Our Committee
We have a great group of people who help run Hook Runners, as well as dealing with enquiries and all the official paperwork. 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 committee when you see them and if you have any feedback on what we’re doing, we’d love to hear from you. You can find out more about the Committee roles below.
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Catherine is the chair of the Hook Runners committee after spending the preceding years in charge of Welfare
She states, “I joined Hook Runners in 2018, after having been too scared to do so at its inception. I quickly realised I had nothing to worry about and met lots of lovely people, many of whom have become good friends, and discovered a lot of, previously unknown to me, countryside around Hook. Thanks to fellow Hook Runner Amanda, who wanted to do a half marathon in 2023, I upped the mileage and surprised myself by running Fleet Half in March 2023 and have since run several more races but (so far) nothing further than a half. With a busy, mostly sedentary job, and two children, running is a good way for me to escape maintain mental and physical health. This year I rediscovered a love of the club coached training sessions and parkrun has become part of my weekly routine. I have done my first Southern Cross-Country event, and I have surprised myself by slowly starting to embrace mud and enjoy trail running. Joining the committee initially as Welfare Officer was a spur of the moment decision but a good way to give back to the club which has given me so much.”
Having been elected as chair in 2026 her goal is to build upon everything the makes the club great, for its current members and the wider community.
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Simon represents the coaching team on the committee and joined Hook Runners in early 2017 as a complete beginner in the first Couch to 5K course. Since then he has gone on to run several marathons and qualified as a English Athletics coach in 2020.
He has been the lead coach for our ABC beginners course for several years introducing many of our current members to the world of running. He loves being out in the countryside and enters a number of 10K and half marathons each year.
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I joined Hook Runners in 2018 because I had entered the Oxford half marathon and I had only been running a short time so was looking for training advice. I went to training sessions and learnt there is a lot more to running than I thought.
After breaking my ankle badly in 2019 I was unsure if I would ever have the confidence to run again but with the support and encouragement of the coaches and the friends I’d made I was running again within 9 months. I have done many 10k and half marathon races and recently The London Marathon in 2022 and 2023.I enjoy the monthly club handicap and the social runs especially our themed pub runs and events like Endure 24.
Running keeps me fit and I may not be the quickest but that doesn’t matter.
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Although she had always enjoyed sport at school, Alison started running relatively late in life. She was looking for a way to ensure that she could keep up with two young sons, that would fit round family life, commuting to London and her husband’s shifts. Running was the perfect answer! Alison has been a member of Hook Runners since its inception in 2017.
Since her first event in 2008 – the Hook Fun Run – Alison has completed various events covering all distances up to and including a marathon. She has also completed Endure, Brutal, Muscle Acre and Inflatable events as well as the various Hook Runner challenges. The London Marathon remains on her to-do list; in the meantime she collects “rejection” tops as a hobby – 7 and counting!
Outside of running, Alison is a committee member for the Hook Fun Run and enjoys Reformer Pilates and the occasional quiz night.
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Like a fine wine, my love for running has improved with age. Having hated running and cross country as a child, it was only when I was offered a ballot place in the London Marathon through an open water swimming event, that I felt obliged to at least try and see if I could stretch myself and learn to run. Given how sought after ballot places are and with many friends receiving rejection letters (my husband included), I felt I had to make the most of the opportunity and I can honestly say I have not looked back. My husband and I joined Hook Runners in 2018 to help find inspiration for new local running routes, to motivate us to attend training sessions and to meet local runners for their company on social runs. Since then, with invaluable support and coaching from the club, I’ve been able to complete another 6 marathons as well as half marathons, 10 mile and 10km events, trail events, cross country events, parkruns and 5kms.
Running has given me much more than just medals, however. It is an activity that has helped me cope through some very dark times when I have been overwhelmed by grief. It has helped boost my mental health, helped improve my physical fitness and brought with it lots of friends and social opportunities too.
Having benefited from the clubs’ support as a member for several years, it seemed appropriate to step up to the role of welfare officer to help give something back to this wonderful club. As a qualified children’s nurse and safeguarding lead in my role at work working with people who have complex healthcare needs, the role of welfare officer seemed most appropriate for my skill set. I am happy and ready to listen and support anyone who has any welfare matters in the club and I will welcome people to email the welfare email address in they feel the need to share any concerns.
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Jackie and David are responsible for manning our kit shop and making sure that the supplies of purple and orange continue to flow.
Both are founder members of the club and Jackie participated in the first ever ABC course before continuing her running journey to include Endure 24 and half marathons at both Farnborough and Southampton.
Since the club formed in October 2016, David has completed marathons at Southampton and Budapest, in addition to several other races.
Whisper it quietly, but both are also equally at home on two wheels with Jackie acting as a Cycling UK Breeze leader, although David has been known to run into problems with potholes in the past!
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Dave (I only get called David when I am in trouble!) has been a member of Hook Runners since 2018 but began running long, long ago. At school, he hated running and always tried to find excuses to avoid cross country! At uni, a throwaway comment revealed he wasn’t breathing properly! Breathing solved, in his twenties he ran with Gosport RR and entered occasional races completing the 1987 London Marathon in 4:07:16. Thinking that would be his only marathon he became more of a social runner with Ashburton and later Winchester Hash House Harriers.
Subsequently, family life and career took precedence and his weight ballooned to 16 stone in 2010. With a family history of heart disease, he had to get fit and lose weight and discovered outdoor boot camps which are now part of his regular routine. Another throwaway comment led him to enter the Milton Keynes Marathon in 2017 which he completed in 4:02:28 and shaved 8 seconds off that the following year in Paris.
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My love affair with running started in the early 90s when I joined my dad in his physical and psychological recovery from two major heart attacks. In many ways, it brought my dad back to life and has been enhancing mine ever since.
I was part of the team who set up Hook Runners in 2017 and am passionate about running in our purple. On a personal level, running and training with the club has step-changed my running performance; I’m still managing to get PBs aged 52, 30 years after I first started. More than this though, I love the friendship, camaraderie, accountability and community spirit that comes with it.
Outside of running – if there is such a thing – I work in Brand Marketing (hence this role), read like a fiend and write all sorts of things, from novels to blog posts. It’s also been known for me to post the odd crazy photo on Facebook. See you out there.
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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.