27 Jan National Running Show 2022
National Running Show at the NEC, Birmingham
On Saturday 22nd January I headed down to the NEC in Birmingham with our clients Sports Tours International and Club La Santa for a brilliant day at the National Running Show.
I’m a keen runner so this really mixed business and pleasure for me. Having recently put myself forward to do the Paris Half Marathon for Sports Tours (arghhhh) I was keen to surround myself with runners as I knew it would inspire and motivate me. Plus, I was sure I needed some new trainers too!
Arriving at the show it was great to see so many people there – stands were busy, audiences were packed out and people were having a great time. There were plenty of Covid measures in place but that didn’t stop anyone from getting involved in the spirit of the show and creating an energetic atmosphere.
The Sports Tours and Club La Santa stand was busy with people entering their competition to win entry to the Berlin Marathon in September. There were lots of chats about running goals and bucket list events and, as ever, people were dreaming of going to Club La Santa in Lanzarote to train in the warm climate.
I finally got to meet some people in person including the wonderful Esther Newman, editor of Women’s Running magazine who visited Club La Santa in September ’21. She is also taking part in the Berlin Half Marathon with us soon, along with digital editor and podcast co-host Holly Taylor. I can’t wait to hear about their training and their experience on the fabulous Women’s Running Podcast.
I also met with some of my favourite running influencers; @therunnerbeans, @projectmaratongirl, @lipstick.and.trainers and @rachelrutherford – talking about their goals for 2022.
A highlight for many of us on the stand was meeting Sports Tours’ customer Mary McGowan who I had invited along to the show. I spoke with Mary in early 2021 about her running and found out that she is part of an exclusive Hall of Fame as she is a Six Star Medal finisher, which means that she is just one of just 671 Runners from the UK who has completed all six Abbot World Marathon Major events; London, Berlin, Tokyo, Chicago, New York and Boston.
Mary was in the audience as Paul O’Halloran from Sports Tours gave a talk on the Main Stage about the Abbott WMM journey. Mary was the only person in the audience who was six-star finisher and received a well-deserved round of applause.
I am forever talking about the power of case studies and the impact that personal stories can have, and Mary being there and sharing her story and achievements really underpinned that.
After meetings so many great people, hearing amazing stories and being surrounded by passionate runners I was all fired up for my Half Marathon which is in 6 weeks’ time. So before I left I got myself to the New Balance stand and with their help and analysis on the treadmill I got some new trainers to help get me round those 13.1 miles in Paris on the 6th March.
Kate Byford, Director of PR