2,000 runners took to the streets of London last Thursday to participate in the sixteenth Square Mile Run making it one of the most popular runs in the history of the event and raising vital funds for the homelessness charity Crisis. Ken Livingstone made one of his first public appearances, since the London elections, to address the crowds and wave the flag to start the race in Paternoster Square, and a mere 20 minutes and 45 seconds later, Jason Webb, from Fidelity International, did his firm proud by being the first runner to cross the finish line on Millennium Bridge. Despite organisers having to change the route as Tower Bridge was raised, the fun-run was a great success and saw hundreds of people running to help hit the sponsorship target of £150,000. Entrants included city workers from the banking and finance industry, Crisis volunteers, whole generations of families and a great selection of fancy dress characters including a gorilla and Scooby Doo! 

There were many, of course, who took the whole run a little more seriously completing the route in record times. Following Fidelity employee Jason Webb’s winning run, Archie Young (who works for Gordon Brown’s delivery unit) then came in at 21 minutes 12 seconds, sporting a shirt and tie combo in true City spirit, while third place went to Citigroup’s Andrew Rolfe. The first female winner, Anna Scally from ‘The Ringers’ team, then finished in 23 minutes 08 seconds closely followed by Marie Leray from Tradeweb who came in with a time of 23 minutes 37 seconds. The biggest teams on the night were Hillsong Church who entered168 runners and Fidelity International (the event’s official sponsor) who entered an impressive team of 300 people. Peter Yandle, Executive Director – Marketing & Corporate Communications at Fidelity International, said: "This is the first year that Fidelity International has sponsored the Crisis Square Mile Run and we're delighted that it has proved to be such a tremendous success. It's a fun event for a fantastic cause and everyone involved had a great evening.” Leslie Morphy, Chief Executive of Crisis said, "The Square Mile Run has raised over £2.1m since its inception sixteen years ago and this year we hope to raise over £150,000.  These funds will help Crisis to support homeless people throughout the UK.”

For further media information please contact Jane Eggleton, Communications Manager on 020 7426 3830 or jane.eggleton@crisis.org.uk