We’ve launched a Club – designed to help you get fitter, faster, healthier and happier – and we think that you’re going to love it! Thirty years in the making, Runner’s World Club is our brand-new membership combining an exciting package of member-only content, rewards and events. Think: a new library of tailored training plans, which you can sync to your training devices, as well as interactive webinars with our networks of experts, discounts from your favourite running brands, member-only newsletters from our editors and much, much more!
Find out more about our Club and sign up here!
Our readers are at the very heart of our Club. That’s why we conducted in-depth research with you to help us conceptualise a membership that resonates with you and answers your running needs. It’s also why we put a call-out on our social media at the end of last year, asking if any RW readers would be interested in being the faces – and founding members – of our new Club. The result? Over 1,000 of you put your hands up. Utterly blown away by your moving stories and personal reasons for running, narrowing it down to six readers was almost impossible.
What everyone's reading
However, we think that our chosen six founding members perfectly represent our vibrant, inspiring and diverse cross-section of readers – and we hope that you’ll enjoy hearing their inspiring stories. So, without further ado, allow us to introduce them...
*Content warning*: The content below contains references to suicide.
Ruba Talukdar
- Age: 49
- Hometown: London, England
- Reasons for running: For mental health; for 'me' time; to inspire Asian and Muslim women to be more active and experience the joys of running
- IG handle: runrubarun
Ian Smyth
- Age: 43
- Hometown: Coleraine, Northern Ireland
- Reasons for running: For mental health; to 'reset' each day; to inspire his children to be more active in life
Amy Edwards
- Age: 32
- Hometown: Scarborough, England
- Reasons for running: To overcome and manage mental health difficulties; for the pure joy of running
- IG handle: 4under3_marathonmum
Charlie Marsden
- Age: 31
- Hometown: Leicester, England
- Reason for running: To be an advocate for the stoma community and encourage those with stomas to get active; to inspire his children to get moving outdoors
- IG handle: stoma_dad
Shaumya Kularajan
- Age: 22
- Hometown: Glasgow, Scotland
- Reasons for running: For body confidence; to disprove unfounded societal beliefs around what a runner 'should' look like; to raise money and awareness for Teenage Cancer Trust
- IG hande: @shaumyak
Christopher Mason
- Age: 75
- Hometown: Swadlincote, England
- Reason for running: For social connection and friendship; to stay young, active and healthy
*If you or someone you love is struggling with suicidal thoughts, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Helpline UK on 0800 689 5652 (6pm to midnight every day) or call the Samaritans 24/7 helpline on 116 123.