The Penguin Plod

About The Event

Strap on your running shoes and join us for a friendly, supportive running experience designed for all fitness levels. Whether you are aiming for a personal best or training for a bigger goal, The Penguin Plod offers a low-pressure race environment for everyone - plus an amazing penguin medal for your efforts and beautiful scenery whilst you run next to The River Thames.

All abilities are welcome at our events and we also welcome walkers too.

Date & time: Saturday 20th of March 2027
Official start time: 9am

Location: The Last Hop, Unit 2, Thames Edge Court, Clarence Street, Staines, TW18 4SU

The lowest entry price for all distances is available to members only and is £10.00 lower than the full price. You can become a member by logging into your profile and purchasing one of the membership schemes. As well as the cheapest entry price, a member is guaranteed entry to the run and gets a mini-me medal pin at every event they attend!

This event is licensed by the Trail Running Association and is held under UK Athletics rules. Runners who are members of a UK Athletics affiliated club will receive a £2.00 discount on their entry.

Distance & Time

This is a 7 hour Time Challenge event which allows you full control over the distance you want to run. The minimum distance is 3km, which is part of a lap. A full lap is 4.37 miles or 7km (this is subject to change to a 3.28 mile loop depending on course conditions) and you can run as many, or as few, of these laps as you like subject to UK athletics age restrictions (please see the restrictions below). We will have a 3k turn point and 5k turn point within the lap which is available to allow our younger runners to comply with the UK Athletics distance rules. It is 3 laps for a half marathon, 6 for a marathon and 7 or over for an ultra, we also have a 50km distance available.

Course

The course along a beautiful stretch of the River Thames. It is fully signed so no navigational experience is required. The course is mainly well made paths and tarmac with a very short grass section. Road shoes are suitable all year round.

The regular course is subject to some change near the time of the event depending on our health and safety review of the course.

Medals & Pins

As long as you complete 3km, you will be an official finisher and you will get one of our incredible themed medals!

We also have distance pins available for anyone who runs a half-marathon distance or more. Pins available to collect are our Half-Marathon, Mega-Half, Marathon, 50km and Ultra pins. You will receive one pin on the ribbon of your medal to reflect your achievement.

Goody Bag

Absolutely! You have earned these replacement calories after all, so all our finishers get a great goody bag. You will have a selection of goodies to choose from. As well as our standard goody bag, we have a vegan goody bag too. Please let us know if you are vegan or if you prefer a vegan goody bag when you enter and we can have this ready for you.

Aid Table

We have a fantastic aid table and drinks table at the start / finish of each lap. There is an incredible selection of drinks and savoury or sweet snacks such as crisps, cheese, fruit and cookies with vegan options also available.

Special Event

If our event is a special event for you, for instance your 50th, 99th, 100th, 150th, 200th, 250th etc. marathon or half marathon then please let us know. We will provide you with a great number with your name and the event date on it. 

Venue Facilities

The Last Hop has toilets but there are no separate changing facilities or showers. If you do wish to get changed, the downstairs toilets are large enough for you to change in. These facilities will be open from 8am and will be available for use throughout the entire event.

Car Parking

There is parking available in Bridge Street Car Park in Staines, TW18 4TP.

Race Day Instructions & Number Pick Up

Final race day instructions will be sent out via email in the week leading up to the event and will include full race day information. Number pick up is on the day at race registration before the start of the event.

Other Information

There will be somewhere to leave a bag at the start / finish area. However, this is not a secure bag and the items cannot be watched at all times so please do not leave anything valuable.

Headphones are allowed.

Our running events are held on public footpaths so we would be grateful if all runners were considerate of other path users.