realbuzz.com Richmond RUNFEST are ready for a record running attendance with an amazing prize to aim for.

Over 9,000 runners will gather at Kew Gardens across the weekend of 14th and 15th September to enjoy the seventh edition of this hugely popular running festival.

This year there is a real incentive for the runners! A luxury plus one trip to the Cayman Islands will be awarded to the male and female winners of the Richmond Marathon along with two random spot prizes for any finisher (and their plus one) in the Kew Gardens 10K and Richmond Half Marathon.

The favourite for the men’s race is 2012 Olympian Chris Thompson, who has a personal best of 2 hours 11 minutes. Chris said “If I’m lucky to win the race I’ll try and use the trip as a much awaited honeymoon at the end of the season!”. The women’s marathon elite event is wide open with a number of women who could win. Two randomly selected finishers will also win this amazing get away.

Adrian White, Cayman Dept of Tourism says: “The Cayman Islands are a fantastic British Caribbean Island that I am sure will act as a huge incentive for Chris and all of the other marathon runners to win the race. The winners will get a chance to run the IAAF-sanctioned Cayman Marathon (or half) as well as enjoy the miles of beautiful white sandy beaches, clear turquoise seas and Caymanian hospitality. I am also thrilled to be able to support wider participation in the Richmond RUNFEST and look forward seeing the smile on the faces of the randomly selected finishers when they get told they have won a trip to the Cayman Islands.”

A More Sustainable Event

This year the event has been working with our partners at ‘Lucozade Sport’ and ‘Visit Richmond’ to reduce the amount of single use plastic at the event. Our event partner Lucozade Sport will be making all of their on-course bottles for this year’s event from 100% recycled plastic as part of their commitment to reducing their environmental impact.

Tom Bedford, Race Director adds: “It’s another year and the realbuzz.com Richmond RUNFEST gets bigger and more sustainable. A record number of runners and a record amount raised for charity is expected and I’m extremely excited to find out who wins these amazing prizes to the Cayman Islands!

Many of our events have been sold out for months but there is still an opportunity to enter our brand new graze Richmond SUNDOWN 5K that starts at 7pm on the Saturday followed by the singers from Basement Jaxx.”

The realbuzz.com Richmond RUNFEST is now West London’s Largest mass participation event and is hoping to reach a total of £3 million raised for various charities that take part. The event is all inclusive with 6 different distanced events, kids events and a free fitness expo and music after-party in Old Deer Park. For more information please visit www.richmondrunfest.co.uk.