A woman who started running during lockdown to stave off boredom has seen her female-only club swell to over 200 members.
Lauren Knott said the idea for the group came to her when she began putting off going for a jog in the evenings during winter time because, she said, it felt “a bit unsafe”.
She told Radio Manchester that as she became more serious about running she realised she needed to maintain her fitness all year round.
So two years ago Ms Knott started Let’s Run, which meets in the city centre each Thursday as well as hosting other events, and now has 235 runners involved.
“I used to think that runners are crazy,” she said.
“I’d go to the gym but I absolutely wouldn’t run and I think it’s just something that I have grown into loving.”
“Usually, when I didn’t like running so much and when it wasn’t such a big part of my life, I would stop every winter because it felt a bit unsafe and I didn’t enjoy the cold weather,” she said.
“But as time went on, I realized how important it is to run throughout the year if you’re someone that does want to maintain your fitness.
“I just love that we’ve got that safe space for women to run.”
Ms Knott said another reason for pushing ahead with a female only running club was to allow women who may have felt intimidated by the pace in mixed clubs to keep running.
“We like to call it social pace, so we make sure that it’s a really accessible pace for anyone that wants to run with us,” she said.
“I think we’ve done runs with men in the past before we really niched into ladies, but yeah, they do tend to be a bit more competitive, whereas women will happily just go at the social pace and they’ll have a chat.
“It’s more of that community vibe.”
Ms Knott said the club usually an 5k or 7k distances and also put a contingent forward for the Manchester Half Marathon on Sunday.
“Everyone is welcome,” she said.