The 'mad idea' set to celebrate 10 years of virtual running
Virtual Runner UK is a decade old, but founder Susan Wheatcroft initially only intended to fundraise to enter the London Marathon
Almost 10 years ago, Susan Wheatcroft had a “mad idea” that would change her life and help many thousands of runners develop their love of the sport.
That crazy plan was to offer people a reward in return for a donation to her London Marathon charity fundraising appeal.
It was such a success - with 400 people taking part - that the idea morphed into a business: Virtual Runner UK.
Now, thousands of virtual races later, Susan is celebrating the venture’s birthday by taking part in a tour of ten parkruns across the UK and Ireland.
Over recent weeks she’s already visited some of her favourite events and will finish up at Beeston parkrun in Nottingham on November 25.
She said: “The run will take me back to the location of my very first parkrun.
“This date will be my 97th time of running Beeston parkrun - my highest at a single location - and I have many fond memories of the 5ks done around the Weir.
“Most importantly, I will be bringing cake and treats to celebrate Virtual Runner’s birthday.”
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Virtual Runner has proven extremely popular since it’s inception, working in the same way as any other type of running event but with the difference that the entered race can be run at any location, at any pace, inside on a treadmill or outside in another country.
All participants have to do is enter one of the races and provide evidence they have done it to get a bespoke medal in return.
At least 20 per cent of the revenue raised is donated to charity, with Virtual Runner having given more than £750,000 to good causes since it was launched.
The most successful event, Run 22, was set up in memory of the 22 victims of the Manchester bombings in 2017. With over 4,200 participants it raised more than £60,000 for charity, with funds split between the Manchester Evening News’ fund for survivors and NW Trust.
Back in 2020, the Running Tales Podcast spoke to Susan about her own running journey and how she started Virtual Runner UK.
She told us how the daunting prospect of raising enough money to get a London Marathon charity place resulted in “this mad idea of a virtual race”.
“I asked people to basically give me some money, I would then sort them a reward at the end and the money they gave me would go to my London Marathon fundraising,” she said.
“That first race went live in January 2014 and we had 400 runners take part. I set up and did more races, and we then went into bespoke medals.
“Within six months we were getting well over 1,000 people in our races. As they say, the rest is history.
“I kept the charity angle as it had always been very key to why I started running and I know for a lot of others, it is important to why they run.
“Virtual Runner grew to such an extent it became what it is now, with a lovely community of brilliant, like-minded runners, that like talking about running all day and just like going out running.”
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