Hereford City Council awarded £1,500 to Wye Valley Runners, with an additional provisory £1,500 award if condition are met, for their project to increase membership numbers.
Wye Valley Runners are a well-established friendly running club, based in central Hereford at the Halo Leisure Centre. They welcome runners of all abilities and have a great mix of people in the club: young, old, fast, slow and everything in between. Their aim is simply to get the most out of the sport – socially and competitively. Club members come from all over Herefordshire and across the border into Wales.
Training evenings take place every Wednesday and vary from track, to hills, to trail, to road and more. They organise a series of races including the Muddy Woody, The Caplor Hill Race and a couple of cross country races. They take part in the summer and winter cross country series and their members get involved in all sorts of racing including fell, ultra, mountain and road.
This grant helps fund a membership drive as part of their fortieth anniversary. The programme aims for “Couch to 5km” as an objective to encourage running for health, fitness, and the social benefits of bringing people together in a shared activity. It was noted that whilst anyone can run anywhere at any time, the experience of being followed at night means many people much prefer to run in a group. They want to reach into communities that don’t have a high level of engagement and members, and venues south of the river would be especially welcomed.
Hereford City Council were pleased to see a project which combines social interaction with health and fitness, and agreed that a grant of £1,500 should be awarded to the Wye Valley Runners, with a further £1,500 added on the provision that 75 new members are recruited by October 2023.
For more information on the Wye Valley Runners, visit HERE.
