Running club takes on eight-mile run in memory of former member
More than 30 members of a Black Country running club took part in a special eight-mile run as a tribute to a much-loved member who died last year.
For the last seven years, Dudley Kingswinford (DK) Running Club organised an early summer 'Cob Run' from their Wall Heath clubhouse to the Anchor Inn, in Caunsall, near Kidderminster.
The run is named after the pub’s famous ham, beef and cheese cobs.
This year, due to Covid-19, the run had to be put back a few weeks – and organiser John Gould, who started the run seven years ago, decided it should be held in memory of long-standing club member John Glover, who lost his battle with cancer in summer 2019.
It would have been John Glover’s birthday on August 23, and, after finishing the Cob Run, the DKers, most wearing the club’s blue hoops, raised their glasses in tribute to John at the Anchor Inn, witnessed by John’s wife, Beryl.
The runners organised themselves into groups of no more than six and left their clubhouse at staggered intervals from 9am. They kept their social distance from each other, in line with Covid-19 restrictions, throughout the eight-mile run along the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal.
Each runner paid £10 to take part in the Cob Run – with £5 going towards a cob and a pint at the Anchor while the other £5 went towards two charities which meant a lot to John Glover and Beryl, the Georgina Ward at Russells Hall Hospital and Stourbridge’s Mary Stevens Hospice.
The Anchor Inn generously donated £50 towards the fund-raising effort, as well as adding cobs and drinks to raffle prizes. In total, £401.70 was raised with the profits being split between the two charities.
At the Anchor Inn, the DK runners applauded Lisa Hadlington and Ingrid Cain, fellow club members who, along with John Gould, organised the Cob Run.
John Gould said: "John Glover was a very dear friend of mine. I thought it would be fitting to raise money this year for the people who looked after John.
"We were delighted with the turn out, behaviour and donations of our runners on Sunday, including donations from members unable to attend.
"We raised £421.70 which will be split equally between Mary Stevens Hospice and the Georgina Ward at Russells Hall Hospital."
