Barry’s words!

“I've been a runner for as long as I can remember from school cross country onwards. Being from the North East my initial event experiences were the annual GNR until 2004, after which I moved to the Midlands. Very few events from then until my come back Leicester Half Marathon in 2018. After a few more halves and quite a few 10ks I came across Big Bear in 2022 with entry to the Summer 10k series at Ryton Pools. My first impression was that lots of people seemed to know each other, very unlike the road events I'd done. Far more friendly and personal. Having done those 3 runs I decided to try a 6 hour event and ended up at Salcey, hoping to run a half for my first real trail event. That was me hooked. Great organisation, welcoming, inclusive; had some good conversations with other runners both during and between laps and the aid station - well if you're used to road events with aid stations having nothing more than water or occasionally some electrolyte it's like landing on another planet. After that joining the Brigade was the obvious move.

I'm not a club runner but I now feel part of a club. A friendly club that meets up for runs in scenic locations where everyone encourages everyone else, nobody is judged by speed or how far they run and you get well fed and watered whilst you do it (and afterwards with the flapjack and beer).

I'll be back for as many as I can fit into my shift pattern in 2024”

Barry is becoming an ever-present at our events and his attitude really typifies that of our Big Bear entrants - trail is always better!!!

This is part of our series of posts we’re doing around the real lives and stories of some of our runners. Without being too unsubtle - the idea is to show you that they aren’t all super hero ultra runners who have been doing high level athletics since they were 4 and they aren’t all retirees who have nothing else going on in there lives either! Of course I’m sure we have some of those in our start fields but the majority of our runners are “normal” people with “normal” struggles deciding to do something a bit different and enjoying it. I hope I’ve given these people a venue to enjoy themselves for a few hours every few weeks surrounded by good people. But enough of my waffle… . 4.1 5.3