You may have noticed that we have been a little quiet recently. But we are now back and are very excited to tell you a little more about our new direction!

There is a bright new website, and logo to suit!

Our main aim is to still support the social running community across the city, but we also want to understand how we can support all runners to keep running through periods of change.

What do we mean by that?

So much has been discovered over the last few years of the project, and one thing that really stood out. There are a lot of runners using running as a social support network, especially when life suddenly threw in some curve balls.

Running has so many benefits but one thing we are want to explore more is how it can be used to help cope when changes in life occur.

There are currently 7 life changes that we want to determine the prevalence of in core runners. These are:

• Bereavement
• Relationship breakdown
• Exam Stress
• Health and medical conditions
• Changes in the family (e.g divorce and pregnancy)
• Changes in living circumstance (e.g moving house)
• Gender reassignment

How are we planning to do this?

We want to explore some of these factors on a deeper level and understand from people like you the effect they can have upon your participation in running.  By speaking to runners across the city, and getting you to share some of your stories and experiences with us, we hope to gain a little more insight.

Run Leeds have teamed up with Leeds Beckett to undertake this research. This partnership will aim to give us a clearer understanding of how the Run Leeds project can help to support the running community. This includes individuals, leaders and running clubs, so we can keep people running when they are going through a life change.

What’s next?

The responses that we get will really help to shape the direction that we move forward in! If you want to be part of something that could help shape the environment for social running across the city then we want to hear from you!