title="Baldons Parish Council in Oxfordshire">

10th Anniversary for the Baldon Runners

10th Anniversary for the Baldon runners

Our group’s running journey started as a short 10 week ‘couch to 5k’ course, 10 years later the runners are still going strong. The first Baldon runners session started at 8 am on a sunny but cold Saturday morning in November 2012. The initiative was part of the legacy programme for the 2012 Olympic games. Nic Defilion, our captain for many years, had just completed a run leaders course and decided it would be a great idea to form a group of villagers who wanted to start running. The runners collective have been meeting at the cricket pavilion every Saturday morning since (except for Covid lockdowns).

Each Saturday morning we run a loosely structured and inclusive session for everyone who is available. Over the last 10 years we have had over 60 members from casual runners, ultra-marathon runners and everything in between.

In order to celebrate our 10th anniversary, a group of 20 of us had an amazing weekend in the Lake District trail-running, walking and most importantly getting very, very wet! Thanks to Jon, Katia and Almond Lodge for their incredible hospitality.

As part of our commitment to the Olympic legacy programme we will be holding a 12 week ‘couch to 5k’ course for anyone who is new to running or wants to get back into running after some time away.

The course will start at 9am on Saturday 7th January and will run until the 25th March. If you would like to take part in the couch to 5k or join the main group please email mark.tidmarsh@outlook.com for more information.