Run England Groups go from strength to strength

There are now around 500 Run England Groups, with more being set up all around the country every week. Although some are still in their early stages, others that were registered some time ago are going from strength to strength.

Below, Sheffield Activator Emma Slater-Clayton updates us on one South Yorkshire running group that is thriving, and Group Leader Clare Strongman gives a personal account of her group’s recent progression.

Team Manvers

Emma Slater-Clayton, Sheffield Run England Activator:

“Team Manvers was set up this May and already has over 40 members attending the group.  Now offering four training sessions each week and encouraging participants to enter local races, the group is going from strength to strength.

Fifteen members recently took part in the Thurnscoe Dash with the team taking first place and also first lady! Many of these participants were non-runners when they joined the group so to see this amount of progress in such as short pace of time is fantastic.”

Over Run England Group

Clare Strongman, Over Run England Group Leader:

“I lead the group in Over, Cambridge. We started last year with a very mixed bag of ‘wannabe runners’ of all ages, all shapes and all sizes. Many couldn’t run to the end of the street when they joined, but we also had some more experienced runners sign up too.

We meet in a pub car park, which comes in handy for post-training visits sometimes! I’m a qualified fitness instructor as well as a Group Leader, so we’ve used that to help our members with running-related fitness too – things like flexibility and strength training workshops.

The group's favourite activity is a running ‘treasure hunt’ where they’re given a map and each team has to find eight pieces of ‘treasure’ in the fastest possible time. It’s been amazing to see how quickly they’ve all progressed, and a complete inspiration for me each week.

Some of the group even completed their first local ‘Parkrun’ race a few weeks ago, and they all achieved their goal of running all the way round the 5k loop without stopping.

We’re also entering a team into a Race For Life event next week. We’re hoping to build on our success so far, so I’m looking at starting an ‘Improvers’ running group too to focus on improving members' 5k times.”