Deo Kato

More than 300 people have run across the USA; no one has run the length of Africa. Deo Kato is looking to change that statistic. On 24 July, the Ugandan-born, London-based runner will be setting off from Cape Town with the plan of not stopping until he arrives in the English capital. That’s a distance of more than 9,000 miles, all of which he’s hoping to complete within 381 days.

Dame Denise Lewis

Dame Denise Lewis DBE is an accomplished presenter, broadcaster, former Olympic gold medal athlete and President of Commonwealth Games England. The former Gold Medal winning heptathlete, who holds the second highest number of points scored by a British heptathlete, has gone on to secure a successful broadcast career. Denise is one of the ‘golden girls’ of British athletics, winning gold at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and subsequently being inducted into the UK Athletics Hall of Fame in 2011. Denise has twice been runner-up in the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year awards (in 1998 and 2000) and was honoured with an OBE in 2000, a Damehood in 2023 and a Honorary Doctorate from Birmingham City University in the same year.

Since her retirement from Athletics, Denise has undertaken an array of television work including commentating on high profile athletics events and fronting shows such as BBC’s Secret Britain and Right on the Money. She is considered one of the BBC’s most credible commentators, which has seen her cover many key athletics events both at home and abroad, from the Commonwealth Games to the London Olympics. She took part in ITV’s Don’t Rock the Boat in November 2020 and The Masked Dancer, reaching the semi-final in 2022. She has been an activewear and Golf brand ambassador for Next since 2021, and has worked with multiple other brands including L’Oréal, Google, Haven and Purple Bricks.

James Elson

James founded Centurion Running in 2010. Having been fortunate enough to race frequently across both the UK and the World at that point he wanted to bring the supported style of racing he had enjoyed so much elsewhere to the UK. For the first 10 years following the initial North Downs Way events in 2011, he race directed all of the events bar the 2015 Autumn 100 which he enjoyed from the other side of the table as a runner instead. He set up the Centurion Coaching arm in 2012 which has now grown to a team of eight. And added the Centurion Store in 2013 as the demand grew for quality gear, apparel and footwear relevant to our trail and ultra scene here in the UK. He is a passionate runner himself, having competed in ultras since 2006. His proudest moments coming as he represented Team GB at the 24hr format.

Jack Scott

Jack Scott is a 29 year old INOV-8 sponsored ultrarunner from Staffordshire. In January 2024 he won The Winter Spine (known as Britain’s Most Brutal Race) in a record breaking time of 72 hours, 55 mins and 5 seconds, smashing the previous record by over ten hours, achieving what most people on the scene thought was impossible. Jack found running at a time in his life where he needed it – when he was in the throes of gambling addiction. He has achieved more in the few short years he has been doing it than most do in a lifetime and is surely one of the sport’s most exciting prospects.

Rachel Coleman

Rach Coleman is Trash Free Trails’ Communications Manager. Having joined in 2022 as Digital Community Activator, Rachel leans into her training as a performance maker to empower and mobilise TrashMobbers across the world.

Rach is driven by the power of stories to create community. Their work beyond TFT permeates live art, dance, systems change and academic research. She is an avid storyteller, nature writer and award winning photographer. Rach holds a Masters in Movement, Mind and Ecology from Schumacher College, and a First Class Bachelors from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

Rach is also an independent researcher and movement practitioner sharing ideas on embodiment as a practice of knowing, learning and co-creating. Her writing has been published by JAWS and Art UK.

Rach is a keen loom weaver and reader, coffee drinker and hill walker. She lives in the East Midlands.

Mark White

Mark White is the Founder of Run Grateful & Your Town Runners

Mark is known as a creative, an ideas man, a go getter, a keen runner, mindful mover & someone who wants to impact the world in positive ways.

A proud moment was in 2019, when Mark was voted in the top 15 social entrepreneurs in the UK by Red Bull, through his community work with Your Town.

Mark has since gone onto to creating a global movement with Run Grateful.

Mark is also a proud father to his two amazing daughters Sienna-Rose and Grace and his dog George!

With over 22 years’ experience of living a sober life, Mark has learnt a great deal on how to manage his physical and mental health as he navigates his way through life.

Ellis Bland

Bland by name, Bland by nature. Born in Lancaster just outside of the Bowland Hills where you can find me waist deep in bog most of the year. Ultra Runner, Trail Runner, Fell Runner and occasional Park Runner, I’m not one for labels and I’ll have a crack at any distance thrown my way.  

Got some Bob Grahams to my name, wouldn’t mind adding the Double to that. Some records including Hadrians Wall (West to East), 87 miles in 13hrs18mins. Lancashire Way, 110miles in 21hrs15. I think I am the current British Middle Distance Trail Champion since winning Lakes in a Day in October. Came 2nd to last at Clougha Pike U7s. Made me the runner I am. 

Photo credits to @tommorbey

Jeff Smith

Former professional ice hockey player

Marathon des Sables finisher

Everest summiteer

Multi million pound fundraiser

Co founder of bigmoose mental health charity

Diagnosed with Parkinsons 2020

Heading back to Everest Feb 1st 2024

Jakob Bloch

Jakob Bloch. CEO, Head-hunter and Advisor on Talent and Performance Cultures. Ultra Runner since 2016 having completed 40+ races globally. Recently undertook a study of endurance runners in executive roles with the view of exploring links and correlations between running and leadership. The study was completed in collaboration with psychometric experts Thomas International.

Aspire PR

Aspire PR is a PR agency for active lifestyle brands.

We do more than build campaigns. We unlock movement.

Tasnim Tudor

Endurance junkie, running on pure adrenaline. Tasnim, or Taz for short, has conquered 6 marathons and an epic ultra marathon in just 2 years. Embracing the slow and steady approach, she thrives alongside her running crew at ERC. Catch her on BBC’s Great North Run coverage or hear the thunderous cheers from ERC, her biggest cheer squad. Join her as she chases new milestones and continues to chase new challenges and inspire others to embrace their inner athlete.

Alice Light

Alice Light is a Health Coach and Ultra runner, passionate about using her voice for all women everywhere.

She is also Deo Kato’s partner and has been an active part of his campaign to run the length of Africa since 2021.

Nina Ashton

Nina Ashton (She/Her) is a British and Nigerian endurance runner living in West London.

She belongs to Emancipated Run Crew and started her running journey in 2018, since then has run a number of races including two ultramarathons.

She dabbles in board sports too and is passionate to make all sports more diverse, inclusive and representative for all people including Black, POC and LGBTQ runners!

Beth Pascall

Beth Pascall is an ultrarunner and a paediatric doctor based in the Lake District.

She’s won the Ultra Trail Cape Town and came 5^th at UTMB in 2019 as well as winning the Western States 100 and Canyons 100 in 2021, just to name a few! She will be at the National Running Show to discuss life after a running injury and her involvement with the new ultra race, 13 Valleys Ultra.

Dan McVeigh

Dan is the Volunteer Impact and Engagement Manager for parkrun UK, overseeing all aspects of volunteering at the charity. Having been a keen but average runner throughout his adult life he started going to parkrun to catch up with friends in 2011. After moving to a new area in 2018 Dan began volunteering at his local parkrun as a way of engaging in the community. He has been regularly volunteering there since 2019, and helped to launch a junior parkrun in 2022. Dan is a passionate advocate of the health and wellbeing benefits of volunteering.

SPEAKER TBC

Dr James Carvell

James has over 12 years’ experience in the NHS from Acute Medicine to General Practice.

He is a working NHS GP and Lifestyle Medicine Physician, a former Anaesthetist, qualified Physiologist, and founder of Never Matched Health (nevermatched.com). His healthcare clinic uses an evidence-based approach to support you with personalised lifestyle changes around 6 key areas of Lifestyle Medicine.

James is an Ironman triathlete and marathon runner. Following his own diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis, he co-founded Monkey Sox, a Community Interest Company that inspires an active lifestyle for all.

Jasmin Paris

Jasmin Paris is a mother-of-two, long distance fell runner, small animal vet and research scientist, who was launched into the media spotlight in January 2019 when she won the 268-mile Montane Spine race outright, breaking the overall record by 12 hours, and beating her nearest rival by 15 hours.

Although very active outdoors throughout childhood, it was not until 2008, whilst working for a year as a small animal vet in Glossop that she started fell running.  In 2015, Jasmin finished first lady and second overall at the infamous Dragon’s Back race, and the same year she won the British Fellrunning Championship for the first time. In 2016, she gained international recognition by winning the Skyrunning Extreme Series, and the same year she broke records for the three classic UK 24-hour hill challenges. In 2017, Jasmin gave birth to her daughter Rowan. She returned to racing by winning the British Fellrunning Championship in 2018, and thereafter the Spine in 2019. Her second child, Bryn, was born in 2020. Jasmin returned to racing with a win at UTMR in 2021.

In early 2022 she became the first woman in 9 years to complete a fun run (3 loops) at the notorious Barkley Marathons in Tennessee. In 2023 she returned to the event and finished a fun run in time to start a fourth loop but failed to complete that within the time limit.

Jasmin is currently working as a Clinical Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh, where she combines clinical work with research focused on chronic liver diseases in humans and dogs.

Laura Hathaway

Laura is a qualified Osteopath, who graduated from BCOM in 2015. She has a passion for the human body and how it works (and why sometimes it does not). She feels that as an Osteopath her job is to help nudge the body back to moving correctly but the work done outside of the treatment room is where the difference is really done. By educating her patients to be able to manage symptoms at home and to truly understand why they are doing said homework.

Laura lives is West Sussex with her husband and four year old daughter. Where they own a combat gym and run a private practice. Recently Laura launched The Scar Wand to help mobilise and improve the function of surgical scar tissue.

Jonathan Acott

Jonathon is a 6x cancer survivor who has run a marathon in 6 continents and is heading to Antarctica in March 2024 where he will be one of only 1500 to have run a marathon on every continent and the first multiple cancer survivor to do so.
He is a professional speaker and panellist and speaks about resilience, pragmatism and represents the ‘Everyman’. He has a mentality that means he does not stop.

Lina Chan

Lina Chan is the Director of Women’s Health at Holland and Barrett. Previously she was the CEO and co-founder of Parla.  After experiencing multiple pregnancy losses, difficulty conceiving and perimenopause, Lina became acutely aware of the gaps in women’s health care.

She founded Parla in 2018 with the mission to improve women’s access to expert support and health education.  She quickly grew the company to over 40,000 customers in 80+ countries before being acquired by Holland & Barrett, Europe’s largest health and wellness retailer, in early 2022.  Lina believes that women’s health care should address the physical as well as mental health needs across a women’s reproductive life-span. She is passionate about women’s health and entrepreneurship leading her to support a wave of new women in the space and she regularly mentors female founders.

Lina is also a regular public speaker advocating for women’s health issues at various events like GIANT Health, VivaTek, HIMSS Health and Femtechnology Summit. Born in Brazil, Lina lives in London with her husband and 3 children.

Jody Raynsford

Jody Raynsford is co-host of the Bad Boy Running podcast. A former running journalist, his work has appeared in publications including Men’s Running, The Telegraph and The Independent. He has run over 50 marathons and 30 ultramarathons, including the Marathon des Sables and Transalpine Run. He has temporarily retired from ultrarunning to focus on 5k running.

David Hellard

David Hellard is an adventurer, obstacle race enthusiast, ultra marathon runner, running journalist, founder of Caffeine Bullet and presenter on The Bad Boy Running Podcast. … In 2016 he finished as the first Brit in the Marathon Des Sables, one of the hardest ultra marathons in the world.

Vassos Alexander

Vassos Alexander is one of the best known sports presenters in the UK. He’s heard by over a million people every morning as part of the Chris Evans Breakfast Show on Virgin Radio. He’s covered seven Olympic Games and commentated on everything from tennis to triathlon, diving to darts. A seasoned endurance runner with a sub-3hr marathon PB, he has completed some of the longest and most gruelling races on earth. And he’s the author of two bestselling books on running, Don’t Stop Me Now and Running Up That Hill

Adrienne Adhami

Adrienne LDN is a performance wellbeing coach, podcast host & author. Her weekly podcast ‘Power Hour’ has reached more than 3.5 million downloads.

Adrienne is an endurance runner and has completed more than 20 endurance races around the world.

Joshua Patterson

Josh is a 4 x World Record holder, who has established himself over the past 6 years as an ultra-athlete, completing world firsts, and breaking several records. Most recently, he was the first person to complete a marathon in all 4 UK countries within 24 hours, and the first to run a marathon in all 76 UK cities consecutively.

He is a trusted broadcaster appearing across all the UK, leading networks in both sport and entertainment and a philanthropist, passionately trying to improve the worlds mental welfare.

Iwan Thomas MBE

Iwan Thomas is an Olympic silver medallist and a former European and Commonwealth 400m Champion. He became the fastest  400m British runner after breaking the British Record twenty years ago.

Since retiring from athletics, he is a regular presenter on The One Show and an accomplished live-events presenter, having hosted the 2017 World Athletics Championships.

Susie Chan

Susie Chan is an Endurance Runner, who takes on races of all distances from 1 mile to 100 miles. She is a veteran of several Marathon des Sables, runs 100 mile non-stop races, and through jungles. She has also finished all of the World Marathon Majors.

As well as running, Susie can be found talking about running in interviews, on the radio and in magazines, as well as commentating at races. You can follow Susie Chan,  the “number 1 runner to follow on Instagram” according to Runners World, and her running adventures on social media.

Susie is a Peloton Instructor who is all about helping you be the best version of yourself today.

Jamie Baulch

Esteemed sportsman Jamie Baulch is best known as an influential sprint athlete and sports speaker, who features at events up and down the country. Over the course of his career, Jamie has secured a number of prestigious awards, and developed strategies to achieve peak performance, mental resilience and sporting success. As a speaker, the athlete is likeable and passionate, easily engaging with audiences of all demographics. Upon making his debut in 1991, at the Spanish competition Junior International in Salamanca, Jamie won the 200 metres – in doing so, he broke the Welsh record.

From there he moved to 400 metre racing, positioning himself as a highly promising athlete due to his unflinching determination. In 1999, Jamie won the 400 metre gold medal at the World Indoor Athletics Championships in Japan, despite his youth. As a speaker, Jamie explores the pressures of sporting success, discussing his experience as a gold-medal winning athlete and the expectations that came hand in hand.

Over the course of his career, Jamie has earned numerous high profile accolades, including 4 gold medals, 4 silver medals and 1 bronze. Whilst representing his country, Great Britain, he secured silver at the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996, as well as silver in the Manchester Commonwealth Games in 2002, representing Wales. Jamie earned gold medals in 1997, 1999, 1998 and 2002, at the World Athletics Championships, World Indoor Athletics Championships and the European Athletics Championships. After moving away from athletics, Jamie turned to media. Between 1999 and 2003, he appeared in Energize!, A Question of Sport, and Superstars. Jamie retired from professional athletics in 2005, he used his experience of sport to set up a business in sports management. Additionally, he founded a sports memorabilia company, and a business that connected sports personalities with school events.

With just over a decade of sporting experience, it is no surprise that Jamie has coached a number of teams, including Bradford Bulls Rugby League Club as their sprint expert. Jamie is the perfect event host for fundraisers and charity evenings, as he is personally committed to a number of charities – the two main charities being Ty Hafan and Barnardos. Both charities for children and young adults, Jamie even ran the 2011 London Marathon for Barnardos. As a speaker, he is dedicated to raising money for charity and offering strategies to maximise sporting success. As an expert in self belief, Jamie can discuss his journey to sporting prowess thanks to his resilience and determination.

David Weir

David Weir is one of the most successful and celebrated Para athletes in the history of the sport having made his Paralympic debut at Atlanta 1996.

He has since gone on to win ten Paralympic medals – including six golds – although he missed out on the podium at Rio 2016.

The Arsenal fan’s crowning moment came on home soil at London 2012, where he conquered a gruelling schedule of seven races in 10 days totalling 35.3 miles to win four gold medals – the T54 800m, 1500m, 5000m and marathon.

The British capital is a happy hunting ground for the ‘Weirwolf’, who has won a record-breaking eight London Marathon titles from 21 races.

Mike Bullock

Mike Bullock, co-founder, is a veteran ultra-runner, and the self-proclaimed ideas-man … originally a 17 minute 5k whippet, injuries and old-age gave him the opportunity to focus on longer distances…108 miles in 24 hours is his longest run, and he’s now completed over 180 marathons & ultras…but he’s never happier than when he’s eating cake & poring over maps to plan new & exciting routes, or running up the biggest hills he can find.

Jenni Falconer

TV and radio presenter Jenni Falconer ran her first marathon in 2009 and was clearly bitten by the running bug as she is now training for her 9th marathon.

Running is a true passion, which is why she created the “run club of the podcast world”, RunPod, where runners unite and chat about that feel-good effect. Guests vary weekly, from Olympians to actors and fellow presenters (and many more),  all with incredible stories to tell and a passion for all things running related.

(Marathon PB: 3:31, half marathon PB: 1:35)

Richard Whitehead MBE

Richard Whitehead MBE won his first world title at the World Championships in Christchurch, New Zealand – and that title was quickly followed by European and Paralympic gold in 2012.

He went on to retain his T42 200m world title in 2013 before embarking on a charity expedition, which saw him run 40 marathons in 40 days. In doing so, Richard became the first double leg amputee to run the length of the country.

He broke the world record on his way to another world title at Doha 2015 and in 2016 he claimed double sprint gold at the European Championships before heading to the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games where he defended his 200m title and tied for 100m silver. At the rescheduled 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games he claimed silver in the T61 200m.

At the 2017 World Championships in London, he won 200m gold and 100m bronze. Further success came his way in 2018 with T61 200m gold at the European Championships in Berlin, Germany, followed by silver at the 2019 World Championships.

Richard recently launched The Richard Whitehead Foundation, which aims to inspire and tackle the barriers faced by people with disabilities in accessing sport and being engaged in their community.

He completed his 77th marathon recently following this year’s London Marathon.

He was made a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2013 New Year’s Honours List.

Colin Jackson CBE

Great Britain’s Legendary Hurdler, Multiple Gold Medallist & World Record Holder, Broadcaster

Records / Achievements

• 1988 Olympic Silver Medallist – Seoul Olympic Games in 110m Hurdles
• 1993 & 1999 Gold Medallist – World Championships in 110m Hurdles
• Set 7 European, 8 Commonwealth, 9 UK records for 110m Hurdles
• Former World Record Holder 12.91 seconds in Stuttgart 1993 for 13 years
• Current World Indoor Record Holder 7.30 seconds in Sindelfingen 1994
• 2005 Finalist on Strictly Come Dancing, ITV1’s Dancing on Ice Goes Gold
• 2013 Founded ‘Go Dad Run’ campaign in aid of Prostate Cancer, hosted at venues nationwide

2014 Race Director for ‘Red Bull: Wings for Life’ events worldwide

Following his retirement in 2003, Colin was a natural choice to become one of the key members of the BBC’s sports production team and he continues to cover all of their Athletics output. Covering the Athens Olympics was obviously a highlight early in his broadcasting career and since then he has been an integral part of the BBC programming for all major athletic events, including the London Olympic Games in 2012 and the Rio Games in 2016.

Colin co-hosted the BBC One live morning show Sunday Life for its duration during 2008 and also filmed The Truth About You for BBC One, a documentary looking at the science behind his body, brain and success. Colin traced his roots in a moving episode of BBC One’s highly acclaimed, Who Do You Think You Are and dazzled us all with his dancing skills on Strictly Come Dancing and was thrilled to make it, by public vote, into the final. More recently Colin has honed is ice-skating skills for ITV1’s Dancing on Ice Goes Gold and appeared in the BBC’s 24 Hours in the Past.

Colin works closely with Sport Relief, where he is a member of the steering panel and is also an International Inspiration Ambassador for UNICEF as well as founding and fronting the Go Dad Run campaign for Prostate Cancer. 2014 also saw him take over the role of Race Director for the Red Bull: Wings for Life events worldwide.

Colin’s personable, yet professional approach, combined with his high profile, means that he is in demand from the commercial sector and like his on-screen presentation and commentary Colin is a confident and charismatic conference/awards host and a high level motivational speaker. With an incredible competitive career behind him, he has been extremely well received by numerous audiences including IT Conventions and Business Forums.

Dame Kelly Holmes

Double Olympic Champion Col. Dame Kelly Holmes MBE (mil) is one of the UK’s most popular athletes, respected throughout the world as a role model and an inspiration. Colonel Dame Kelly Holmes is a role model and an inspiration.

She joined the British Army at 17, serving for over 10 years as a qualified HGV driver and Physical Training Instructor. In 1988 she was awarded an MBE in recognition of her services to the armed forces.

During a 12 year international career, Kelly won medals at Commonwealth, European, World and Olympic level, culminating in two Gold Medals at Athens Olympics in 2004 for the 800m and 1500m which cemented her place in history as the first women ever in Great Britain to win two gold medals at the same games. She was honoured with a Damehood in 2005 for services to sport.

Today Kelly is a Global Inspirational Speaker, an award-winning author, an entrepreneur as well as a fitness, wellness, and mental health champion. Kelly is passionate about raising awareness of mental health. Her own experience led her to learn more and to help others. A trained Mental Health First Aider she continues to be President of the charity she founded in 2008, Dame Kelly Holmes Trust – a charity which supports disadvantaged young people using the unique skills of world-class athletes to engage, enable and empower for which she won a Beacon award for philanthropy in 2017.

In 2018 she was appointed Honorary Colonel of the Royal Armoured Corps Training Regiment. Dame Kelly became the first person to be attached to a regular regiment as an Honorary Colonel which was signed off by the Queen.

In 2020 Kelly was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of York to add to 12 others she has received since retiring.

Sir Mo Farah CBE

Sir Mo Farah, CBE, is a multiple Olympic, World and European Champion athlete.  For many he is Britain’s greatest ever athlete having accumulated 10 global titles which includes the ‘double double’ of gold medals over 5,000m and 10,000m at both the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games.  He holds numerous European and British Records and has the World Bests for 2 miles indoors (8:03.40) and the One Hour Run (21,330m).

Mo is a dedicated family man who lives and trains in South West London with his wife and their four children. He famously dedicated each of his four Olympic gold medals to his four children.

His achievements are a far cry from his humble beginnings in Somalia, arriving in London from Mogadishu at the age of 8 and speaking very little English. Mo grew up in West London and began running at school when spotted by his PE teacher, who saw potential in his young student.

Mo was a very successful junior athlete, winning the European Junior 5,000m title in 2001. His major breakthrough came in 2006 when he won a silver medal in the 5,000m at the European T&F Championships and later in the same year he won the European Cross Country Championships.

Mo’s career took another step forward in 2010 with a 5,000m and 10,000m golden double at the European T&F Championships, and then one week later he became the first British man to run sub 13 minutes for the 5000m – setting a British Record time of 12:57.94. 2011 was a dream season for Mo as he became the first British man to win the 5,000m at the World T&F Championships, a few days after winning a silver medal in the 10,000m. He smashed the European 10,000m Record with a time of 26:46.57 and improved the British 5,000m Record to 12:53.11.

Then came the London 2012 Olympics. In his first race, Mo capped off “Super Saturday” by winning the 10,000m gold medal in a time of 27:30.42. This was Great Britain’s first ever Olympic gold medal in the 10,000m. One week later Mo completed the long distance double by winning the 5,000m in a time of 13:41.66. To finish off an amazing 2012, Mo’s wife Tania gave birth to twin daughters to whom Mo dedicated each of his Olympic Gold Medals.

Since London 2012 Mo has continued to go from strength to strength. At the 2013 World T&F Championships in Moscow, Mo completed another long distance double in the 5,0000m and 10,000m. At the 2014 European T&F Championships in Zurich Mo did the same again. This achievement made him the most successful individual in the history of the European Athletics Championships, with five titles to his name. He then once more repeated the long distance double at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing, before ending the 2015 season with victory in the Great North Run.

Mo secured his legacy as one of the greatest distance runner of all time at the 2016 Rio Olympics. By winning both the 5,000m and 10,000m gold medals Mo became just the second athlete to complete the long distance double-double. Victory in the 10,000m was particularly dramatic as Mo was accidentally tripped during the race, falling to the floor and then having to catch up with the leaders before finally winning in a enthralling finish. This time Mo dedicated his two Gold medals to his daughter Rhianna and son Hussein to complete the set! To round off an incredible year, Mo was knighted in the Queen’s New Year Honours list for services to Athletics.

In the summer of 2017, Mo completed his last track World T&F Championships in front of his home crowd at the London Stadium, where he secured his tenth Gold and second Silver medals at a global championships.

From the track Mo transitioned onto the roads and targeted the marathon. This new challenge started with a third place finish and new British Record at the 2018 London Marathon, and then went even better with victory and a new European Record of 2:05:11 at the 2018 Chicago Marathon.

Tom Joly

Tom Joly is an up and coming runner on the ultra trail scene. He was the top Brit at the Trail World Championships Long Course (11th overall) as well as at UTMB (16th Overall) in 2023. He also won the Ultra X World Championship, and competed at the Ironman World Championship in 2022. He currently runs for Team Hour 7,  and is trying to make it as a professional in the sport of trail running.

John Ghent

Three years ago, amidst the global chaos of COVID-19, John discovered running and a technique known as “Jeffing.”
Named after its founder, Olympian Jeff Galloway, Jeffing is a run/walk method that combines periods of running with deliberate walking intervals. This technique allows runners to build up to longer distances gradually, without putting too much stress on the body. John stumbled upon Ultramarathons and Jeffing on YouTube during a particularly memorable firework night when he was locked in the dining room with his dog.

The beauty of Jeffing lies in its adaptability. As a busy father of four daughters and the owner of his own business, John needed a training method that could fit into his hectic schedule. Jeffing, with its flexible intervals and emphasis on active recovery, proved to be the perfect match.
In both running and life, John embodies the spirit of the ultramarathoner – pushing past limits, embracing the journey, and always moving forward, one Jeffing interval at a time.

Join John at The National Run Show as he shares his inspiring journey from a lockdown runner to an ultramarathoner and how the power of Jeffing can help you reach your own running goals.

Trina Dawkins

Trina Dawkins is a blogger and ultra runner who uses her platform to support and inspire new and established runners and anyone who wants to improve their health and wellbeing through movement or just try out something new.

She is also one of the Project Managers supporting Deo Kato on his incredible journey running from Cape Town to London, UK.

Loyd Purvis

Running is so much more than just putting one foot in front of the other for me, like I’m sure it is for a lot of you. Some of my earliest memories are of running as a child, whether it be playing tag with friends in the playground or running a hard 1500m for my school athletics team, I’ve always wanted to run!

Well, maybe not always, because there was a big period in my life where the joy of running was taken away from me when I got struck down with pretty severe asthma! I remember it like it was yesterday, running a 800m event for the school team, I was having a great race but with around 300m to go all of a sudden I couldn’t catch my breath. I was forced to drop from the race and I really couldn’t understand what had just happened – welcome to the world of asthma, Loyd!

From the age of 12 to when I moved to Cornwall at the age of 31 I suffered with exercise induced asthma and became pretty dependent on my inhaler.

But as if my magic when moving to the fresh air of Cornish coast, it just stopped! My lungs started to free up and I didn’t need my inhaler any more – it was such a pivotal moment in my life, it was like I was 12 years old all over again and I haven’t stopped running since!

Dan Summers

Dan is a Mountain Leader, Fell Leader in Running Fitness and INWA Nordic Walking Instructor. He has completed a number of 100-mile races and 24hr challenges including the Arc of Attrition and Lakeland 100 (both under 24hrs), the Spine Challenger, the Bob Graham and Paddy Buckley Rounds. Dan loves to run on all surfaces and all distances but the adventure of long distance mountain challenges really inspires him.

He loves to share this passion, and the skills needed to undertake these challenges, with others so they can have their own epic adventures.

Georgia Tindley

Born and raised in London, Georgia moved to Scotland at 19, inspired by summers in the Outer Hebrides. There, she discovered her love for mountain and skyrunning, favoring exposed and scrambling routes.

Her running adventures include Yosemite, the Dolomites, Tromso, and the Scottish Highlands. She’s a competitive athlete and record-setter in Scotland. Georgia’s outdoor passion extends to exploring new routes in her van and teaching English, encouraging her students to embrace the outdoors.

Anthony Gay

Anthony Gay is host of the Run The Business podcast, a weekly show that explores the place where running and leadership come together. With a different guest each week, Ant finds out how running can help us with leading, connecting with people, and generally being better in business.

Ant has a keen interest in both spaces having co-founded Reel2Media, an award-winning creative audio business specialising in sonic branding. He is also Managing Director of ReelWorld, a global leader in radio branding responsible for shaping the sound of the world’s biggest radio stations includes Capital, Heart, and BBC Radio 1.

Running has been in his blood since those cold winter morning cross country runs at school. A regular park runner, he gets involved at all distances and particularly enjoys trail runs in the Lake District. Last year he was a top ten finisher in the 135-mile Ring o’ Fire in Anglesey. He includes the New York Marathon as one of his favourite days out.

Jordan Foster

Jordan is an inspiration to many and when it comes to running, not many have been on a journey like Jordan.  From running her first half marathon in over 2 hours to now regularly achieving sub 90’s, Jordan knows what it takes to improve at every distance within running.

Some of her key achievements include winning the Ultra X Jordan 250km race and getting a sub 3 after having her daughter Grace meaning she had to start on a couch to 5k plan which quickly turned into a couch to sub 3 hour marathon plan.

When it comes to getting results, Jordan knows how to help people of all abilities get them.  One of the many reasons why Coopah provides a PB guarantee or your money back!

James Thie

James is one of our head Coopah coaches, as well as a senior lecturer and Performance advisor for Athletics at Cardiff Metropolitan University. A former International middle-distance runner, who was a finalist at World, European and Commonwealth championships. To add to this, a multiple British champion and sub 4 minute miler both indoors and outdoors. Not done with running into his 40’s, he’s a 4  World masters champion & recent World masters record breaker.

In 2008, James started coaching through his first athlete, David Bishop, who would go on in 2014 to run for Scotland in the Commonwealth Games and run a 3:56 Mile and 3:37 for 1500m. Since then successes have ranged from distances at and between 800m to 50km, with 15 Great British Internationals and taking various National titles and records.

With recent successes including Hannah Iriwn’s 71:03 Northern Ireland Half marathon record. These performances led to being named 2017 BMC coach of year and Welsh Athletics awards in 2018 and 2020. A Great Britain team staff for 2020 Olympics, 2022 World championships, 2022 Commonwealth Games, World and European indoors, World Juniors, European U20’s and European U23’s Championships. As well as currently completing his Doctorate in Sport Coaching.

Anya Culling

Anya is a Lululemon sponsored runner and has represented England over the marathon distance. She only took up running properly in lockdown which saw her go from a marathon time of 4hrs 34 mins in 2019 to a current PB of 2hrs 34 mins, knocking off 2hrs.

She has her sights set on the 2026 Commonwealth Games. She is a qualified LIRF coach and loves coaching, living to show anything is possible and it’s never too late to start! She is a lover of all sports particularly hockey and cricket which she has also competed in at a county level.

Beth Potter

Beth competed at the Rio 2016 Olympics in the 10,000m before relocating to Leeds to pursue a career in Triathlon. Beth went on to win Gold at the European Championships and Bronze in the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham 2022. More recently, she set an unofficial road 5km World Record and has multiple World Triathlon Championship Series Medals. She is aiming to compete in the Paris Olympic Games 2024.

Beth is also a fully qualified Physics Teacher and taught in London for 3 years before going full time with sport. She has a degree in Physics from Loughborough University. As well as sport, Beth enjoys cooking and long walks with her very energetic cocker spaniel, Charlie.

Nicky Spinks

Nicky started running in 2001 and quickly moved from road to trails, then the fells. Joining Penistone Footpath Runners & AC in 2002 opened up all the possibilities for her. In 2005 she completed the Bob Graham, a 24 hour challenge in the Lake District of 66 miles and 42 tops, with 28,000’ ascent. Nicky progressed onto the Paddy Buckley Round and the Charlie Ramsay round. Then Nicky looked at 100 mile races and found she could excel at these winning the Grand Raid Pyrenees twice, the Ultra Tour Monta Rosa and coming 11^th in UTMB twice. Realising she was getting faster Nicky turned her eye back to the rounds and broke the Ladies Lake District record (an extended BG) adding two peaks and completing 64 Peaks in 23.15 hours. And then went on to break the records on all three British 24 hours rounds with BG 18.06, Paddy 19.02 and Ramsay 19.39 hours. Nicky also got an entry in to the formidable Barkley Marathons and has achieved one loop in 2019 and two loops in 2023. One of her favourite races is the Tor des Geants where she was placed 10^th in 2019 and 3^rd in 2021.

Nicky retired from farming in Yorkshire in 2022 and now lives in South Ayrshire with her husband and three dogs.

David Birtwistle

David Birtwistle is a personal trainer & fitness Entrepreneur with over 12 years’ experience helping people live longer, healthier and happier lives.

Based in London, David is a keen traveller, and inspires, motivates and educates his audience to live a full and active lifestyle through daily Instagram and TikTok content.

Alongside his social presence, Entrepreneur David runs his personal online coaching company, Endeavour Life with a team of elite Personal Trainers, helping clients all around the globe through a combination of bespoke food, movement and mindset coaching.

A self-taught business man, David also helps other PT’s start and grow their online businesses through his business mentorship program.

Priya Gopaldas

Dr Priya Gopaldas is an NHS doctor and ultramarathon runner. Priya, a former Love Islander, graduated as a doctor this year and works on many NHS health campaigns.

Dr Priya is passionate about fitness and running and loves to take part in endurance and ultra marathons – recently completing a 250km ultra-marathon in Sri Lanka raising money for the NHS.

In early 2022 Priya revealed she suffers with a chronic lung condition “Bronchiectasis” but says that running helps her combat symptoms. Priya is now an ambassador of Lung and Asthma UK to spread awareness about lung illnesses such as hers.

Emma Campbell

Emma Campbell is an author, speaker and host of the podcast, Open. 

She’s known on social media as @limitless_em  –  a handle she adopted after her third cancer diagnosis in 2019 to serve as a daily reminder to herself and others that we all have limitless potential, despite the challenges we may face.

It was around this time that Emma found a new love for running and it very quickly became an incredible way of her emotionally managing yet another challenging time and also, a positive way of seeing her body work for her, despite needing new cancer treatment and two major operations. 

She ran the London Marathon in 2020 and 2021 –  fundraising on both occasions for the Royal Marsden Hospital where she continues to have her treatment. She’s also run the Vitality 10K in her underwear as part of the Celebrate You wave, the Great South Run and Race For Life.

Emma is happiest when she’s out on her regular early morning 5 and 10K’s around her local park and along the river –  that’s when the gratitude dial is high and she really does feel limitless and very lucky to be alive. 

Kevin Oakes

I started running at the age of 17 when ai was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes . This as well as the difficulties with my Asperger’s has made life very tough . However running has turned my life around , by helping control my diabetes to giving me a positive outlook of life . Running has helped me complete my masters degree as well as complete a book .

I have also completed several marathons in which I’m now aiming to complete the world marathon majors and compete for England in the V35 .

I’m also one of the founding members of south birmingham striders which is a club created to accept everyone no matter of their disability or illness . I hope that I can inspire others who have had a pattern of bad look in life turn theirs and achieve what they would never thought to be possible .

Shane Ohly

Shane Ohly is a former professional climber and elite mountain runner who has turned his lifelong passion for adventures in the mountains into a career through his business Ourea Events. Ourea Events are widely acknowledged as the gold standard operator, and they organise some of the UK’s most famous off road events including Salomon Skyline Scotland® and the Montane Dragon’s Back Race®. His fusion of mountain running, and free solo climbing have led to extraordinary personal achievements such as the recent Lake District Classic Rock record.

Robbie Britton

Robbie Britton is an ultra-endurance coach and athlete who holds the British record for 24hr running with 277.4km (or 172.3 miles).

With an MSc in Performance Coaching and a PgDip in Sports Nutrition, Robbie has supported some of the best road and trail athletes at races across the world. Author of 1001 Running Tips: the essential running guide.

Arj Thiruchelvam

Arj Thiruchelvam studied at Loughborough and trained as a Decathlete before becoming a top running and performance coach. He applies his own scientific model to help novices up to Team GB Olympians across all distances to keep smashing their personal bests.

A qualified UK Athletics Sprint & Jumps Coach who has co-designed Degree programmes, Arj provides clear fitness & nutrition guidance utilising the latest scientific research.

Arj is the founder of Performance Physique, a Solihull based coaching company. He can regularly be found talking about running, training and nutrition on the radio, TV and in national magazines and newspapers.

Elsey Davis

I am a professional trail runner for The North Face. My career began in road running with a marathon PB of 2.33 marathon. I’m currently living in Cornwall with my wife working as a GP trainee.

Pete Cooper

Pete Cooper is the Co-Founder of Coopah – a coaching app on a mission to make run coaching affordable and accessible. After the lost of Pete’s Mum and close friend, Pete turned to running which saved his life. Frustrated with the cost of personal coaching and old school PDF’s, Pete set out to make running accessible for everyone. Coopah has helped over 3,000 runners hit their PBs in 2022. Coopah mean it when they say they want to make running accessible to everyone which is why they launched their refugee run club. A run club to help refugees integrate with society whilst getting access to a lifetime of coaching from Coopah. A recent graduate went from never running before to running a 1:18 half marathon and 3:02 marathon in just 5 months.

When it comes to running, Pete was the first runner globally to set the trend of running a marathon in lockdown. When having to quarantine for 14 days, he decided to run 5250 laps of his Hong Kong flat which went viral and inspired 100s of others to find ways to run a marathon in lockdown. Pete did this to talk about his mental health journey and let others know that they weren’t alone.

Kirk Bowyer

Prior to founding Mini Athletics, Kirk worked with elite athletes in various different sports as a strength and conditioning coach. He worked with many professional teams and athletes from football to tennis, formula one racing drivers to Olympians. His role was to improve performance through physical training and prevent injury.

When Kirk and Clare’s son reached 2 years old (in 2016), they wanted to take him to a sporting class but noticed there were very limited options. There were countless soccer and rugby classes but nothing that really tapped into the concept of what children enjoyed the most i.e running, jumping and throwing. In addition, they wanted children to have a magical and imaginative experience of sport. They knew that the first experience of sport should be something they remember for the rest of their life and go onto lead active, healthy lives. As a result, Kirk gave up his job as a strength and conditioning coach and co-founded (alongside Clare), Mini Athletics.

They completed a pilot year in their home city of Cambridge to prove the model. They then sold their first franchise in 2017. Since then, the infrastructure of head-quarters has grown and the franchise network has expanded to 33 franchisees across the UK and 2 master franchises in Ireland and the UAE. They have thousands of children in their program every week and are about to expand into the USA in 2023.

Eilish McColgan

Eilish McColgan is a Scottish middle- and long-distance runner. She represented Team GB at 3 Olympic Games – London 2012, Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2021.

Having competed in the Steeplechase at Glasgow 2014, Eilish switched from the barriers to the flat following a serious foot injury. She was a finalist in both 1,500m and 5,000m in Gold Coast, finishing 6^th in both events.

In the summer of 2018, Eilish followed up her Gold Coast Games by taking silver over 5,000m at the European Championships in Berlin, adding to her European Indoor bronze from the previous year. She was in brilliant form in 2021, erasing Paula Radcliffe’s long-standing British 5,000m record at the Oslo Diamond League.

She competed at her third Olympic Games in Tokyo following a debut in the 3,000m steeplechase at London 2012 and qualifying as a finalist in the 5,000m at Rio 2016. She finished ninth in the 10,000m in the Japanese capital 30 years on from her mother Liz McColgan’s Tokyo World Championship win.

2022 has been a successful year, with Eilish becoming Commonwealth Games Champion over 10,000m, winning a silver medal over the 5,000m, followed by multiple European medals at the most recent European Championships in Munich.

In March 2022, McColgan launched a non-profit organisation, Giving Back to Track with partner and fellow Olympian Michael Rimmer with the aim to encourage young people to get involved in athletics and to fund the next generation of female athletes.

Holly Taylor

Holly Taylor is the digital editor of Women’s Running and co-host of the Women’s Running podcast, where she shares her running journey as well as the inspiring stories of women runners all over the country. She’s never been the sporty type, but running is the first time she’s felt real joy in getting active. She loves talking about running as well as all the tough questions that come with it, like whether you can watch reality TV while you cross train and how many packets of crisps can fuel a training run. She’s always up for new challenges and for learning new things, and she’s documenting all of it on the podcast.

Liz Patient

Liz is an avid runner, Pilates Instructor and mum of two. After battling a series of running niggles and injuries in 2017/18, she adapted her Pilates practice to specifically support her running, and has not looked back since. Her runner-focused Pilates sessions focus on improving stability, aiding recovery, supporting a better running form, and making sure runners are moving and feeling their best.

In recent years she has taken her experience, and that of working with hundreds of other runners, and used it to develop Pilates for Runners.  An app providing structured programs and hundreds of easy-to-follow sessions specifically for runners.  The app has created a community of runners using Pilates, so they can help and support each other.

Imo Boddy

Imo is a 24 year old endurance athlete based in London. In July 2022, she became the youngest female to have run the length of the UK. This May, Imo is aiming to become the fastest person to have completed the national 3 peaks on foot.

Sarah Hartley

I started running at University in 2018, after talking to a friend and us both wondering if we could run 5k in one go. It turned out we could (just about), but we then set ourselves the challenge of getting our time down from 45 minutes to 25, which we did! 4 years later and I’ve stepped up from 5k to 10 and beyond, completing my first marathon in October 2021, and then going on to complete my first ultra at Thailand by UTMB in December 2021. I’ve definitely caught the ultra bug now and have lots more races on my bucket list for the future! I love running because no matter how hard it feels or how long or short the run is, it is guaranteed to put me in a better mood and clear my head. Running has given me the escape I need when life gets hectic and it somehow never gets boring, even after 11 hours out on the mountains, there is fun to be had!

Andy Baddeley

Andy is a two-time Olympian over 1500m and was ranked number one in the world over the mile distance in 2008. He also holds the parkrun world record over 5km at 13:48 and has broken four minutes for the mile in ten different calendar years. In late 2018, Andy co-founded The Running Channel with the goal of supporting and entertaining runners all over the world.

Esther Newman

Esther is the editor of Women’s Running magazine, and the host of the Women’s Running podcast. She is passionate about promoting running as just about the best thing there is, and empowering women to take ownership of their physical and mental wellbeing. Under her guidance, Women’s Running has won numerous awards, including most recently, the IPA PPA Podcast of the year Award, and the IPA PPA Inclusion and Diversity award in recognition of the brand’s commitment to encouraging all people who identify as women, everywhere, to run.

Shakira Akabusi

Shakira is a mum on a mission; to shatter the stereotypes around motherhood, pre and postnatal health, including physical and mental wellbeing.

Following the birth of her first son, Shakira found motherhood to be the opposite of restrictive. Now, as a mother of four, Shakira has combined her professional knowledge as a qualified pre and postnatal trainer to create StrongLikeMum. A space for women to get all the information they need, not just on what they could be doing, but how to find the time and ways to balance fitness with Motherhood.

Sophie Power

Sophie Power is a GB ultrarunner most known for the viral picture of her breastfeeding her then 3 month old baby whilst running the 106 mile Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc. She has run ultramarathons all over the world, from Iceland to Bhutan and including some of the world’s toughest – from Spartathlon to the Summer Spine.

Now a mother of 3, she is a Trustee of the charity Women in Sport and passionate about supporting other women to achieve their running goals – whatever they may be.

Sophie recently founded SheRACES, a campaign to improve running events for women and get more women on start lines.

Anna Harding

Anna’s a familiar face amongst the running community, as she heads up The Running Channel on YouTube – an online space for runners of all abilities to learn about running and be entertained by running-related challenges, as well as hear about all the latest gear launches. She’s no stranger to races from 5ks right up to multi-stage ultras. Basically, once an idea has been put into her head to do with running, she does it. Like the time her colleagues suggested she run a marathon in her mum’s 20 metre long back garden. That was a LOT of laps!

Emma Kirk-Odunubi & Clare Rafferty

Clare and Emma are both experts in the field of all things running and strength. Between them have been instructing, coaching everyday people & runners of all ages for a combined length of over 20 years. Clare works with many ‘hybrid’ athletes competing in events such as Hyrox as well as half marathons and 10kms utilising her MSc, PT and Level 4 Strength & conditioning background. She helps clients understand how to get better through running easier and building key foundational strength. Emma works with clients who come from either being injured or who have big marathon goals and aspirations. As a self proclaimed footwear geek, Gait analyst and Sports Scientist & Strength coach her skills go hand in hand to work with runners. Together they use their skills to simply help their clients remain as injury free as possible whilst achieving their goals.

Scott Jurek

Named one of the greatest runners of all time, Scott Jurek has claimed victories in nearly all of ultrarunning’s elite trail and road events including: the historic 153-mile Spartathlon, the Hardrock 100, the Badwater 135-Mile Ultramarathon, and—his signature race—the Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run, which he won a record seven straight times.

Scott has also taken the running world by storm with his 2015 Appalachian Trail speed record, averaging nearly 50 miles a day over 46 days — and the United States all-surface record in the 24-Hour Run with 165.7 miles: 6.5 marathons in one day.

Off the trail, Scott is also a New York Times-bestselling author for his memoir Eat & Run.

Gary House

Gary is a trail runner and running coach from North Wales with many epic race finishes to his name including the Dragon’s Back and two first place wins at Equinox 24. Gary has spent more than 10 years working as a coach and getting results for others. He trains hard but also loves the fun side of trail running creating engaging skits for social media.

Anita Bean

Anita Bean is an award-winning registered nutritionist, internationally published author, freelance health writer and former British bodybuilding champion. She specialises in sport and exercise nutrition and is passionate about helping runners improve their performance in training and competition. Her books include The Complete Guide to Sports Nutrition, The Runner’s Cookbook and The Vegan Athlete’s Cookbook. Anita is the nutritionist for the London Marathon.

Rhys Jenkins

Rhys is a legend in the trail running community. He has spent the last decade clocking up an impressive list of challenges, including:

• Three Peaks JOGLE
• The Badwater 135 miler
• The Canal Slam (the Grand Union Canal 145, Kennet and Avon Canal 145 plus the Liverpool and Leeds Canal 130 Races – all in one season of running!)
• A 2,000 mile run from Boston to Austin
• He’s also previously held the Wales Coast Path FKT and has raised over £175k for charity!

Rhys and his wife Cerys, organise Pegasus and Wild Horse events in Wales. The pair are super passionate about helping trail runners achieve their goals.

Keri Wallace

Keri Wallace is a mountain running guide and co-founder of women’s trail running company Girls on Hills. She is a qualified Mountain Leader and Rock Climbing Instructor – and mother to two lively girls! 

Keri enjoys fell, sky and ultrarunning and describes herself as a jack of all trades, master of none! This year she finished 3^rd F in the UK & Ireland Skyrunning Series and 5th F (2nd V40) at the Ultra Tour Monte Rosa (UTMR). She can mostly be found juggling work and kids around her local mountains in Lochaber, Scottish Highlands. 

Always on the hunt for a novel challenge, Keri enjoys mixing up mountaineering and running in all seasons. She holds the female FKT for the winter Tranter’s Round, summer Glencoe Round and completed the first Glencoe Classic Rock Round in under 24h with her partner Ben in 2021. 

In a former life, Keri was a scientist and has a PhD from Cambridge University in proprioceptive plasticity in targeted movements.

Allie Bailey

Allie Bailey is an ultrarunning coach, writer, presenter and ultrarunner. Since 2016 she has run almost 200 marathons and ultra-distance events and has a number of world firsts to her name including coast to coast crossings of Panama, Scotland and Dominica and a 100 mile run across the frozen Lake Khovsgol in Mongolia. She is the only woman to have run across the 138 mile Namib-Nukluft desert in Nambia twice, and was support crew on 2020’s Sport Relief event in the same desert.  In 2019 Allie headed up the first and only all women team to run the entire length of the Outer Hebrides island chain and in 2022 she was named one of the top ten most inspiring female adventure runners in the UK by The Guardian.

A fierce advocate for mental health awareness and inclusivity, Allie is one of the most authentic voices in ultrarunning – her MO is to tell it like it is. “I am just a relatively normal person that goes running loads and likes and adventure” she says. “I spent so many years being completely lost and not knowing what I was really for, suffering from depression, anxiety and feeling completely hopeless. I spent years self-medicating with alcohol and had a number of pretty epic and at times life threatening mental health crises – even when I was running. The ultrarunning community is like no other – find the right crew and you will find your family. If I can inspire just one person to give this stuff a go my job is done. Everyone has this in them, I truly believe that. “

In June 2022 Allie will head up a small team running 1000 miles in just 35 days from Land End to John O’Groats. This world first route will take in some of the UK’s best known trails including the South West Coast Path, The Great Glen Way and The West Highland Way and form the blueprint for Run Britannia, a new race in the Rat Race catalogue of endurance events.  In September 2022 she hopes to complete the Dragons Back race and is currently finishing her first book.

Chris Ford

Hi I am the founder of FORDY RUNS! We represent the everyday runner with an ethos of ultra inclusivity and we pride ourselves on supporting and encouraging runners of all abilities no matter how fast or slow and bringing them all together!

FORDY RUNS Running Club is the biggest running club in the UK offering runners of all abilities no barrier to entry if they wish to belong to a running club.

Apart from being a UKA qualified Athletics and Running Coach I am a content creator producing impartial reviews and creating running vlogs on our YouTube Channel. I am also co-host of our popular running podcast The Long Run.

James Dunn

I started running in 2015 when I weighed 20 stone. Running has become not only an avenue for weight loss, a way of mediating my mental health but a fantastic excuse to meet brilliant people and travel the world. Since that day I’ve run 14 marathons in 10 countries and logged a fair few miles along the way and in 2019 I will be running the Marathon des Sables!!