MILESHYCLUB APPRECIATION AWARD FOR 2024 GOES TO.. COACH KATH FROM SALE!

We are delighted to announce that the winner of the MileShyClub Appreciation Award for 2024 is Coach Kath Flynn from our Sale club! Numerous nominations came through for Kath, as they do every year, but this year saw the highest number of nominations we have ever seen.  Kath has been with the club since our very first session almost eight years ago and we are extremely lucky to have her!

Runners said in their nominations “She is the glue that keeps Sale going and the backbone of the club”, “She is a great coach who is also a true friend”, “She is a true champion of MileShy”, “She is someone who really cares”, “Kath’s an awesome coach who nurtures and inspires” and “She is always with our runners every step of the way”. HUGE congratulations Kath!

MileShy HQ all got a bit emotional reading through the 74 nominations we received this year! We always read every nomination and share the lovely comments with those nominated as it’s always a nice thing to receive at the end of the year.  Thank you to everyone who submitted their entries.

MILESHYCLUB KICK OFF THE FESTIVE FUN WITH OUR SALE SANTA DASH 2024

What an AMAZING time we had at this year’s Santa Dash - even a little bit of rain couldn’t hamper our Christmas spirit. Thankyou so much to everybody that came down and took part - we were so impressed with all the effort that went into the costumes!

This was our fifth year of running the event and we are so proud that it has become real staple in the local community’s countdown to Christmas - we sold out three whole weeks before the event and had lots of enquiries about tickets right up until the day of the event.

In previous years we have raised money for Trafford Choices, Papyrus and 3 Dads Walking, Stockdales and Prostate Cancer UK. This year we decided to raise money for ourselves as MileShyClub is a registered charity that helps support people that wish to improve their physical and mental health. We are absolutely delighted to confirm that the total amount raised was an amazing £1,092.40. We also supported Sale West Food Bank by donating all of our remaining goody bags which featured lots of sweets and crafting items - they were particularly grateful for the children’s goody bags which they said they would be using in their Santa’s Grotto.

Huge thanks go to: Trafford Mayor Amy Whyte for starting both races and taking part in the warm ups. Sale District Scout and Guide Band for supplying a really Christmassy soundtrack to the morning, and also to Coach Dennis for booking them in and playing with them. To Coach Ian for the use of him and his van over the weekend. And to the many, many volunteers who helped pack goody bags and supported throughout the whole event on Sunday.

All photos from the day (and previous years) can be found HERE We can't thank our photographer Derek Stuart-Cole enough for giving up his time to come out and support the event every year (in the cold!)

We love how popular our Santa Dash is every year so we’re currently working behind the scenes to bring you something EXTRA next year - pencil Sunday 13th April in your diary and watch this space!


MILESHYCLUB APPEAR ON BBC BREAKFAST TO DISCUSS "LIFT THE CURFEW" CAMPAIGN

MileShyClub founder and CEO, Jane Dennison, recently appeared on BBC Breakfast to chat to Roger Johnson about our recent involvement in This Girl Can’s “Lift The Curfew” campaign.

Jane appeared alongside Kate Dale from This Girl Can to discuss women’s safety on the streets. Both Jane and Kate really put across the views that needed to be out there - that women (and men) are still being harassed when out exercising on our streets and this is not an issue that is going away. Jane explained that it’s been an ongoing problem since she started MileShyClub eight years ago and it’s an issue that we encounter most weeks.

The interview went so well that Jane was whisked straight off into the BBC Radio Live studio afterwards to discuss the topic further. There were apparently a lot of calls and texts into the BBC on the topic - we really hope the conversation continues and change happens.

You can watch footage of the interview HERE.

MILESHYCLUB LEAD FLAGSHIP RUN FOR THIS GIRL CAN'S "LIFT THE CURFEW" CAMPAIGN

We were so proud to have been asked to take part in the flagship event for This Girl Can’s “Lift The Curfew” campaign - a campaign highlighting how 72% of women in the UK don’t feel safe in the dark and have to change their exercise habits as a result.

We led the flagship run around Manchester with lots of runners from other clubs and we also contributed to the glow-in-the-dark display of UV-lit footsteps which lit up the ground with words such as ‘vulnerable’, ‘anxious’ and ‘afraid’, spotlighting the feelings women experience when getting active outdoors after the clocks go back.

You can see fantastic footage of the event featuring MileShy HERE.

MILESHYCLUB SALE SANTA DASH RETURNS FOR 2024 - GET YOUR TICKETS NOW!

MileShyClub’s Sale Santa Dash will be taking place on Sunday 1st December 2024 at Sale Water Park. We will be starting outside Treetops Café on Rifle Road, Sale, M33 2LX. As usual, we will be holding two different Santa Dashes with the Family Dash at 9am and another one at 10.30am for all the big kids out there!

BRAND NEW FOR 2024! Expect Christmas tunes on the day from Sale District Scout and Guide Band and for our 5K race we’ll be calling upon some Christmas Angels to help you get to the finish line - whether you walk, jog or crawl! Everyone is welcome and no one gets left behind.

This volunteer-led event is about bringing the local community together. In previous years we have raised over £1,000 for Trafford Choices, Papyrus and 3 Dads Walking, Stockdales and Prostate Cancer UK! This year, we’re raising money for… MileShyClub! As a registered charity we want to raise money to support people to get more active to improve their physical and mental health.

This is a FANCY DRESS event - the bigger the better! Whilst fancy dress is not mandatory there are prizes for the best Christmassy outfits in each race including Best Adult, Best Kid and Best Four Legged Friend!

GET YOUR TICKETS HERE

WELCOME MILESHYCLUB BRAMHALL, CHEADLE, CHORLTON AND LONGSIGHT

We launched four BRAND NEW beginner run clubs this September - launching two more clubs in Manchester and two in the brand new borough of Stockport. Welcome to MileShyClubs Chorlton and Longsight and Bramhall and Cheadle.  We now have an amazing FOURTEEN running clubs across Manchester, Salford, Stockport and Trafford. We are constantly asked when we will be opening in other boroughs of Manchester - we’re working on it!

We’re currently in Week Three of Couch To 5K - this is the last week that beginners can realistically join this group intake so if you’d like to start running this year be sure to get signed up HERE and join us.

Our next Couch To 5K starts in January 2025!

"NO ONE GETS LEFT BEHIND" MILESHYCLUB VIDEO SHOWCASE BY SALFORD COUNCIL

We were recently approached by Salford City Council who wanted to produce a short video to showcase the services MileShyClub provide across the borough. We invited videographer Alex along to our Swinton and Salford Quays clubs to show him what MileShy was all about - thanks so much to all of our runners and coaches that took part and did exactly that!

We LOVE the resulting video that perfectly encapsulates our “No One Gets Left Behind” ethos and shows there’s so much more to MileShyClub than just running!

Thanks so much Alex and Salford City Council for the support.

MILESHYCLUB ANNOUNCES FOUR NEW RUNNING CLUBS - INCLUDING OUR FIRST STOCKPORT CLUBS!

We are so happy to announce that we are launching FOUR new running clubs in September - welcome to MileShyClub Bramhall, MileShyClub Cheadle, MileShyClub Chorlton and MileShyClub Longsight. All four clubs start week commencing 9th September to tie in with the launch of our next Couch To 5K - you can find the details for each individual club on the links provided. We are over the moon to be branching out into Stockport - our fourth Manchester borough alongside Trafford, Salford and Manchester!

We’d like to thank Sport England for funding our Chorlton and Longsight clubs - we are so happy to be bringing MileShyClub to these areas! Our Longsight club will be slightly different to our other sessions -  it’s our first ever ladies only session and it’s our only session that will be held entirely indoors. This group initially will be a beginner jogging and walking wellness session which is slightly different to the Couch to 5K we offer at all our other clubs. If you’d like to find out more please do come along to the Q&A session on the 9th September where you can meet the team (Soraya, Saima, Sana and Jane) and also help yourself to free refreshments.

Couch To 5K returns to ALL clubs week commencing 9th September - if you signed up previously but didn’t finish the course (it happens more than you think) due to illness, injury or just plain, old life getting in the way do come back and give it another go! You can get signed up HERE.

MILESHYCLUB STARGAZING SUMMER SOCIAL - TORCHLIT HIKE IN THE PEAK DISTRICT!

After putting many weird and wonderful options for our Summer Social to the vote we hosted an evening to really remember this year! A large group of us met in the Goyt Valley late at night for a moonlight walk up to the spooky ruins of Errwood Hall -  we even had a talk about the history of the area courtesy of Jane, Mrs MileShy herself. After returning to base we had the most amazing and informative stargazing talk from MileShy Wythenshawe runner Kyle who is also part of Wythenshawe Stargazers. We were SO lucky to have had such a clear night - we saw the moon rise, identified satellites passing overhead and even saw the rings of Saturn through a telescope. We can't thank Kyle enough for giving up his time - we were fascinated and learnt so much! You can see our video from the evening HERE.

The moonlight walk wasn’t our only venture into the Goyt Valley this month - we also took our Old Trafford walkers there for what has turned into their annual trip to the Peak District! The weather was not as good that day out but it definitely didn’t dampen our walker’s spirits - for some of them it was their first venture into the countryside and they were amazed by the views.

MILESHYCLUB TALK C25K ON THE BBC BREAKFAST COUCH WITH JO WHILEY!

We announced last month that MileShyClub runners would be featuring in a new BBC campaign to relaunch the Couch To 5K app and on Thursday, 18th April the advert was played for the first time on BBC Breakfast. If you haven’t seen it yet you can see the advert HERE. It was played during the London Marathon coverage and look out for it during the Great Manchester Run coverage too!

Club founder, Jane Dennison, appeared live on the BBC Breakfast Sofa with radio broadcaster Jo Whiley and BBC presenters Naga Munchetty and Charlie Stayt where they talked all things Couch to 5K. Jane and Jo then went to join a very excited group of thirty MileShyers along and presenter Mike Bushell who interviewed some of our runners about their amazing stories. Natasha talked about how running helped with her grief. Lisa talked about running through chemotherapy. Mike talked about starting running at the age of 75. And Mark talked about how running helped him through a period of poor mental health. You can watch the full group interview HERE. We then all ran Week 1 Run 1 of Couch to 5K with Jo Whiley around Salford Quays.

There was also much radio coverage on the day.  Jane and runner Natasha were interviewed alongside Jo Whiley on BBC Radio 5 Live at 6.50am. Later that day Jo Whiley dedicated the song ‘Titanium’ by Sia to Jane and Natasha and then went on to dedicate another song, ‘Fools Gold’ by Manchester band The Stone Roses, to everyone at the MileShyClub.

We are grateful to everyone who took the time to take part in the coverage and for sharing their stories, as well as BBC producers Emma and Kath who took very good care of us on the day