Runners gear up for milestone 70th Maidenhead Easter Ten anniversary

Runners will be chasing history – and the finish line – at a celebrated Maidenhead athletics event marking its milestone 70th anniversary this year.

Maidenhead Easter Ten, run by Maidenhead Athletic Club, sees around 1,000 sportsmen and women tackle a bracing up to ten-mile course on Good Friday.

First held in 1953 to mark the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, the Easter ten is one of the UK’s oldest running races and has been held almost every year since its inception.

“There aren’t many races out there in the UK that can say that,” said race director, Sandra Koch.

Organised ‘by runners, for runners’, the race is arranged by volunteers and sees entrants tackle a ten-mile circular course around Maidenhead Office Park: along the Knowl Hill Bridleway and through White Waltham and Woodlands Park.

Junior racers get the chance to compete in shorter, though no-less challenging, one-mile and half-mile circuits.

Sandra, 40, said: “Maidenhead Athletic Club (AC) has been going for such a long time, and for it to have been able to put on a race for 70 years with only two cancellations in that time…

“I think it’s just fabulous that a community organisation can do that and be able to get the constant support to keep it going.”

Only the Coronavirus pandemic in 2021 and 2001’s Foot and Mouth epidemic stopped the race.

Having begun on Easter Monday, 1953, the race switched to Good Friday in 1977 to increase participation.

The Easter ten has been marshaled from race headquarters in Maidenhead Office Park for its last ten iterations.

Discussing why the course has proved so popular over the years, Sandra said: “The Easter ten has always been organised by runners and for runners.

“We have a great route, fabulous marshals; so we tick all the boxes that runners want to see when they enter an event.”

Maidenhead Easter Ten sees the more than 500-strong athletics club members – as well as a few famous figures in the town - volunteer to help make the race a success.  

“Either finding sponsors; helping out on the day; putting a history together and sharing the knowledge from previous years,” Sandra said.

“I think everybody is involved from the youngest to the oldest member.”

Former Prime Minister and Maidenhead MP Baroness Theresa May has ‘supported the race for many years’, Sandra said.

She added: “Fingers crossed, this year we’re going to have Lady May marshaling again for us; and [MP] Josh Reynolds helping out at the start and finish of the race, together with our Mayor Mr [Simon] Bond.

The race also provides an opportunity for runners to translate their sport into a charitable cause, with all money made form entry fees being split between Maidenhead AC’s junior groups and two charities.

This year the race is supporting The Dash [domestic abuse stops here] Charity and special needs charity Thames Valley Adventure Playground.

Registration and more event information is available on the Maidenhead Athletic Club website.