The story behind the Running Tales Podcast
Plus catch-up with our podcast chat with marathon record breaker and Phoenix Running race director, Rik Vercoe
“I was in floods of tears, as far as I was concerned it was a death sentence”.
It’s May 2017 and Tony Collier had just been diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer.
Just days earlier, Tony – approaching 60 but fitter than ever and with all six Marathon Majors recently behind him – had been training for the Comrades Ultra.
Cancer changed Tony’s life, his running times fell through the floor, his weight ballooned as he undertook chemical castration, and he suffered such heavy fatigue he could barely get up.
But he stared that cancer down, with running becoming his purpose, his challenge and his friend.
Since that dreadful diagnosis, Tony has run thousands of miles, raised at least as high a number of pounds for charity, and campaigned to raise awareness of the early warning signs of cancer.
His story is just one of more than 100 told by the Running Tales Podcast, which attempts to tell the stories of everyday runners who achieve extraordinary things.
Many subscribers to this Substack may well have come here via the podcast, but if not - or even if you are a committed fan - we just wanted to remind people where we come from and what the idea was behind Running Tales.
We came up with the idea for Running Tales back in March 2020. The aim was to provide some insight into those runners who weren’t always at the front of the pack or getting widespread recognition, but were achieving their own incredible goals and had a love of running which extended beyond winning events or talking for hours on end about what constituted the best trainers or when to run which splits.
Our first episodes unintentionally coincided with the unwanted and unexpected arrival of the coronavirus pandemic, when life outside of our homes was limited to one excursion per day – a ration many of us used to get our much-needed running fix.
The inner strength people collectively demonstrated to get through those dark days is reflected in the guests we have spoken to on the podcast in the years since then.
We have helped tell the stories of everyone from parkrunners to Olympians, featuring runners who have raised thousands of pounds for charity and those who have used running to help them take on take on challenges such as mental health issues, cancer, Parkinson’s, addiction, or the loss of a child.
Our aim at Running Tales continues to be to bring attention to people
like Tony Collier, to celebrate their achievements and to inspire others in their running lives.
We’re so glad to have you with us on this journey.
Discover more about Running Tales:
Listen to the Running Tales Podcast at this link or wherever you listen to podcasts including on Apple, Spotify, Amazon and Google Podcasts.
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Twitter: @RunningTalesPod
Facebook: Running Tales
Instagram: @runningtalespod
This week on…
The podcast:
This week’s guest on the Running Tales Podcast is race director at Phoenix Running and marathon record breaker, Rik Vercoe.
As one half, alongside wife Louise, of Phoenix Running, Rik has created a hugely popular and inclusive race organiser.
Phoenix offers a wide-range of races and was a pioneer in the creation of lapped events, encouraging runners of all abilities to feel comfortable at organised runs and achieve goals they often never even set out to do.
Rik's own running career has certainly seen plenty of incredible goals smashed, from running a then record 152 marathons/ultras in a year to completing some of the toughest events around, including the North Pole Marathon and the Marathon des Sables.
You can listen on the player below or on your preferred podcast provider whether that be Apple, Spotify, Google, Amazon, Podbean or anywhere else:
Substack:
We re-visited the story of Wayne Chalmers and his group of friends and family as they took on the epic 106km (65 mile) Isle of Wight Challenge ultra marathon to raise money for a new bereavement suite in Northampton.
Wayne and company completed the event as part of their charity efforts for Team Daisy, formed in honour of his daughter, Daisy, who sadly died just an hour after being born.
Wayne has already been in touch to say plans are in place to take on the challenge again next year, but in the meantime people can still sponsor them for this year’s event:
And you can read our story here:
It’s good to talk
Our podcasts try to create a chatty atmosphere, but they’re only ever one person at a time - and we’d like to hear from more of you about your running, what you think of our articles and, if the mood hits you that way, life in general.
That’s why ‘Running Tales: After all is said and run’ is also available on Subtack Chat and Notes.
These conversation spaces can be found in the Substack app - kind of like a group chat or live hangout.
We post short prompts, thoughts, and updates and you can jump into the discussion.
To join our chat or catch up on our notes, you’ll need to download the Substack app, now available for both iOS and Android.
Download the app by clicking this link or the button below:
Thanks as ever for reading and listening to Running Tales. We couldn’t do this without your support - please back us to keep going by…