While elite athletes like Mo Farah pounded the streets of London for the 26.2 mile course – Southwark’s Turkay Korkmaz won the three mile mini marathon for the boys under 13’s in 15 minutes and 56s.
Turkay in his first mini marathon race is coached by James McDonald and has only been running since November 2013.
David White Southwark’s Run! Activator and Southwark Team Manager said: “Congratulations to Turkay and everyone who took part in the Mini London Marathon. Thanks to the Southwark staff, parents, teachers and especially the athletes who have once again contributed to another successful and enjoyable competition”.
Turkay is a member of the Southwark team which was selected in February 2014 at the Southwark team road running championships held at Burgess Park, where 200 young athletes attended.
After the race, he planned to play football for local Southwark team Fisher Athletic FC, his other sporting passion.
Other highlights for Southwark’s young athletes included Edward Olsen who finished sixth for the boys under 17’s London Borough Competition and was 23rd nationally. At 15 years old, Edward was competing at the under 17’s category for the first time and will have two more years at this level.
For the girls: Kayah Wilks (11th), Lucy Olsen (16th), Poppy Saunders (28th) and Imogen Curtis (42nd) all achieved top 50 placing in the London competition which helped the girls under 13’s climb to fourth place out of the 33 London Boroughs.