Stride The Extra Mile for Bill Bradley of RunTogether group Lickey End

Stride The Extra Mile for Bill Bradley

Members of Lickey End and the Bromsgrove running community ran, walked, jogged and cycled for twelve hours, to raise money and remember their RunTogether friend and group member Bill Bradley. Bill, a Lickey End member, sadly lost his fight against cancer in 2020.

A year on Dylan Gould a coach at Lickey End Striders organised a run for Primrose Hospice, in Bromsgrove, the hospice where Bill stayed during his illness.

The run took place on the 21st December, 2021 which was a very poignant date as it was Bill’s birthday. Bill’s wife Lorraine nominated Primrose Hospice as the charity for the club to support as they massively helped Bill and family during his illness. The event raised approximately £2,200 for Primrose Hospice and Family Support Centre.

We had a flexible approach to the event

In Bromsgrove, Sanders Park has a paved one-mile loop around the perimeter. Dylan thought this would be ideal for all abilities to run, walk or jog. He explained that they called the event ‘Stride The Extra Mile’ and set a timeframe for the event of between 9am and 9pm. This allowed flexibility and meant folks could drop in and do as much as they wanted around their own schedules.

Dylan reported that he was astounded to see nearly 40 people turn up at 9am. Numbers dipped around midday, and the fewest on the course at one time was six. Then after work numbers rose again to over 40. Some people also returned, and came morning, lunch and evening, and some did the whole 12 hours.

Steve, who was best mates with Bill took part, and had a good tactic of walking five laps and then taking a beer break before continuing. It must have worked as he stayed for the full twelve hours!

Miles clocked up ranged from one to fifty-five! Dylan said he particularly enjoyed guiding Leighann to a PB mileage of 8.5 miles.

Community approach

Rachel Gould organised a raffle and local runners and companies donated prizes. Rachel also set up an evening checkpoint and laid out a large table with refreshments and mince pies for participants followed by coffees and hot sausage rolls which after 6 hours of running was the best treat ever. The checkpoint acted as a meeting point and gave everybody a boost after each lap.

Dylan concluded, “Overall it was a lovely inclusive event, and saw runners and walkers taking part from Lickey End Striders, Run Catshill, Wild Stiles, Redditch Stars, Ryland Runners. It really brought everyone to RunTogether from the local community, and was an opportunity to remember our friend Bill, and raise money for a great local charity.”

Well done all!

(Pictured: Bill's son Josh, Bill and Lorraine, 2020)