Meet the Coaches
We have a very enthusiastic bunch of people who help run Hook Runners training sessions. This is all done in addition to their day jobs, but that doesn’t deter them from their passion for creating a great running club for our community.
Feel free to say hello to any of the coaches when you see them and if you have any feedback on what we’re doing, we’d love to hear from you.
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Ann took up running after attending her first Parkrun in 2015 after having not run since school. Her preferred distance is the marathon & ultra-marathon, and she loves the variety offered by trail running. She’s passionate about encouraging people to run and helping them to achieve their goals through the club’s fun and inclusive training sessions.
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Coach Emily has been a social runner for over a decade with breaks for a back injury, power lifting competitions or more recently pregnancy. Despite a busy home life with two young daughters, she joined the coaching team to help people improve at running and loves supporting newer runners especially.
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Coach Jonathan originally took up running to improve his fitness levels like many of us and is a regular at local parkruns. and other events.
He and coach Simon organise and lead the very successful Hook Runners coach to 5K course also know as the ABC or Absolute Beginners Club.
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Mike discovered his love of running at secondary school where he set a new 1500m record and, inspired by the brilliant British trio of Steve Ovett, Seb Coe and Steve Cram, won two school district championship races and competed at county-level.
His favourite distance is the marathon, having completed over 35 official races in the UK, Germany and Costa Rica, but he enjoys anything from 5km ‘sprints’ to 100-mile ultra-marathons on any terrain, any profile and in any weather.
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Simon took up running in his late fifties joining the first Hook Runner ABC course in January 2017. Since then, he’s gone from fat lad at the back to club record holder for his age group and his favourite distances ar 10k’s and half marathons. He is also passionate in guiding and encouraging new runners of all ages.
If you are thinking of joining Hook Runners as a complete novice through our ABC, chances are Simon will be one of the coaches encouraging you towards completing your first 5K run!
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Terry is both a runner and coach and has been actively racing for more years than he cares to remember, covering distances from 100m to 100km. Terry's experience is invaluable to Hook Runners where he advises and guides local runners to reach their target times and distances.
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Coach David was a keen runner in his youth and came back to it later in life as a way of getting fit. He loves all distances, especially marathons! He is currently working his way through the “Big Six” World marathons, having already conquered London, Paris, Boston and Berlin with just New York and Tokyo left!
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Penny usualy leads our all-ability Tuesday morning coaching and mindful running sessions. Mindful running helps us to run further, run faster and run happier.
Penny practices yoga and meditation as well as strength training and indoor and outdoor swimming. She is always open to talking about these things with anyone who would like to know more about improving their mental or physical health.
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In his youth, David was a 400m track athlete and as such, perversely, sees the more gruelling of our coaching sessions as a pleasant form of nostalgia. He's run several marathons and also enjoy's the challenge of duathlons and triathlons. He is also brilliant at pacing other runners to many personal bests.