Can you imagine winning the Mini London Marathon not once, but twice?
That was the reality for back-to-back winner Thomas Thake, a high-level youth athlete from Sheffield. Now, ahead of the 2026 event, the 16-year-old hopes to secure another win. But with exam season around the corner, how does he juggle training alongside his GCSEs?
BBC Bitesize sat down with Thomas to discuss running, studying and his Olympic dreams.
BBC Bitesize talk to Thomas Thake ahead of the 2026 Mini London Marathon.
Kimberley: Tom, you've won the London Mini Marathon twice. You're going to be running it again this year in 2026. Just talk to me a bit about what the experience is like.
Tom: Yeah, there's no other race like it. It's not often you get to run down the streets of London with that sort of crowd past Buckingham Palace. It's an incredible atmosphere, especially to run alongside all those other lads. It's a tough race. It should befun.
Kimberley: Famously , you like to keep things in the family because you've won the London Mini Marathon. Your younger sister Jess has won the London Mini Marathon. Where does all of that come from?
Tom: We train at the same club, same group, got similar attributes when running and we work off each other . It's nice to havesomebody who goes through the same thing as you. So when you can talk to somebody who understands what you're goingthrough like that.
Kimberley: And what's the rivalry like? Have you got a friendly rivalry going on? Is it a little bit of…
Tom: A bit of a rivalry , we'll often, if somebody's not had a great weekend but the other has there'll be a bit of teasing. It's alwaysfriendly though. It spurs us both on, try and come back to the next meet and outperform the other. Get a PB, try and win.
Kimberley: So you compete with the Hallamshire Harriers. How regularly do you train when it comes to preparing for your sport?
Tom: I train with the Hallamshire Group two sessions a week. Then we'll meet for a long Sunday run together. But I also do bits inthe week apart from Friday, which is my rest day.
Kimberley: And what do you get up to on a Friday then on the rest day? Are they like big nights off or…
Tom: At the moment it's revision, it's GCSE season.
Kimberley: It is GCSE season. So talk to me about that then. So you're juggling revising for your exams as well as training veryregularly as a high level athlete. Where do you find the time?
Tom: It's hard to be honest because when I'm not training, I'm recovering. So I'm quite often pretty tired. I don't have the timethat some of the other people in my school have, so I've got to make my revision pretty efficient. I like doing a lot of past papers, then the questions I can't do, try to recap that topic. See if I can get the question right on the second try.
Kimberley: What would you like the future to look like then? Five years time from now. Where would you like Tom to be?
Tom: I just want to keep progressing in the sport. See how far I can go. See if I can maybe one day get to the Olympics. See if I canmaybe win a medal. My preferred discipline is the 800 or the 1500. So that would be… that would be the goal, yeah.
Kimberley: Brilliant. And who do you look up to at the minute that's been in the Olympics previously? Who are your idols?
Tom: Well Seb Coe ran for the same club as me. And he's one of the greats of the sport. Yeah, he's one of my idols. Yeah.
Kimberley: Yeah, it's a good one to have as well. And it's tangible for you, I suppose, seeing that he's from your hometown and what he went on to achieve. Is that something you'd like to emulate then?
Tom: Yeah, I've read his book and he said the hills of Sheffield were the making of him. So I'd like to try following in his footsteps.
The importance of resilience
Thomas’s journey into the world of athletics started at an early age. “I was brought up in quite a sporty environment and always encouraged to participate in all sport, not just running,” he told BBC Bitesize. “But running was always what I was naturally good at so I went in that direction.”
Running for the Hallamshire Harriers in Sheffield, Thomas is a National Cross Country winner and former Inter Counties winner.
As well as athletics, Thomas is a keen football fan and supports Aston Villa. But in 2024, his love of the game led to an accident on the pitch.
“The day before a big race at school I was playing football in PE and I fell over and broke my wrist. I didn’t think I’d be able to race,” he recalled.
Despite this, Thomas turned up to the English Schools' Cross Country championships to support his fellow team mates. After joining them for a warm up jog, he felt confident he could still compete and decided to race in his cast.
Against the odds, Thomas’s efforts earned him a position in the top ten of the competition, meaning he still qualified for the England team - the first time he had done so at national level.
For Thomas, resilience is key to his success in sport. “It’s not always going to go your way, you learn there’s going to be setbacks, there’s going to be injuries. You’re not going to be running great every session, but you’ve just got to roll with it.”
The sporting siblings running the show
Thomas will be taking part in the 2026 Mini London Marathon, a 2.6km race in the heart of the capital. Over the years it has attracted many track stars, including Sir Mo Farah, Keely Hodgkinson and Eilish McColgan.
In 2022 and 2023, Thomas took home back-to-back Mini Marathon titles in the under-13s boys’ category in an event that he described as ‘unique’.
“You don’t often get to run down the streets of London with that sort of crowd, past Buckingham Palace. It’s a great atmosphere,” he told us.
But that’s not all. In 2025, Thomas’s younger sister, Jessica, who is also a high-level youth athlete, won the under-13s girls’ title. The sporty duo have a friendly sibling rivalry, which Thomas says helps spurs each other on and rise to the next level.
“It’s nice having someone who is going through a similar thing, you know what it’s like to be in their situation,” he said. “You can work off each other.”
“Olympics is always the big goal”
In May 2026, Thomas will be sitting his GCSE exams. But with two weekly track sessions, a Sunday long run and extra training during the weekdays, how does he manage his study schedule?
“I don’t have the time that some of the other people at my school have, so I’ve got to make my revision pretty efficient,” he said.
For Thomas, this means managing his time, completing past papers and making sure he is focusing on the questions and topics that he finds tricky.
Looking to the future, Thomas is determined to keep progressing in his running and seeing how far he can make it in the world of athletics. Combining a mixture of speed and endurance, he is keen to compete in the 1500m or 800m disciplines.
Dreaming big, he told Bitesize that his main goal is the participate in the Olympics, something he would like to achieve alongside his sister.
One of Thomas’s idols is the four-time Olympic medalist Sebastian Coe, who he describes as ‘one of the greats of the sport’. As well as being an exceptional middle-distance runner from Sheffield, Coe also ran for the same athletics club as Thomas.
“I read [Coe’s] book and he said the hills of Sheffield were the making of him," he said. "I’d like to follow in his footsteps.”
This article was published in April 2026
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