Havering 90 Joggers celebrate club’s 30th anniversary

Havering 90 Joggers have been sharing images from their solo runs during the coronavirus pandemic with restrictions in place (Image: Archant)

The club hoped to hold a dinner and dance, with a number of other events during the year, but have had to postpone or cancel most due to the coronavirus pandemic.

With no official events currently permitted, members took it upon themselves to organise socially distanced activities.

Melanie Green and Gary Flint organised, envisioned and created a collage of Strava Art to spell out ‘Havering 90 Joggers 30th Anniversary July 2020’ by 42 members running each of the characters and plotting them on a map.

Members also took selfies to add to the art, with a pre-lockdown group photo also included.

A solo running relay was also held, covering the borough and neighbouring boroughs, and members also ran up the Forestry Commission’s Ingrebourne Hill over the space of a week to take a selfie by the rock haystack, which Jenette Ogborn merged into a collage.

Bruce Knowles arranges virtual parkrun events each Saturday, until the nationwide event restarts, and Kate Pettit and Barry Smith were fastest in the most recent of these.

Debbie Jones and Bruce Mail climbed the most in their 5k runs as 41 members took part.

Coaching has continued, with weekly challenges to be carried out remotely from running cadence, intervals and improving mental health through the lockdown, and club chair Chris Thomas said: “Lockdown is no match for the camaraderie and family spirit at H90J!”