The 2022 Jog Wantage Course will take place for 10 weeks on Thursday evenings from 6.30pm starting on 28th April.
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 2022 course will last 10 weeks and take place on Thursday evenings from 6.30pm – 7.30pm starting on Thursday 28th April and ending on Thursday 30th June. The goal is the (free) 5km Grove Fields parkrun on Saturday 2nd July. There will be a charge of £30 for the whole course. The activities will follow the Covid guidance (if applicable) provided by the Government and England Athletics at the time.
There will be a welcome evening held on Wednesday 6th April (also starting at 6.30pm) at Grove Rugby Club. This is a chance to come along and find out more details of the course, and to sign up if you wish. The first session of the course (on the 28th April) is free to all who wish to try it. As well as signing up at the welcome evening 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 either at the welcome evening or on your first or second session. Payment is either in cash or we will provide bank account details then for those wishing to pay by bank transfer. Paper forms will be available 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. 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 Grove Fields 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. 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). Parking is available either at Wantage Memorial Park or The Beacon.