Last year we were delighted to have the chance to work with the team at Run-Fast on the inaugural City of London mile. A single lap race on closed roads around St Pauls Cathedral in the heart of the Square Mile.

This year the race is back and – despite still only being a mile – it is bigger than ever. Amba Hotels have given the race their full backing which means that anyone can enter for free. And being a mile, that means it is open to anyone from those at the sharp-end looking to break the infamous 4 minute barrier to complete novices looking to experience their first real race.

Launch Event

Our main focus since the start of the year was setting up the launch event. We had a perfect venue – the Amba Hotel Charing Cross – and race sponsor Mizuno were there with their world record breaking athlete and ambassador, Anthony Whiteman. With Nick Anderson from RunningWithUs on hand to host the event, it was a great evening.

After a presentation from the Run-Fast team, an interview between Nick Anderson and Anthony Whiteman about the mile and some words from Amba Hotels, we invited the 40 gathered journalists and influencers to join us for the Anthony Whiteman Mile Challenge – who could get the closest to their predicted time for a mile. Despite the cold and the rain, almost all of the guests got involved and we had some exceptionally close guesses, which were rewarded with prizes from Mizuno, Amba Hotels and High5.

Applications open

The application portal for the race opened the day after the launch event and no doubt partly thanks to the buzz created on the night and in the days following, the places have started to fill up. With a bit of help from the weather, the second Amba Hotels City of London Mile is going to be a fantastic event.