The fastest male in the marathon was Joe Sagar in 02:24:10, with Gary Briscoe 02:26:05 and Mohamed Abshir taking third place in 02:26:34. 

First woman home was Melissah Gibson who clocked 02:40:41. Hannah Berry finished second in 02:43:14 and Jenny Blizard was third in 02:52:21.

The first Elite Wheelchair participant across the line was Callum Hall in a time of 01:55:02, followed by Bret Crossley who clocked 02:05:46 to take second place, with Mark Godman-sin finishing third in 03:10:26. 

The Elite Yorkshire 10 Mile Wheelchair race started at 10.10am, followed by the mass 10 Mile start at 10.15am. The Yorkshire 10 Mile took in much of the same route as the marathon but over a shorter distance.

Among those who took part in the Yorkshire 10 Mile included one of Yorkshire’s most fundraisers, John Burkhill. John, from Sheffield has been fundraising for MacMillan since 2007 and after 15 years of pushing his pram around the city of Sheffield and completing races up and down the county, hit his £1 million fundraising target. John was taking part after being recognised at last week’s Pride of Britain Awards.

The men’s 10 Mile race was won by Carl Mills in 00:50:18, followed by Euan Brown who took second place in 00:50:27 and Arun Dight who took third place in 00:50:28. 

Records were then broken as Katy Wood set both the Run For All 10 Mile Female Course Record and Yorkshire 10 Mile Female Course Record, crossing the finish line in a time of 00:56:53.  Julie Briscoe took second in 00:59:19 and Ruth Cole came third place in the time ​01:01:00. 

The previous Yorkshire 10 Mile female course record and Run For All 10 Mile Female course record was set at the 2019 Yorkshire 10 Mile by Sharon Barlow in a time of 00:58:56. 

Commenting on the day, Mike Tomlinson, CEO of Run For All said: “A huge congratulations to everyone who took part in today’s 10^th Anniversary Yorkshire Marathon Festival. It was wonderful to celebrate this fantastic this monumental milestone with so many.

“A truly spectacular day and an amazing atmosphere from start to finish, it was wonderful to once again see so many participants of all ages and abilities join us on the start line.

 “Whether it to be fundraise for a special cause close to their heart or to chase a personal best, we hope that everyone who took part enjoyed their Yorkshire Marathon Festival experience.

“Since launching the Yorkshire Marathon Festival in 2013, the running festival has been committed to enabling participants of all abilities to take part, while also acting as a fundraising vehicle for many worthwhile charities across the UK. We are proud to be able to continue facilitating this commitment ten years on. 

“I’d like to take the opportunity to say a huge thank you to the University of York, City of York Council and all of our sponsors and partners for their continued support enabling the Yorkshire Marathon Festival to continue to grow.

“A massive thank you also needs to go out to our participants, spectators and volunteers. As ever, they have truly made this year’s Yorkshire Marathon Festival a special day to remember.”

As part of the event, runners have been encouraged to fundraise for their own charity of choice or one of the event’s partner charities. Partner charities include St Leonard’s Hospice, Macmillan Cancer Support, York Mind, Age UK York and the Jane Tomlinson Appeal. 

The day also saw over 50 teams take part in the Yorkshire Marathon Relay. Racing to become the fastest team on the day, teams of six including colleagues, friends or friends each took on one leg of the course and passed their armband baton to their waiting team members. The results will be announced at a later date. 

The Yorkshire Marathon Festival highlighted the incredible communities in and around the city, from music groups, running clubs, volunteers, schools and universities; all corners of the city came out to show their support for the event.

This year’s Yorkshire Marathon Festival was supported by the University of York, York Sport High 5, Coopah, Erdinger, Gradwell, Arla Protein, BBC Radio York, Up and Running, Business Desk, the Yorkshire Society, Shokz, Personal Best Vests, Regen Physio, The Press, Marathon Photos Live and York Mix Radio.

Run For All are also delighted to announce that discounted entries are now open for next year’s Yorkshire Marathon Festival.

Set to take place on Sunday 20^th October, potential participants will also be available to take advantage of a brand-new package for 2024, the Yorkshire Marathon VIP Experience.

Runners are encouraged to go to www.runforall.com for more information.