Home | In the Community | Over 16,000 Runners Complete the Royal Parks Half, presented by RBC
Over 16,000 Runners Complete the Royal Parks Half, presented by RBC
The Royal Parks Half continues to break fund raising records, benefitting 556 charities across the UK
The award-winning Royal Parks Half – named the World’s Most Stunning Half by Red Bull - is still the only race of its kind, taking runners through four of London’s eight Royal Parks: Hyde Park, The Green Park, St James’s Park and Kensington Gardens. Competitors also took in iconic landmarks including Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square and the Houses of Parliament.
In 2017, RBC became Presenting Partner of the Royal Parks Half. This year, the Royal Parks Half saw the largest charity field since its inception with 556 charities taking part and continues to break records in its fund raising. 65% of the 16,000 runners chose to run for a charitable cause. The charities vary in size from the Golden Oaks – GOSH, Cancer Research UK, Macmillan Cancer Support, and Mind – who have up to 500 runners each, to smaller charities that may only have a handful of participants.
“We are thrilled that the race continues to have such an important impact on our charity partners. The core of the Royal Parks Half is the incredible causes that our runners support through their tenacity, dedication, and training,” says Project Lead at the Royal Parks, Persephone Deacon-Cole.
The event continues to promote its green credentials and sustainable ethos and this year, the Royal Parks Half removed 100,000 plastic bottles from the course and festival area, with runners receiving a carton of water at the end of the race, rather than a single use plastic bottle. By 2020 the Royal Parks Half has committed to going entirely plastic free, both on the course and in the festival area. In addition, race shirts are made from sustainable bamboo and up-cycled plastic bottles and all discarded clothing is collected and donated to Traid. Since 2008, nearly 1,000kgs of clothing has been saved from landfill sites.
From the launch of the event in 2008, the Royal Parks Half has remained focused on its charitable aims and credits much of its success to its many philanthropic partnerships. The race has now raised in excess of £40 million for participating charities over that time.
