The 2021 Jog Wantage Course will take place for 10 weeks on Tuesday evenings from 18:30 starting on 18th May.
JogWantage is a ‘Couch to 5k’ for beginners, aged 16 and over, who would like to start jogging to get fit, or just need a boost in confidence to return after a long absence.
The 2021 course will last 10 weeks and take place on Tuesday evenings from 6.30pm – 7.30pm starting on Tuesday 18th May and ending on Tuesday 20th July. The goal is the 5km Abingdon Parkrun on Saturday 17th July. There will be a charge of £30 for the whole course. The activities will follow the Covid guidance provided by the Government and England Athletics at the time.
The first session of the course (on the 18th May) is free to all who wish to try it. You can sign up via the “RunTogether” web site at https://groups.runtogether.co.uk/JogWantage/Account/SignUp. Note that it is necessary to register/login to the RunTogether site and then select the “Jog Wantage” sessions. Payment cannot be done via this site but can be made on your first or second session and we will provide bank account details then for those wishing to pay by bank transfer. Paper forms will be available at the first sessions for those who cannot sign up online (although we prefer the online sign-up).
Jog Wantage has been run by volunteers from White Horse Harriers each spring since 2009 as part of RUN ENGLAND (now called “RunTogether”). The leaders are qualified Leaders in Running Fitness who are aided by sympathetic helpers, some of whom started running with Jog Wantage themselves, and who understand how daunting it can be to take those first steps. At the end of the course you have the chance to jog 5km at a local Abingdon Parkrun. Here are comments from two former participants:
Running, what’s that – something younger people do? Not on your life. It’s for all ages, we all mix together, speed didn’t matter, it was great fun and made friends. From zero to 5K in 10 weeks, couldn’t believe it. Now regularly run 2 to 3 times a week. You can do it too.
Gillian Vale
I did JogWantage a few years ago and found it really enjoyable. The course is fun and sociable, it caters for all abilities- even if you have never so much as run for a bus before! I now run regularly with friends I met in the group and am planning my first half marathon (gulp!).
Cate Hopkinson
Here is a link to the Get Ready to Run Handout which may be useful. (In previous years we held a welcome evening before the course. However in light of Covid restrictions we will not be holding that in 2021.) The course has one session per week. However, to progress to run/jog 5km by the end of the course we advise doing some jogging on at least one, and preferably two, other occasions each week. There are many guides to how make progress with couch to 5K training schemes. These generally involving mixing walking and jogging with the proportion of jogging increasing as the weeks go by. An example of such a program is on the Runners World web site here.
To find out more: contact Sheila by e-mail to jogwantage@whitehorseharriers.uk or at 01235 769194. We can also be found on Facebook.
The course takes place on the KA’s Centre Site field (behind Wantage Leisure Centre). Wantage Town Football Club have kindly given us permission to make use of an area for parking. The map linked here shows where this parking is located and more detail of where we meet for the Jog Wantage course. If you do make use of the parking at WTFC please only use the parking designated for JW and do not use other areas on their premises.