The World Treadmill Championship – pitching elite runners against amateurs

Everyday runners are being given the chance to compete alongside elite athletes in the first World Treadmill Championship, a new global 5km competition. Treadmill World Championship – what are they and how to compete? For decades, treadmill running has been viewed as little more than a training tool for outdoor runners. But that could be about to change, with the launch of the World Treadmill Championship. In this new World Athletics-sanctioned competition, runners around the world log 5km on a treadmill and compete for a prize pool of $100,000 and the title of world champion. Known as Run X, it pitches everyday runners against elite athletes. BBC Sport was invited along to a qualification event at a gym in Southampton to observe runners logging their times on the global virtual leaderboard.

The finals for the first ever Treadmill World Championship will take place in Italy in March "I think it's good to get people into running. 5km is obviously not too far so people can have a shot at it, there's no pressure," she tells BBC Sport. Purdue, who holds the third fastest British female marathon time, believes the treadmill has been long misunderstood. "I personally love the treadmill and I've always used it in my training. We've got one at home and I find it easy at home and