Over 17,000 runners pounded the streets yesterday to race around the borough for this year’s Hackney Half.

Supporters lined the 13.1 mile route, which begins and ends on Hackney Marshes, to cheer on the runners.

Many of them were raising money for charities like St Joseph's Hospice, Mind in Hackney, St Mungo's, Hackney Quest and the Hackney Winter Night Shelter.

Jonathan Cornish won the male race and Emily Stewart came first in the female race, with times of 1:06:58 and 1:19.45 respectively.

Jonathan said: "I love the buzz of the Hackney Half Marathon. Great energy, support, and cheering the whole way. And I'm so happy to achieve a personal best of about 20 seconds. I hope to be back soon."

Emily added: "I really enjoyed the race. It's the first race I've run with spectators, which really spurs you on. I was smiling the whole way."

Over 1,000 youngsters from schools in the borough took part in a 1.1 mile race in the Hackney Schools' Challenge.

And Saturday saw a 5K run around the perimeter of Hackney Marshes, where the three day Festival of Fitness was taking place.

This year saw a pop-up cycle studio, stand-up paddle boarding on the canal, and yoga with a live orchestra.

To reduce the environmental impact of the event, organiser Virgin Sport worked with Hackney Council to eliminate single use plastic.

Rather than using plastic water bottles, recyclable paper cups were used at the six water stations on the route. Last year 190,000 plastic water bottles were handed out.