WITH less than three weeks to go, Poole Festival of Running is getting all its ducks in a row - or should that be penguins.

Organisers of the yearly festival in Poole Park, have announced that following the success of last year's minithons for children, play centre The Ark in Poole Park will again be supplying a cuddly penguin pal to all finishers - and their mascot Tux the penguin will be on hand for photos.

James Skip from Poole Runners, which is behind the festival, told the Echo the event on Sunday June 5 "looks like being the best so far, not only offering races for all ages and abilities but going above and beyond with the rest of the event."

New for this year is The Running Free Expo, organised by Running Free in Ashley Cross, who have arranged for a number of major brands to show off their latest goodies on the day and there will be demonstrations on stage throughout the event. There will also be live music and entertainment on Westfield.

The event is being sponsored by Horizon Honda, Magna Mazda and Poole Mitsubishi. Chief executive Tony Roberts said: "When the opportunity initially rose to assist, we agreed immediately – such a great family event was a perfect match to our very local businesses, and to our customers and staff as well. We shall be in the park on the day, displaying the very latest vehicles from Honda, Mazda and Mitsubishi."

Other sponsors include local businesses MC Roofing and Reikan Technology.

The volunteer-run event, now in its 35th year, sees races for all ages, with seven kids’ ‘minithons’ for children up to 14 years old, the Poole Hospital 5k, from age 13 years, and the flagship Poole 10k race, which has a minimum age of 15 years.

Places are filling up fast, but there is still time to sign up. All finishers in the 5k and 10k will get a bespoke medal, a tech tee shirt and a goody bag.

Follow them on Facebook and Twitter using #runpoole and see www.poolefestivalofrunning.com for more.