‘We sell the city’: Looking back to the origins of the Kidney Wales CDF 10K
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Kidney Wales CDF 10K – the iconic road race which showcases the best of the city.
Founded by Kidney Wales in 1986, the event has been managed by Run 4 Wales since 2023 and has grown in size and scale to become one of the largest 10K races in the UK.
While Kidney Wales has remained the event’s lead charity partner over the years, to mark the milestone, they have become headline partner of the 2026 event.
Here we speak to Graham Finlayson BEM who established the event back in the 80s alongside Max Gabe-Wilkinson MBE founding chairman of Kidney Wales and Bernie Plain MBE.
He said: “It all started when I was in the pub talking to Max who decided he’d like to do a race for the charity.
“My brother, John, was on dialysis at the time and my friend from the Army had recently lost his daughter to kidney failure, so together with Bernie we thought ‘Let’s do it’.
“Bernie said he’d do all the talking and I was left to do the groundwork of setting up the race. I was in the army and went up to get the trailer and put out a load of cones from it with my daughter and that was the beginning of what is now one of the biggest fundraising 10Ks.”
The first few events took place with around 800 runners. Gradually, over the last 40 years, the Cardiff 10K has continued to get bigger and better – amalgamating in its biggest yet for 2026 with 10,000 runners expected to sign up.
Finlayson said: “The Cardiff 10K course is one of the best in Britain and it took me a while to design it with Cardiff Council. Some of the earlier races used to start in Westgate Street and finish in the Principality Stadium before it was properly opened – it was much harder back then too as we didn’t have chip timing then.
“Even though I no longer work on the race, it’s one I’m still so proud of. It’s put on the British Championships and home internationals and is still one of the fastest 10Ks out there – it was even voted the best 10K in Britain three times by Athletics Weekly.”
He added: “I just hope the race will continue going for many more years to come. It’s a great event that does so much good for charity. It’s one of the best courses out there and we really do sell the city.”
