Britain Aiming for Running Buzz

Although we seem to think that this is the case, the problem of falling standards in long distance running is spread all across Europe. And, just like Malta, whilst everyone complains about this nothing seems to be done in order to reverse the trend.

With one exception. The setting up of realbuzzrunbritain.com in the United Kingdom has been hailed as a visionary step that will help re-establish British long distance running. Whether the plaudits have exagerated remains to be seen but it does look like an excellent idea to us which is why we spoke to Pierce O'Callaghan, business manager on the project, about what's behind the idea and how it is planning to achieve the aim of putting Britain back on the long distance running map.

How did the idea of the site come about?
A number of road race organisers from around the UK wanted the monies raised by road running to be reinvested back into road running. They were led by former world record holders Dave Bedford and Brendan Foster whop organise the London Marathon and the Great North Run respectively.

What is your aim? What are you trying to achieve?
To make British Road Running the best in the world in terms of organisation, development and performance

How long have you been working on it?
The group has been set up for three years but I was hired as the Business Manager last October and the website went live in January.

Is it aimed at new runners or does it also have features that will be enjoyed by more established athletes?
Both

How has it been received so far? What sort of feedback have you had?
Very well. We have received excellent feedback and have a large amount of website hits on a daily basis.

The virtual club is intriguing. What is it?
The principal aims of RunBritain are to raise participation, performance and event standards across the sport of road running and to support race organisers and counter the current threats to road running.

The realbuzzrunbritain.com virtual club is a means to attract and engage with the large pool of unattached runners (currently outside the sport) and encourage their participation in road running and to ultimately steer them towards club membership.

It is designed to complement club membership - not to compete with it.

RunBritain is also a vehicle intended to ensure that all funds raised by road running - particularly the licence fee income - is re-invested for the benefit of road running, and not diverted to support other areas of athletics, or left to accumulate as unspent reserves in county or regional accounts.

Licence fee income will be supplemented by significant commercial revenues raised by RunBritain (including the title sponsorship paid by realbuzz, and others to be announced for advertising on the new website), and all funds raised will be ploughed back into grass roots support for road running through the home countries - eg England Athletics etc

At the technical level, RunBritain is currently conducting a strategic review into the management of road running, to identify areas where administration can be streamlined, and areas where support would be beneficial including traffic management & policing, medical standards, road race officials, licence standards and grading.

Proposals arising out of that review will be widely circulated within the sport before being adopted into new guidelines. The best practice advice which is emerging will be available as a free resource to support race directors through the Race Directors Portal on the website.

The new (non-profit making) on-line road race entry system currently being developed for the new website will be the cheapest on the market & only available for UKA licenced races.

Lastly RunBritain is 'owned' by road running for road running.

Of course, progress will be monitored, but we hope that benefits to clubs from the new road running management structure will become apparent over time.

The views of the grassroots of the sport are valued within RunBritain, and towards this end, clubs & smaller races are represented on the executive (both in their own right & though England Athletics) & a number of guests (including representatives of regional road running committees) have been invited to sit in on past meetings.

realbuzzrunbritain.com is also designed to offer benefits to athletic clubs, race organisers and club members alike.

Approximately 2 million runners regularly participate in road races in the UK without choosing to join an athletic club - plus a further 2 million who regularly run but never compete.

realbuzzrunbritain.com is not an athletic club and does not organise club training nights (or races), or compete against other clubs in affiliated events.

It is merely a vehicle to capture unattached runners within the sport as a first step, or half-way house, towards eventual full club membership.

Unattached runners will be sent promotional details of local clubs within their catchment area. It is designed to reinforce athletic club membership, not to undermine or compete with them. In this way helping to promote the virtual club to unattached runners will help support the development of club athletics & membership income received (plus commercial sponorship) will be reinvested in road running.

In terms of benefits to race organisers realbuzzrunbritain.com will offer best practice advice, a free race listing, the cheapest on-line entry system & discounted licence fee to UKA licenced races.

Club members will benefit from a number of benefits including a £2 reduction in entry fees for UKA licenced events, comprehensive events diary, lively/relevant website content & raising of event standards through best practice advice plus reinvestment of revenues in road running.

What's in the site for clubs and event organisers?
There is a link with contact details for all the athletics clubs throughout the UK and there is a Race Directors Portal with loads of articles on best practise in a number of important areas.

Looking forward, what do you want the site to achieve for you to consider it to be a success?
75%+ of race organisers using it on a daily basis and tens of thousands of runners interacting on it on a daily basis through the blogs, forums and community section.

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