Ladies and gentlemen, we’re very excited to announce our next development: Our club’s very own blog!
Our club is 8 years old this year. The first session was attended by just 6 runners who ran the same Tuesday route we run today. Over 8000 people have registered with the club since that first session, and these days we regularly attract over 100 runners to our sessions each week. Along the way there have been 9 marriages and countless friendships.
We believe running clubs shouldn’t be intimidating, no matter how fast or far you can run. We aim to cater to every runner, no matter what their goals.
We think this approach and the community that has grown around us is a brilliant foundation on which we can now look to the future.
With this blog, we want to build a forum for our members and other running enthusiasts to share their stories, expertise, and indulge in all things ‘runner-y’!
TO INFINITY…AND BEYOND: 2018 WILL BE THE BIGGEST YEAR FOR LONDON CITY RUNNERS YET!
Since our club started in 2010 there has been a huge increase in the number of running clubs in London. There are those run by large retail brands, the traditional EA-affiliated clubs, and countless others.
Despite this abundance of choice for any prospective runner, our club continues to grow at an immense rate! Our attendance figures in January have been the biggest in our history. We’ve been stunned by the sheer number of runners who want to run with us and the overwhelmingly positive feedback we’re getting.
Incredibly, we are now one of the largest clubs in the UK. We are certainly the largest club in London that is free and not tied to a retailer.
We recently did a survey of our members and learned a lot. The runners that come through our doors cover a huge range of ages, abilities and goals. Most aren’t interested in running in competitive leagues, but instead see a running club as an important part of their social life in this city. They came looking for a community to run with and for support to help them reach their own personal running goals.
We know there are a lot of things we could offer our members to help them with their running and to continue building on our community.
As this year begins, you will not have failed to notice a few new elements to the club.
These include our ‘Couch to 5k’ programme, our longer Sunday run and our new online kit shop. We are also launching a programme of workshops and talks. Our first guest speaker, Mara Yamauchi, the second fastest female British marathoner in history, recently gave an inspiring talk to our members with advice on how to ‘be the best runner you can be’ for runners of all levels.
New features such as this will help us ensure the club inspires all of our members.
Many of these new features will also bring money into the club. This is vital to support all the work that goes on behind the scenes, and is a necessary step to ensure the club is sustainable and better for all our members, in the future and beyond.
As 2018 starts, we have a fantastic home in the Marquis of Wellington. The pub had only recently opened to the public when they opened their doors to our club in March 2017. Since then they have been incredibly supportive and generous hosts.
We are also having the biggest turnouts in the history of the club, and we are lucky to have the support of an incredible team of loyal volunteers. We have many exciting plans and we’re increasingly hearing from local businesses who are keen to work with us on achieving them.
This year the world is literally at our feet!
The variety of training and the amount of expertise we offer will grow in 2018. We’ll also have a greater assortment of socials because having fun is what this club is all about.
Bring on 2018, and let’s make this a great year for all of us!
– Kerry & Tim
