LR Peterlee Town Council Autumn 2021 - Flipbook - Page 28
Sports & Wellbeing
Making Great Strides
in our Community
Run Peterlee is a friendly running club
that’s been suppor?ng runners in the town
since 2013. The club started with only 8
members but it has grown to around 100
members, a great reec?on of how friendly
and welcoming it really is!
The club was set up and is sTll by the
current Club Chairman David Ferguson, a
qualiIed Run Leader and Endurance
Running Coach. It is a mixed gender club,
open to people over the age of 16. The club
welcomes new members of all abiliTes,
from absolute beginners to slow and steady
runners to excepTonally fast runners and
everything in between.
We run all around the Peterlee area,
reaching into Horden, Easington, Sho+on
(road running) and into Castle Eden Dene
(trail running). One of our favourite routes
in the light evenings is a 5Hmile run through
the dene to the beach and then back. We
o"en do an ‘away day’ where we will meet
at Seaham seafront, Seaton Carew, or
Easington nature reserve, just for a change
of scenery.
Currently there are around 100 members
and usually 30H40 run on the main club
night, which is a Monday at 6.30pm. We
meet at the Pavilion Sports & Community
Centre on Helford Road, Peterlee SR8 2PH.
The Club charges a small amount of subs
per session, with this money being uTlised
for the beneIt of the club.
Run Peterlee also hosted their Irst Couch to
5k earlier this year. Couch to 5k is a program
that takes absolute beginners from sing
on their sofas to running 5 kilometers
(about 3.1 miles) by providing 3 coached
sessions a week over a number of weeks.
Jill Bridges and Jocelyn Wilkinson, the Run
Peterlee coaches who delivered the course,
said “the main barrier was people not
believing in themselves, and trying to get
three sessions a week in, which can be
dicult when you have work and family
commitments and maybe lack conIdence in
just geng out and running or meeTng new
people. But changing mindsets meant people
scheduled the Tme in and made it part of
their week. Once our parTcipants had
conquered a 20 min run, although it was sTll
tough, they were much more conIdent”.
Friendships have been formed within the
group, and it helps people to maintain their
new running habits. ParTcipants who
completed the course said that they feel a
lot healthier and physically I+er, which has
resulted in weight loss and overcoming
mental health issues.
If you would like more informaTon on the
next Couch to 5k please ring
Sharon Pounder at The Pavilion on
0191 5869957.
28 Peterlee
