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National Running Show 2025 - The Launch of RUN:EA

The National Running Show is a home for runners of all abilities and is the biggest running community meet up of the year. More than 30,000 people attended the two-day show and we were so excited to be a part of it. We spent the weekend talking to a community of runners, discussing all that England Athletics has to offer and launching our brand new individual running membership, RUN:EA.

It was an amazing weekend for exhibitors and attendees alike with so many exciting things happening across the two days.

The launch of our individual membership was a big talking point of the weekend. RUN:EA is the new individual running membership from England Athletics, created for run-lovers everywhere. We got the chance to talk to a wide range of individual runners who love running but may not feel ready to join one of our running clubs yet. It was great to see people engaging with this new membership and getting excited about all it has to offer. When talking about RUN:EA, five-time Olympian, Jo Pavey, commented:

“The new RUN:EA initiative from England Athletics is fantastic, especially for those who may not feel ready to join a running club but want to build up to it. Running provides incredible support—not just for physical health but for mental wellbeing, too. It’s a powerful way to improve mental health, connect with nature, and become part of a supportive community. It equips you to better navigate life’s challenges, and the benefits are truly endless!”

Learn more about RUN:EA

On Saturday, we hosted an engaging panel discussion and recorded the England Athletics podcast with Jo Pavey, world mountain running medalist, Sara Willhoit, and European gold medalist, Rio Mitcham. With a diverse range of athletes across the panel we talked about what running means to them and how it has shaped their lives. During the discussion, Rio said:

“Running is my whole life; it’s been a consistent thing ever since my love for sports days in school. Running is everything so I am going to do it after I retire from competitive sport, it gives me this feeling that I can’t seem to replicate elsewhere anywhere else in life.”

Watch the full panel discussion

Listen to the podcast

We also had our funetics team as the official activation zone at the show. Designed to encourage fundamental movement skills, the funetics zone was a dynamic space filled with run, jump, and throw activities, including speed bounce, long jump, triple jump, balance beam, mini hurdles, and a throw zone - offering something for the whole family, regardless of age or ability. We even had a special visit from Dame Denise Lewis, who inspired some of the show’s youngest attendees to get involved.

It was fantastic to see families challenging each other on the speed bounce leader board, testing how many bounces they could achieve in 20 seconds - with the highest score of the weekend reaching an impressive 59 bounces!

Over the weekend, approximately 680 children and their families took on the challenge to test and improve their running, jumping, and throwing skills. Many returned multiple times, determined to beat their previous speed bounce scores or perfect their triple jump technique - mastering the hop, step, and jump combination.

Learn more about funetics

It was truly a weekend to remember at the National Running Show and it was so great to see the running community out in full to celebrate everything the sport has to offer. With a shared passion for running clear across the whole weekend, we loved meeting runners from all corners of the country.