Up and running!

Nenagh’s new community run club

A new community running club, called ‘Nenagh Run Club’, has been set up by two women in Nenagh who hope to bring members of the community together to run in a safe and supportive environment.

This run club will be taking place on Wednesday evenings at 6.30pm and on Sundays at 10am at Nenagh Éire Óg, and as expressed by the ladies organising the group, everyone is welcome to come along.

“It’s open to all levels, all paces, from complete beginners to people who would run regularly,” explained Neimh McGlynn, co-founder of the run club, highlighting how they both hope to build a community of people who will enjoy coming together to exercise.

“It aims to give people a safe space to run,” added co-founder of the run club, Lisa Kelly, highlighting one of the reasons the duo decided to set up the run club in Nenagh.

Building a community

Lisa continued: “Our whole goal really is to just get people out, to get people moving, in a safe space. To just give people a bit of guidance and support.

There’s a lot of people who don’t know where to start [when it comes to running], and this gives them an opportunity to start and to know what to do.”

Both Lisa and Neimh got back into running after they started running with a group of friends around Nenagh.

It was this group that made them understand the benefits of running with other people and how it can help you to stay consistent with your running journey.

“Thinking back to when we started years ago, it's so daunting, but I think once you get a few people together, in like a little community or run group, it just makes it so much easier to get out and go,” expressed Neimh.

“I would not have stuck with running if we didn’t get our little group together,” agreed Lisa.

Both Neimh and Lisa have completed a marathon and half marathons since they returned to running.

“I feel like anyone who is into running, they are just so supportive,” commented Lisa.

“It is a really nice community, and that is the feel and the vibe that we got from Sunday.

It’s what we had set out to do and the kind of people who would sign up and join us, it’s definitely that and it build that community element, it builds friendships, it builds resilience, confidence and all the other benefits for your health,” continued Neimh.

First Run Club Event

Nenagh Run Club held their first run club event on Sunday, February 1, which turned out to be a glowing success for the club.

“We had about 65 registered and about 54 people turned up on the day. It was a really lovely group of people who turned up.

There was a really nice vibe,” explained Neimh as to how the groups first Sunday run went in Nenagh.

“It was a really nice mix as well. Men, woman across all ages,” highlighted Lisa, explaining that the run club is for anyone above the age of 16.

Nenagh Run Club is sponsored by Gold Standard Physio, which enables the group to run for free.

“It’s great to have his support because it allows us to run it for free.

That was our main goal, we wanted it to be accessible to everybody, to not be charging memberships or anything like that, to allow people to come and go as they want,” explained Lisa, highlighting how this makes it more flexible for people to come and give the run club a try without any major commitment or fees being expected of them.

Running Sessions

Runners of all abilities are welcome to come along to Nenagh’s new run club.

“We start every session where we warm up together, and then we divide into two groups. There’s a group that are maybe used to running and who maybe feel comfortable running and they kind of go together for their more kind of continuous run, and then anyone that’s new, or not sure about what to do, they can start running and walking,” explained Lisa.

“People loved the idea of being split in the two groups, but it wasn’t really obvious that it was two groups which was quite nice.

Everyone felt comfortable doing their own thing at their own pace,” reflected Neimh as to how people reacted to their first run club.

“We warm up together and we cool down together, so everyone starts and finished together which is quite nice,” she continued.

How to get involved

If anyone would like to get involved in Nenagh Run Club, more information can be found on the club’s social media pages @NenaghRunClub:

“We are posting all of our runs on Facebook and Instagram.

Every week, we post what the sessions are going to be, and we have a link in out bio for our registration form,” explained Lisa.

There is also the option for people to join the groups WhatsApp Group, which is linked on their social media pages:

“A lot of people as well wouldn’t use social media, so we wanted to make sure that we as people are accessible if people have questions.

We are totally open to anyone sending us a DM or a WhatsApp if they don’t feel comfortable asking something publicly,” expressed Neimh.