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A Bit of History
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A Bit of History

This competition has its roots in 2005, when Thanet Roadrunners began to organise cross country races for children in school years 3 to 6.

Following successful trials at Newlands Primary School, a series of three fixtures per year was established, one during each school term.

These were initially at Palm Bay School in Cliftonville, Newington Primary in Ramsgate and St Saviour's in Westgate.


As the event grew in popularity, school car parks quickly filled up on race days and nearby roads began to struggle with the volume of traffic. The St Saviour's fixture was first relocated to Hartsdown Park in Margate and when Thanet Athletics Club took over as organisers in 2013, the whole series was shifted to Quex Park in Birchington.

This proved an ideal venue for what had become the biggest running competition for primary school children in the South of England.




East Kent Coaching

After many years of coaching local runners of all ages, East Kent Coaching has now taken on the task of organising this iconic event. We are delighted that a few long-standing members of Thanet Athletics Club have continued to support us, stepping into key roles on the day.

More than thirty local schools regularly take part in the races, in many cases as the first step towards a lifelong involvement in running.




First Steps as a Runner

The youngsters whose photographs appear on this page all had their first proper racing experience in the Thanet Primary Schools' races. Look closely and you may recognise kit or faces from Upton, St Joseph's, Haddon Dene, St Laurence in Thanet and Holy Trinity, amongst others.

Quite a few years on, they are all still actively competitive runners and we are really pleased that several have volunteered to be our 'hares' once again on Saturday 4th March, leading this year's runners around the course and encouraging anyone who is finding the going tough.