For the first time in over a decade, the Richmond Runfest was cancelled due to the September heatwave.

The extremely hot weather caused unexpected problems for the people in charge and the medical teams.

They had planned carefully and had more medical staff on hand, but the temperatures were even hotter than they had predicted.

There weren't enough vehicles to transport people who needed medical help, so they had to cancel the event for the first time in its 11-year history.

The control room received an overwhelming number of calls from marshals reporting heat-related issues, placing an immense strain on the medical responders.

With the primary concern being the well-being of the participants, the decision was made to bring the remaining runners back to the finish line where medical resources were available.

There was also a brief shortage of water.

A new addition to the race were mist showers and dunking buckets which were intended to cool runners down.

Tom Bedford, the Running Director, released a statement which can be read in its entirety here.

The main parts of the statement said: “There were no fatalities at the event thanks to the amazing medical teams.

“We’ve seen the many comments about mixed cancellation information, which was very difficult to convey to the runners on course.

“We needed runners to be aware of the situation and to essentially slow down and look after themselves so we could relieve pressure on the medical team.

“We clearly miscalculated the amount of people who needed to pick up more than two cups of water per aid station at these points.

“We calculated enough water and some for the purpose of consumption but underestimated the sheer volume needed for the purpose of cooling runners down in the humidity of the day.

“At the end of the day the amount at these stations were clearly not enough and our plan to replenish these stations did not happen in time.

“We certainly did not run out at the final two waters or at the finish.”

"Dunking buckets were out on the course, but the received feedback was that their locations were not good enough and the last-minute signage we had made up was too small.

“Both contingencies were new to us but we except this fell short of expectations.

“Knowing this now will not change what happened but it will certainly allow us to review and be better prepared for our future events.”

A London Ambulance Service spokesperson said: “At 11:08am on Sunday (10 September), we received the first of a number of 999 calls relating to people becoming unwell during the Richmond Half Marathon.

“We sent multiple resources to the scene, including 11 ambulance crews, a medic in a fast-response car, an incident response officer, and members of our Hazardous Area Response Team (HART).

“We treated 13 people at the scene, ten of whom were taken to hospital. Three people were discharged at the scene.”