Vegan Runners take over the Stockport 10k. Next: The World!

For the third consecutive year, runners and their supporters from the UK’s fastest growing athletics club will take part in The Big Stockport 10K race.

Last year over 160 members participated in their distinctive black and green shirts with the VEGAN RUNNER logo on the front, taking first and second places for both men and women (with times of 0:34:30 for Alex Hinchcliffe and 0:40:17 for Ali Guihen), as well as placing first for Teams. Just visit the race's homepage and you will see how well we have been representing in the photos posted front and center!

The race was adopted by the club as an annual event for the club three years ago for a few reasons.

Stockport is quite central in the UK, with excellent transport links. It is also home to the award-winning vegan establishment, The Allotment Vegan Restaurant (Manchester Food and Drink Awards Chef of the Year 2017) and Hillgate Cakery, which are perks for runners. And while the club boasts the winning runners, this race was chosen because it is family-friendly and welcoming of all levels of running ability, which is in tune with the club’s values of inclusiveness and compassion.

As the UK’s fourth largest running club, with a membership of over 2400 individuals and 40 groups, Vegan Runners' recent rapid growth has paralleled that of the explosion of veganism in the mainstream. The popular movement Veganuary (which encourages people to try eating vegan for January, and throughout the rest of the year) saw a jump in numbers of those signing up from 60,000 in 2016 to 167,000 in 2017. Thanks to social media and the scientific proof of the benefits of a vegan lifestyle, as well as a movement toward greater compassion and environmental awareness, more and more people are making the connection to their choices as consumers.

Julie Oswald (who finished second female last year with a time of 0:41:15) said of the race, “My main memory is the sight of so many people wearing their Vegan Runners vests and publicly showing their dedication to animal rights and their support for each other. It moved me to tears”. “… it was such an uplifting experience to be among so many like-minded people.”

This year, the Vegan Runners club has invited vegan runner and multi world record holder Fiona Oakes to take part. You may remember her from the pages of VHF, pictured running through the desert and the North Pole, and many other locales to take wins in these and other locations around the world.

The event will take place at 10am on Sunday, the 16th of September, starting and finishing in St. Petersgate, Stockport.

For details about the race, please visit:
www.riderhq.com/events/76106/the-big-stockport-10k

and for information about Vegan Runners UK:
Web: www.veganrunners.org.uk

Instagram: veganrunnersuk
Facebook: UK Vegan Runners