Special races in special places
James from Sporting Feet chats to RUN-FEST founder Tom Bedford about the origins of RUN-FEST, what goes into making a race day work and his vision for the future… oh, and jumping off a bridge with Mo Farah!
James: Tell us who you are and a bit about RUN-FEST and the company behind it please?
Tom: I'm Tom Bedford. I've been a runner for a long time. I went to St Mary's College locally. I used to run steeplechase but switched to the marathon. I ran a 2.19 marathon back in the day. I've been involved in the industry and the sport for a long time. I was only ten when I worked at the first London Marathon. My old man used to be the race director there. So, in some ways, RUN-FEST feels like a natural extension of everything I've always known: racing, staging events, and creating moments runners will remember.
"I cold-called Kew and said, “How would you like to have Mo Farah running through your gardens?”
The idea that really started everything came after the London 2012 Olympics, when everyone was talking about legacy and getting more people active. I wanted to put on a race through Kew Gardens, so I cold-called Kew and said, “How would you like to have Mo Farah running through your gardens?” Luckily, Paul, the guy I spoke to, was an Olympic nut, and immediately said, “You're having a laugh. You don't know Mo Farah and can't promise that.” So I asked him to Google 'Tom Bedford, Mo Farah, Kingston Bridge', to find a Guardian article interview with Mo, where back in university days, we got naked and jumped off Kingston Bridge on the way home from a nightclub. So Mo came and launched Kew and the rest is history.
That first event, 13 years ago, brought in a couple of thousand runners. Jade [now Assistant Race Director and Tom's wife], my girlfriend was working as an actress and I asked her, "Can you help me organise this? It could be massive." We still work together. We're based in Teddington and we've got ten events here and we'll have 12 running events next year. So yes, that's how RUN-FEST was created.
James: What was the original vision behind RUN-FEST?
Tom: I'd done some work in America and really loved the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon idea. You don't just have a race; you have entertainment on the course, music afterwards and something for friends and family to enjoy too. At the time, no one was really doing that here. So we wanted to create an event with good medals, good t-shirts and a proper after-party feel, rather than people simply crossing the line and heading straight home.
Timing was part of it as well. A March race was never going to feel much like a festival, so September made sense for the original Richmond RUN-FEST weekend. My pitch to Kew was simple: the race could go around the gardens, but opening the gates would make it feel special. That partnership helped shape the whole personality of the event, which starts in the gardens but finishes somewhere else.
James: Why do you think running is booming again?
Tom: There's definitely been a big boom, especially among younger runners. You've got a generation that isn't drinking as much and habits have changed. Running gives people community and fitness and COVID played a part as well. In that first summer, everyone seemed to start running because the weather was great. The winter was harder, of course, but for a lot of people the habit had already stuck. Events help because they give people something to aim for, as well as a shared experience after all that training.
James: What makes a RUN-FEST event different?
Tom: For us, it's about putting races in places people actually want to spend time. We like fast, flat courses, but the setting matters just as much. Kew, Worthing, Littlehampton and now Windsor all give people a reason to bring family, hang around afterwards and make more of the day. So if you're in Worthing, for example, you go and go to a restaurant on the beach. It's a day out for the whole family and everyone's engaged. We want it to feel like more than just turning up, running and leaving.
“For us, it's about putting races in places people actually want to spend time.”
Of course, there is a very practical side to that ambition. Road closures and venue hire are expensive. The marathon route through Kew Gardens, Hampton Court Palace and a council-owned finish area costs close to £100,000 in land hire alone. For a road-closed event to work, the numbers have to be there. You need 2,000 minimum. Otherwise the events are not going to make a profit.
The River Thames Running side of the business has a slightly different feel. Races such as the Kingston Breakfast Run, Hampton Court Half and River Thames Half may be smaller and less festival-led, but they have a strong local following. They are beautiful, flat, familiar events that mean a lot to the runners who come back year after year.
James: What do runners expect now, that they did not expect ten years ago?
Tom: Sustainability is a much bigger conversation now. When we started, plastic bottles at water stations were still normal. We pushed towards cups and tried to encourage councils and other organisers to think the same way. There are some things event organisers can share with each other because, in the end, they help everyone.
How runners receive information has changed too. Long race manuals are easy to ignore, so final instructions need to be shorter, clearer and easier to digest. Videos, maps and timely reminders can do a lot of the heavy lifting before race day. You've got to keep things simple. Most people don't read long instructions anymore.
James: What does the public never see on race day?
Tom: Race day is not as stressful for me as some might think, because of everything you've done in preparation. Race day is mostly about solving problems before anyone else notices them. Someone might not turn up, a contractor might be delayed, or the weather might throw something at you. You are constantly looking for little fires and trying to put them out quickly.
One of the less glamorous but surprisingly important areas is toilets. At Kew, space is tight, so toilet queues can have a big impact on whether everything starts smoothly. I sometimes stand at the front of the queue, directing runners into free cubicles and gently keeping things moving. If I can save ten seconds per person, it can make a real difference to the start time. So before the race, I'm looking for things like that, any showstoppers and how we can get around it.
Once the runners are off, I'll often get out ahead of the lead bike and look at the course from a runner's point of view, radioing back anything that needs fixing. Later, in the finish area it's a bit more relaxed: keeping people moving, avoiding queues, making sure the goody bags last and helping tired runners through the final few metres of the event experience.
James: How do you improve events year after year?
Tom: When an event goes well, it feels like running a PB yourself. You get that euphoria, that adrenaline rush. But if something goes wrong and you spend the next year trying to fix it, you really do not want to see the same thing happen again. We should always be learning. We shouldn't be failing twice on the same thing.
“We should always be learning. We shouldn't be failing twice on the same thing.”
We've been around the block now. We've had some very successful years and some very bad years. We had an event where the Queen passed away 48 hours before the event and Kew Gardens told us the event couldn't take place and we had to deal with that. We had a RUN-FEST event that was on the hottest day in 115 years and that was certainly a bad day at the office, but most people who have done our events see progression, improvements and, but we hold our hands up when things go wrong and learning from those mistakes has made us stronger.
Growing from one race to ten has made the team think much more carefully about systems and processes. It is not just about the exciting bits; it is vans, kit, staff, traffic plans and making sure everything is loaded safely and consistently. The more often you stage events, the sharper those processes become, and the more energy the team can put into making the runner experience relaxed and enjoyable.
James: So how do you create an event that appeals to both elite athlete club runners and first timers?
Tom: It's very difficult, and I'm not sure I have the answer, but one thing we did this year with our Kew events was hold some places back for the Surrey Road League competition to encourage club participation. We offer discounts for club members for the River Thames Running series too and try to engage with clubs and help with their races too. We're very good at providing races for beginner runners and if hundreds beginners have a good time, they'll want to do another race or get into the sport or join a running club.
James: What's next for RUN-FEST?
Tom: Our Richmond RUN-FEST now is back over 2 days like it used to be. We're also taking on the organisation of Windsor Half Marathon, which is just a brilliant event and has more than 40 years of history in Great Windsor Park. When Jade and I first met the Crown Estate, it reminded us a little of those early conversations with Kew. It's a special place, and you immediately start thinking about what the event could become.
“It's a special place, and you immediately start thinking about what the event could become.”
That does not mean RUN-FEST is trying to become huge for the sake of it. Growth has to feel right. They have to be the right events. I'm interested in races with history, character and a genuine reason to exist. I'm looking at a corporate challenge event now although Jade will probably be pleased to hear that I'm trying not to look for too many more.
James: How important is community?
Tom: Community is massive. RUN-FEST works with clubs, local races, parkrun groups and running shops because the whole ecosystem matters. When more people run, everyone benefits. Confirmation emails point runners towards training plans and local clubs, so someone who enters a race as a beginner has somewhere to go next.
The advice and help that running shops like Sporting Feet provide runners is great too, which is why we enjoy sending our runners to your shops, because I know they're going to get a good service and, you're part of the community that will point them in the right direction depending on their needs.
James: We often deal with runners at the start of their journey when they've just signed up to events like RUN-FEST and love to hear how it went afterwards.
Tom: Sometimes that community starts with feedback like that. I believe in trying to get as much feedback from marshals and runners as possible. I remember one runner complaining about a water station in our first year and saying she would look after it herself the following year. Thirteen years later, she and her family are part of the wider RUN-FEST family, helping at events and even working in the control room. It is the kind of story that shows how a race can become more than a date in the calendar.
James: How important are the charities partnerships?
Tom: Charities bring so much colour and purpose to race day and we're very privileged to have so many race with us. A half-marathon charity place raises around £650 on average, and across RUN-FEST events runners raise about £1 million for good causes. So we do some serious numbers now. Jade works closely with charity partners, helping them make the most of their places and, sometimes, steering them away from decisions that could cost them thousands of pounds.
For many people, the reason for running is deeply personal. I remember a woman finishing the Kingston Breakfast Run in tears after power-walking and jogging her way round at the back. We stayed with her at the finish and helped her through the moment because she was in bits. Running can help people process grief, set a target and prove to themselves that they can see it through.
On a lighter note we once had a guy that emailed saying: “I've completed your Richmond marathon for charity and here's my tattoo.” The whole of his calf was all about Richmond and Kew Gardens. It had the medal on there. It even had his running bib number and sponsor. I didn't dare tell him the sponsor was about to change!
James: What would you like runners to take away from this interview & RUN-FEST?
Tom: If you are an experienced local runner, you have probably seen me around already. And if you are new to running, welcome. It is a brilliant community, full of interesting characters, friendly clubs, social groups and people who genuinely want to help. Come along to one of our races and say hello.
Sporting Feet will have a stand at Richmond Runfest on Sunday September 13. Please come and say hi and check out our exclusive offer!