Did you watch the London Marathon yesterday? A record 414,168 runners applied to take part in this year's London Marathon and UK exports have also been smashing records, as sales of trainers and sports footwear overseas reached £392 million in 2018, a 21% increase since the previous year.

The most popular destination was the Irish Republic, which imported British products worth £94 million. Exports to other economies also raced up; China by 233% to £2.3 million, UAE 181% to £1.6 million and the largest growth came in the Thai market, with exports growing by 1157% to £1.1million.

Trainers and Sports footwear have been a high performer for British exports, increasing at an average annual growth rate of 21% and have more than tripled in value.

London took 1st place in the regional race for most footwear exports in the UK, worth over £1.8 billion in 2018. They were followed by North West England in 2nd (£1.1 billion) and the East of England in 3rd (£634 million).

Secretary of State for International Trade, Dr Liam Fox, said:

"Exports of UK trainers and sports footwear are doing brilliantly all over the world, the record number of applicants for this year’s London Marathon is truly inspiring, and it’s encouraging to know that more runners than ever will have British made trainers on their feet.

"The export success of companies like Norman WALSH and New Balance, which have large headquarters in the UK is testament to the economic benefits of selling overseas. I encourage like-minded businesses to get in touch as my international economic department stands ready to offer its expertise in helping all companies to unlock their exporting potential."

Source: gov.uk