Race date: Wednesday 27th August 2025

Race report by Kathy Liddiard

The Tracksmith Twilight 5000 race series is held throughout the summer in locations across North America and London. This year there were two meetings in London to choose from. The first was held in early July at the Battersea Park athletics track. The second was held in late August at the Parliament Hill athletics track (some may recognise this park from racing cross country here earlier in the year).

I signed up for the second meeting after completing the Boston marathon in April, as something different to aim towards. Other than the steel city mile, I have never raced on the track before.

Over the summer, I spent some time training to get my faster legs back with trying to run a sub-20 minute 5K. I achieved this at the York Even Splits 5K earlier in August with a new PB of 19:40. With the Tracksmith Twilight 5000 race being held on a track I hoped to shave a couple more seconds off my PB.

The week of the race coincided with a booked week off with the family. We had spent a couple of days in Cornwall and then travelled across the country to arrive in London the day before the race.

The details had been emailed a week before so I already knew there were going to be 9 heats, starting from 6pm with the slower expected finishing times going first. During entry you were required to enter personal best and season best performances to help the organisers with race seeding. I had been placed in the third heat with finishing times expected between 19-20 minutes.

On race day, after spending the majority of the day walking around London, we made our way on the tube to Parliament Hill. Bib collection was straightforward and there were changing rooms and toilets in the pavilion to get ready in. The first race was already underway, so I warmed up around the park rather than on the track.

5000m equates to 12 & 1/2 laps of the track, so with 10 minutes to go, runners were called to the opposite side for the race briefing. Pacers for the heat were introduced at this point, ranging from 18:30 to 20:00, with a back marker running at 21 minute pace. There were a total of 26 competing runners in my heat and we were split into 2 groups, with the faster runners starting in the outer lanes before merging after 150m.

The start gun was fired, the clock started, and we were off. The first few laps felt congested as I tried to get into a rhythm whilst navigating other runners. There was a headwind on the home straight, so having a group of people around helped block the wind during those busier initial laps. As the race progressed and runners became more spread out, the headwind became more noticeable and fatiguing.

Running hard for 12 & 1/2 laps is a daunting concept but I was surprised how quickly the laps came and went. It was reassuring each time I passed the finish line, the lap counter was falling.

After 6 laps I started to move up the field, overtaking those who’d started too quickly and were fading slightly. Not long after, 2 Herne Hill Harriers vests overtook me and I slotted in behind. There were points at which I considered an overtake where the pace dropped, but decided the additional energy expenditure at that point may be detrimental later on. Maybe there’s something to learn for next time?

At 200m to go, the clock had ticked just over 19 minutes so I was confident I could manage a sub 20 again, but could it be a PB? Unfortunately not on this occasion, the headwind felt brutal on the last push, and I crossed the finish line as the display read 19:46.

After being congratulated by the family and a cool down jog around the park, I could sit down and enjoy watching the remaining heats with a pizza and complementary peach beers.

As the night got darker and the runners got faster, the energy increased, with other park users stopping to watch from the top barrier. It was a great evening overall. Entry cost was £20, but this was halved if you are a Tracksmith Hare AC member.

There were 248 finishers over 9 heats. Fastest male of the night was Andrew Penney (14:00.36). Fastest female of the night was Verity Hopkins (15:55.86).