Comment: Last night saw a number of reasons to celebrate this wonderful club. Not only did the latest in a long line of C25K and 5 – 10K students graduate, but we also presented cheques to the tune of £5.5k to our nominated charities. I for one am super proud to be part of such a fabulously run club that does so much for others. Here is the article I penned regarding the cheque presentation and a few photos of that and the graduation.

Tracy Kennish-Ward

As a club we pride ourselves on our inclusive policies and, more than that, we happily give back to the county we use as our beautiful stomping ground. Last year alone we raised a colossal 5.5K for Croome Park (https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/croome ), Maggs Day Centre (http://www.maggsdaycentre.co.uk/) and Worcestershire Young Carers (YSS) (https://www.yss.org.uk/), not to mention the £1,000 donated to start up Worcester’s second parkrun at Pitchcroft race course (http://www.parkrun.org.uk/worcesterpitchcroft/) and the work we do at New College Running Club with our dedicated Guide Runners.

Individual charity fundraising is also highly prevalent and members sponsor and support their fellow club runners by attending events in aid of their specific efforts. Yesterday evening,  March 12th 2018, representatives from the three charities we donate to were presented with cheques at Perdiswell Leisure Centre. Croome Park host our superb 10K race in November and as such we insist on donating a large proportion of the profits to them for the privilege of using this beautiful, picturesque and highly popular venue. The date for 2018 is yet to be announced but tickets usually sell out within minutes of going on sale. This year we are delighted to be able to contribute £3.2K to Croome Park coffers from the 2017 profits https://bpj.org.uk/our-races/croome-race/.

Maggs Day Centre and YSS benefit specifically from our fun filled fancy dress multi lap marathon, Wild One, with distances for all the family, ranging from a Children’s Wild Mile through to a brand new Ultra event. The fancy dress theme for 2018 is television characters and participants excel themselves in running in all manner of fun costumes. Taking place on July 22nd at Old Elizabethan’s Cricket Club, tickets are on sale through our website https://bpj.org.uk/our-races/wild-race/ where you can also read more about the event. Knowing you are supporting such amazing charities should help encourage participation. This year we will be giving both Maggs and YSS £1.1K each from the contributions  made via the 2017 event.

Paul Evans, Club Chairman

“We actively help others share in our enjoyment of both the local environment and our love of running. We offer Couch to 5K and 5K to 10K courses together with various improvement technique sessions suitable for all levels. Worcester Black Pear Joggers are not known as Worcester’s friendly Running Club for nothing.”