This week I had the pleasure of catching up with the effervescent Dave Kelly, Race Director of The Run Series and the mastermind behind Reigate’s flagship running festival, Run Reigate.
Celebrating 10 years this Sunday 17th September, we wanted to find out how it all began and future plans for this legacy wellbeing event.
Take us back to the start – where did the idea for Run Reigate come from?
I remember clearly being in the shower one day thinking, I run in Brighton, the Royal Parks, and Reading, I travel a lot to go to running events, but there’s nothing even remotely close to us. We’ve just had the London 2012 Olympics and a huge amount of lottery money spent on Priory Park… why don’t we have a big event, a destination race to showcase this amazing town and park?
After researching the impact it would have on the local community from a wellbeing and charity point of view, everything pointed towards this being a good idea.
So I took the idea to the council – and they loved it. They were really supportive from the beginning as they wanted something special to celebrate Reigate.
The first year was a huge success. With 3,500 runners taking part in the half, we secured closed roads (which was a challenge in year one), but that set the foundation for our flagship race. We added the 10k in the second year, because very quickly it became obvious that we needed to be more inclusive as not everyone can run a half marathon.
The year after we brought in ever popular kids races and in year four the 5k.
Community seems to be at the heart of Run Reigate – tell us more about community involvement
Well, the event would not happen without the amazing support of 100s of volunteers and our esure RaceCrew that marshal the event each year; helping keep runners safe and residents happy.
We try very hard to make volunteering a positive rewarding experience, and the fact that 100s of individuals volunteer year after year is a testament to that. They really are at the heart of the event, and we’re so incredibly grateful to them.
What about the Festival in the park?
Well, that’s the other side, that’s the piece that really pulls it all together. We’ve always been very family focused. This isn’t just a race that people turn up to, to get their medal then leave. It was never designed to be that way - we always wanted it to be a big community festival where there is a focus on well-being and the whole family getting involved.
We achieved this by building a village with free activities for children, The Children’s Village, which includes climbing walls, bouncy castles, assault courses, and other physical activities. Then there’s amazing food and drink in the main village alongside our partners, charities, sponsors and other local entities.
Runners can take part in a race, then enjoy some great food, meet friends, family and local businesses whilst waiting for the kids races to start. It turns out being a day out for the whole family to enjoy.
Have there always been charity partners and how has that evolved?
From the very beginning there has always been a strong charity focus.
We love championing small local charities and we’ve done that from the very beginning. Our partners work with us, securing sponsorship from runners and ownership of carparks on race day. We give them a presence on our website, publicity in our comms and social media.
Local charities are something we’ve had the privilege to support, and it’s something we’re incredibly proud of having helped raised over £1million since our first race in 2014.
What’s your favourite memory from the 10 years of Run Reigate?
Oh, wowzers! So many memories. Last year I saw a 4 year old boy crossing the line – he was determined to win the 4 year old race and it is one of my defining beautiful memories from Run Reigate. The photo of him made the cover of the Surrey Mirror last year. That’s definitely one of my favourites.
Every year it makes me very emotional seeing the smiles when people get a medal put around their neck. They’ve done the half marathon, they’ve done the 5k or 10k – they’ve pushed themselves. Many people don’t normally do that kind of running or distance, so to see that achievement on peoples faces every year brings me a great sense of pride.
What does the future of Run Reigate look like?
I always wanted this to be a legacy event and I hope that legacy continues long after my time, whenever that may be. I’m very proud of this event, I’m very proud of the community it serves, and I love being part of it. I hope this event can continue for many years to come and do good for our community both from a giving point of view and more importantly from a mental and physical wellbeing point of view.
We’d like to wish Dave, his amazing team and all the esure RaceCrew a fantastic event for this weekend’s edition of Run Reigate. Celebrating 10 years this Sunday with an extravaganza of musical acts lining the route including drummers, DJ’s, a rock choir and the ever talented Simon Walker Samuel and his one man band on Park Lane East, this will be an milestone event to remember.
We’ll be joining the start line of the 10k and hope to see you all there!
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