Leading partnership homes developer Lovell put its best foot forward as 13 of its employees prepared to take part in this year’s virtual Run Norwich, after many picked up the hobby during lockdown.
The award-winning 10km road race, organised by the Norwich City FC’s official charity partner; the Community Sports Foundation, took place over the weekend and saw participants run 10km anywhere they choose, as well as receive a virtual ‘goody-bag’ including a digital race number and certificate.
This year, Lovell’s team of runners racing to raise money for Community Sports Foundation included; regional managing director, Simon Medler; regional operations manager, Gareth Roberts; land and partnership manager, Will Wright; managing quantity surveyor, Kelly Starkings; senior quantity surveyor, Oliver Crocker; quantity surveyor, Darren Evans and sales executives David Methold and Dawn Mortimer.
As well as being the race organisers, the Foundation helps a vast range of people within the Norfolk and Suffolk communities through sport, including people with disabilities and those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Most of the team planned to run together on Sunday with the chosen route taking the group through Eaton Park, where they ran whilst sticking to Government rules on social distancing.
Simon said: “After participating in last year’s event I thought it’d be great to run this year too, and raise further money to support the Community Sport Foundation for all the great work they do.
“I’m delighted that this year’s event is able to go ahead virtually and many of the team have commented how running has helped them through this difficult time. There are more of us from Lovell taking part this year and I’m looking forward to competing with everyone.”
Gareth said: “This is my first ever running event; I’ve never been much of a runner and I’m certainly not built for it, but it makes a good incentive to get in shape. If I can finish in under an hour I will be delighted, but I am not totally confident!”
Oliver commented: “I learnt all about the amazing work the Community Sports Foundation do within the area last year, and due to the impact that the national lockdown has had on the charity, this race is now more important in terms of raising money for a worthy cause. I started training in March just before lockdown came into force, and am aiming to finishing in around 45 minutes.”
Darren Evans, who ran in last year’s event, added: “This is the second time I’ll be entering the race and I’m hoping to achieve a time of 50 minutes. I enjoy going for a run, and it’s a great opportunity to be running with friends that are also participating.”
Dawn Mortimer, who participated for the first time, commented: “I decided to participate as motivation to get out there and exercise. I work at the weekend, so I’m running on Tuesday to my best friend’s house and back, between Thorpe St Andrew and Rackheath. I’m looking forward to enjoying the run, I’m not really worried about how long it takes.”
David Methold also ran for the first time with a motivation to improve fitness. He added: “I’ll be participating in my home town, Wymondham, and completing in under an hour would be brilliant. It’s great that the organisers decided to still hold a virtual event rather than cancelling completely; it keeps the competitive edge to it.”