Sign of the Times - Cabbage Patch 10 mile race in London comes to an end

I had this story up in December of 2018. It now looks as if the race has got a reprieve!

The Stragglers Running Club
13th Feb 2019
We have some exciting news! The Cabbage Patch 10 will be continuing in 2019 and the race organisation is being taken over by The Stragglers!

We have assembled an experienced group of race organisers from the club to oversee the race and with the full support of the Cabbage Patch 10 founders, the race will go ahead on Sunday 20 October 2019.

There will be the usual call for lots of race marshals from Keith later in the year but please put the date in your diary. News on how to enter will follow soon.

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As roads get busier and more congested in urban area, it's getting harder and harder to organise road races. As outlined in a previous post, Gardaí in Cork have warned that races will need strict road management plans in future.

In the UK the story is the same and during the week, the Cabbage Patch 10 mile race in London announced that it was coming to an end after nearly 40 years.

Start of the Cabbage Patch 10 mile in London

The last race was in mid-October when they had 1422 finishers so it was a reasonably big event.

"Especially in these increasingly difficult litigious and onerous days. The challenges presented by the modern era of local authority business strategies and traffic movement by population lifestyle preference has resulted in the possibility of putting on the race, now being considered as, too difficult to surmount."

It's likely that there will be more races in or near towns and cities that will share the same fate. 

Announcement below...


*CABBAGE PATCH 10 ANNOUNCEMENT*
Due to many different and some difficult circumstances, our beloved race The Cabbage Patch 10 and its team are proudly standing down.



We have enjoyed nearly 40 years of amazing running performances and investment into the community. We have wonderful memories of the many thousands of runners who have challenged themselves on our course and these include Olympians; Richard Nerurkar, who set a 10 mile record, Steph Twell, Mara Yamauchi, Scott Overall, Sonia O'Sullivan, and of course Sir Mo Farah. We thank you all so much for your participation and support.

We want to end on a high and feel that we probably reached a significant peak this year, even in the pouring rain. Especially as the race paid tribute and honoured the memory of Wyn Williams, our deeply missed but never forgotten team member. We hope that we provided to you another year of Cabbage Patch 10 “Sunshine” and significance.

The event has always been a challenge to organise for many reasons but has become increasingly more onerous year on year. The use of live roads and participant safety being one of the most obvious. Proudly in our race's life, even without closed roads, we have always been able to mitigate these challenges with good on course management.

Keeping the price down and giving back as much as we can to the runner has also always been important to us. Unfortunately, since 2016 Richmond Council (LBRuT) have progressively introduced charges that had not been within their financial management protocol in the events previous 34 year period. These new charges are for the use of the public roads, footpaths and towpaths of the course used for our annual 10 mile charity based run.

We are a community interest and largely volunteer group where any profits that have been made have either been put back into the race or given out to charity. We estimate that we have donated over £135,000 over the years mostly to the wonderful Clarendon School in Hampton to benefit children with learning difficulties.

Many of our team have been involved with the race since it’s start in 1982 and sadly with the passage of time things change and new challenges face us all, both personally and with administrating the race.

Especially in these increasingly difficult litigious and onerous days. The challenges presented by the modern era of local authority business strategies and traffic movement by population lifestyle preference has resulted in the possibility of putting on the race, now being considered as, too difficult to surmount.

As a team of people who have Cabbage Patch 10 in their DNA, we would like to thank each and every person that has run and/or volunteered in any way at The Cabbage Patch 10 since its inception to the race this year. We would also like to make special mention and acknowledge our thanks to The Stragglers Running Club who have helped enormously for more than 30 years and also the fantastic the team at Sport Systems, especially Mark Thomas. Colin Penn was the Race Director for a number of years and he deserves a big thank you for helping to perpetuate the event. Finally, not forgetting the worthy contribution of the membership of The Bearcat Running Club who have provided the race with 50% more marshals in the last 3 years to ensure that the excellent safety and organisational duties of the race were assured.

In conclusion, we would like to express our grateful thanks to all of our incredible sponsors and in particular Fullers and Lofts and Extensions who have enabled the race to take place for so many years. More recently we have been fortunate to have received additional and valued support from; Danieli Ice Cream and Chocolates, Pinnacle Plumbing, Harlequins Foundation, SBM accountancy, RFU, Chase Buchanan, The Maris Practice, GMC Design and Prussian Blue & The Internet Marketing Company.

We have been, we feel a unique race. A Runner’s race, and we want you to know that this decision is one that is made with heavy hearts, but we believe that it is the right one.

Thank you again for your years of fantastic support towards our race and community efforts.

The Cabbage Patch 10 Team.

https://www.cabbagepatch10.com/