23 April 2024
Sir Richard Branson discusses his adventurous career, space travel and breaking world records
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Virgin Sport burst onto the scene with their first Festival of Fitness on Hackney Marshes on Sunday 30th April. The Festival of Fitness was a unique experience encompassing the Hackney Half, a new 5.5k run on closed roads and free fitness for all on the Marshes. The ‘Go Fit Yourself’ fitness stage hosted some of London’s most sought after instructors, including: Faisal Abdalla, Fat Buddha Yoga, Bradley Simmonds, and Shona Vertue, as well as an early morning dance session with Daybreaker. The Festival was alive with art, culture, music and positive energy as the crowds ran, cheered, moved and grooved at the sun-soaked festival.
The 2017 Hackney Half Marathon itself was won by Paul Whittaker and Isabel Clark with times of 1:06:55 and 01:18:15 respectively. Paul Whittaker said of his time “It’s just outside my personal best, but I’m happy. The event is just so massive, there’s so much going on, I’m going to stay for some food and a dance!” Isabel Clark said “It was a great course, so much crowd support, really enjoyable and a personal best – can’t complain really!”
The Festival of Fitness celebrated everything fitness related and encouraged festival goers to come together and give sport a try. Whether it was the stretch session, dancing to the music or simply strolling through the event, Hackney Marshes was alight with activity.
