Trail running group look to build on strong foundations

Wednesday 23 August 2023

Community spirit is at the heart of trail running group Distance.gg.

Under a new committee, they are hoping to build on some strong foundations to offer events and potentially group runs for those who are looking for a different challenge.

Earlier this month their Donkey Drop event exceeded all expectations, with entry numbers up and records broken.

Steven Marquis has taken over as chairman and Dave Watson as treasurer, initially focussing promoting a few of the tried and tested formats, next up is a vertical running challenge.  

“We're trying to get a feel for what we want,” said Marquis. 

“We're going to focus more on fewer events, but making them a bit bigger, rather than lots of relatively dilute events. We want to see lots of people at one event and really get that kind of community spirit going.”

They see a gap in offering running groups for those looking at going beyond the hour mark on the trails, willing to explore the island.

“We want to get as many people out running as possible, irrelevant of ability,” said Watson.

Distance.gg has been running informally for four years, but is now set up as a club.

“We’re interested ourselves in trail running and longer distance running. For us, it's about making sure that that kind of running is accessible to everybody. That might be people who have only done a Park Run before, or one of the 5k events with the athletics club, and they're interested in going further,” said Marquis.

“We also know there's a lot of people on the island who've done half marathons, marathons, and they're really excited to take on ultra running, which is really growing in popularity. We’d like to provide an environment where people can meet each other and start to run with each other and get that experience that they might not otherwise get from other clubs that exist on the island.”

He sees trail running as somehow more natural than road running, generally quieter, back in nature without the pressure of running fast all the time.

He jokes that on the longer runs it is also a chance to eat: “It can be a really long picnic.”

It is also a chance to explore.

“Quite often, we'll go out for a run and we don't actually know where we're going,” said Watson.

“We just meander and you end up somewhere. When you're on the road you normally have a set plan when you get running, whereas going out on trails and cliffs, it's lovely, you make it up as you go along.”

Covid led to a boom in people getting active outdoors, swimming, walking and running all saw numbers increase and that is something Distance.gg hopes to build on.

Guernsey’s environment offers plenty of opportunities, the cliffs in particular are an amazing training ground.

Ultra running has benefited from the work of groups like the short lived Long Distance Running Club which was a precursor to Distance.gg.

Races have grown in popularity. The GU36, one complete lap of the island, was the brainchild of Peter Tiffin and has now been taken on by Green Rock which also promotes the nighttime cliff race Gun31.

It is a sport where women can easily outcompete men and attracts varied fields, with visiting runners making up a large portion of entries.

The next Distance.gg event is the V1000 and V500, based around Doyle Column and visiting bays in the area until you have either accumulated 1,000 or 500 metres. 

It takes place on 1 October.