Locals rush to join the Balmoral Run Club: “Win the morning, win the day”.

By ANNA USHER

With summer quickly approaching, so are serious intentions of acquiring that summer bod. An unfortunate solution to achieve this is to tie on those trainers and get running – but it doesn’t have to be a chore.

Oli, Henry and Jono started the Balmoral Run Club to create a social group that would cancel out the tribulations of exercising at 5am – in this they have succeeded.

“We just had the idea that we wanted to start getting into triathlons, but we didn’t really know how to run or to enjoy it for that matter,” Oli said, “so we decided to make a run club, so we could have our mates down and run around, it’s the best way to start the day.”

“Win the morning, win the day.”

The group has been running since last December and has about 20-30 regulars. The founders admitted those numbers dwindled quite drastically during those cold winter months, but the core group pushed the project forward.

“It was tough in winter. I’m not gonna lie, it was quite dark and quite cold, but now that its spring, and we’ve got cracker sunrises, our numbers are growing every week,” Henry said.

The Balmoral Run Club circuit begins at Bathers Pavilion, continues by the island, then past or around the wharf (your choice) to the end of the car park and then back to the pav.

The whole run is around 2km, if you’re a beginner you can either call it there or even walk the entirety of the course. More experienced runners can lap that same route until they’re either out of breath or out of time.

Though everyone is comfortable keeping their own pace, the social group also motivates locals to push themselves in a way far less achievable when running solo.

“I sort of struggled to run by myself and get going,” Edward said, who has been running with the group for months, “It’s just easier to do it, and you’ve got people pushing yourself along and sort of keeping you accountable.”

Another runner, Colli said this is the “first running club I’ve committed to.” At the same time, her friend Jasi shared that the co-founder, Oli, originally “made” her participate “but now it’s really fun to see other people and run with other people and then get a coffee.”

Once the group finishes the run, they line up at Pasture Café, grab a coffee and a sweet treat, then head to the Rocky Point lookout for a debrief, before going on to ‘win’ the rest of the day.

“We just want people to keep running, keep the culture high. We want people to enjoy it. Love it. It’s not about the run. It’s about the community, hanging with people,” Oli said.