News

Weekly30 Run Challenge reaches the finish line!

With running activity resuming and Covid-19 restrictions easing, the virtual Weekly30 Run Challenge has reached its finish line! Thank you to the hundreds of participants who motivated themselves, and others, to run for 30 minutes each weekend in a bid to keep running, stay active and help their mental wellbeing through the pandemic. 

The challenge has incorporated 49 weekends of running (28 weeks in 2020 and 22 weeks in 2021) with participants from every corner of the country.  Some runners challenged themselves to improve week-on-week and others were competing to be crowned the weekly leading runners, whilst some clubs and groups were running en masse – seeking to clock up the highest total mileage! 

Congratulations to those leading runners, clubs and groups from our final weekend of running… plus read on further down as we give a nod to some of the excellent efforts from participants over the lifetime of the challenge. 

Week 22 results

Individual women

  1. Lucy Richens (Westbury Harriers) 7747
  2. Laura Hesketh (Southport Strollers) 7500
  3. Vicky Tester (Westbury Harriers) 7483

Individual men

  1. James Stewart (Havering AC) 8561
  2. Alex Hamblin (Westbury Harriers) 8557
  3. Lance Escobar (Diss & District AC) 8137

RunTogether women 

  1. Paula Simpson (Notts Women Runners) 5780
  2. Sofia Poole (Notts Women Runners) 5665
  3. Henny Scott (Notts Women Runners) 5212

RunTogether men 

  1. Ronnie Irwin (Mad Runners) 7380
  2. Mark Hurst (Mad Runners) 7064
  3. Stuart Hodgson (Ready2Run Eden) 5727

Clubs  

  1. Diss & District AC 
  2. Littledown Harriers 
  3. Arena 80 AC 

RunTogether Groups 

  1. Notts Women Runners 
  2. Mad Runners 

and more than worthy of a mention are… 

Total distance by Clubs and Groups

Top 10 clubs and groups for total distance over the lifetime of the Weekly30 Run Challenge: 

  1. Notts Women Runners – 10,385km 
  2. Southport Strollers – 6,506km 
  3. Westbury Harriers – 5,193km 
  4. Rebel Runners Medway – 3,327km 
  5. Littledown Harriers – 3,224m 
  6. Horley Harriers – 3,192m 
  7. Stowmarket Striders – 2,900km 
  8. Arena 80AC – 2,206m 
  9. Kimberley & District Striders – 2,150km 
  10. Waverley Harriers – 1,805m 

… with a mention for the RunTogether groups who also covered some serious distance:

  1. Notts Women Runners (as mentioned in above Top 10) – 10,385km 
  2. Ready2Run Eden – 1,149km 
  3. MadRunners – 1,086km 
  4. Heathfield Park Runners – 894km 
  5. Fitmums & Friends – 549km 

Total victories

The club teams with the most weekend victories was Littledown Harriers, who led with over 21 weekends including a stretch of 14 consecutive challenges. They were followed by Diss & District AC with 18 wins – 17 of which were in a row. Lonely Goat (6), Kimberley & District Striders (2), Arena 80AC (1) and South Cheshire Harriers (1) also had their time at the top. 

Of the RunTogether groups, MadRunners owned the top spot by leading on 40 weekends, including two runs of 14 consecutive victories. Heathfield Park Runners (3), Notts Womens Runners (3) and Ready2Run Eden (2) were also able to share a taste of success at the top of the leaderboard. 

In the Individual Women’s category there were some unbelievable performances – dominated by Laura Hesketh (Southport Strollers) who was leading runner on a staggering 18 weekends, including one string of five consecutive wins. Closest to her was Lucy Richens (Westbury Harriers), with a commendable nine wins. Other leading women’s runners achieving multiple wins in the challenge were Sara Genco (3 - Littledown Harriers), Nikki Sandell (2 - Bournemouth AC), Corinna Jones (2 – Aberdare Valley), Nicky Yeates (2 – Arena 80AC), Vicky Tester (2 - Westbury Harriers), Catherine Treble (2 – Westbury Harriers) and, more recently, Katie Mawdsley (2 – Southport Strollers).  There were also weekly wins for Helen Harrison (Garden City Runners), Laura Woodward (Waverley Harriers), Emma Caplan (Bournemouth AC), Lisa Roberjot (Horley Harriers), Katie Barnes (Horley Harriers, Robyn Ellis (Westbury Harriers) and Sarah Cumber (Halifax Harriers). 

Which individuals ran the furthest and fastest?

In terms of total distance covered, Laura Hesketh was also the leading women with 334 km, Heather Travis from Glaxo Hoad Hill Harriers was in second place with 310km and completing the podium was Maria Everett from Littledown Harriers with 298km.  

For the Individual Men’s category, there were a number of runners vying for most weekend wins, with David Wilson (Littledown Harriers) claiming the top spot with eight victories. He was closely followed by Matt Brown (Littledown Harriers), Sam Moran (Southport Strollers) and Timmy Geddin (Arena 80AC) – all with six. Notable challenges came from Lance Escobar (4 – Diss & District AC), Ben Short (4 – Crawley AC) and James Stewart (4 - Havering AC), whilst runners claiming two victories each included Chris Perrin (Cannock & Stafford AC), Martin Alvarez-Espinar (Thames Hare & Hounds), Adrian Bell and Oliver Beale (Westbury Harriers). Sam Hawkins (Arena 80AC), Mark Ellis and Michael Perry (Kimberley & District Striders) also had their time in the spotlight as leading runner for a weekend each. 

For total distance covered, David Wilson came out on top with an impressive 391km, second place went to Peter Clarke from Diss & District AC with 382km, with Stephen Williams from Littledown Harriers in third place with 375km.  

Of the RunTogether women’s runners taking part, Adele Bovington had opened the challenge back in 2020 as leading runner for the first six weeks, but ultimately it was Sofia Poole (Notts Women Runners) who led the way with 15 weekends, followed by Amy McCarthy (MadRunners) with 10, Paula Simpson (Notts Women Runners) with 6 and Penny Sandhu-McKenna (Notts Women Runners) finished with five. Others to take their place in the limelight amongst the female RunTogether participants were Tasha Cook (2), Helen Hiley (1 – Notts Women Runners), Lindsay Jones (MadRunners), Lydia Price (Notts Women Runners), Ruth Tanner (Notts Women Runners) and Henny Scott (Notts Women Runners). 

In the total distance competition, Sofia Poole was also the leading women with 273km, in second place was Paula Simpson who ran 245km and Patricia Ellis, completing a clear sweep for Notts Women Runners claimed third spot with 230km.  

Last but not least, in the RunTogether men’s category, it was the unstoppable Ronnie Irwin (MadRunners) who claimed 24 lead weekends, including a run of 11 consecutive victories, followed by fellow MadRunner Mark Hurst who finished on 13.  Others to enjoy time in the top spot included Stuart Hodgson (3 – Ready2Run Eden), Andrew Hodgson (3 – Ready2Run Eden), Kieron McKenna (2 - MadRunners), John Walker (2 – Fitmum & Friends) and Russel Parkin (1 - Derby Jogfit). 

Mad Runners took all the podium spots in the total distance covered with Ronnie Irwin in first place with 269km, Mark Hurst in second with 256km and finally Kieron McKenna who completed 245km. 

Congratulations not just to our leading runners and clubs, but to everyone who took part.  Whatever your reasons for getting involved, we hope you enjoyed the Weekly30 Run Challenge and we wish you all the best for your future running!