Sheffield running club host fun 5K relay event for city food bank

The HRRC Foodbank Relay on Monday January 3 takes a 5k or three mile route through Wharncliffe Woods, and is organised by the Hillsborough and Rivelin Running Club to support the S6 Foodbank.

“Christmas is a busy time of year for everyone and the S6 Foodbank is no different,” said Andy Woffinden, organiser of the event, who tries to drum up donations for the food bank every winter.

“There has been a huge increase in demand since March 2020, and the food bank team are now feeding over five times as many people as they were before the pandemic.

"Over the Christmas holidays, the need for emergency food parcels usually increases by 30 per cent.”

The ‘entry fee’ for the relay race is actually a food or other practical donation, said Andy, so although no money will change hands, each runner is being asked to bring a donation for Sheffielders who are struggling to make ends meet over the Christmas season.

Suggestions of items to donate from S6 Foodbank include tinned food, UHT milk, tea bags, shower gel, shampoo and deodorant, size 4,5 and 6 nappies, toilet rolls, washing powder tabs, cereal and rice pudding.

The event starts at 9 am on January 3 near the Greno Woods car park off Woodhead Road, and every runner in each two person team will run the 5k trail course, before handing over their cracker baton to their team mate (assigned by the Hillsborough and Rivelin Running Club’s festive fun handicap system) who will then race through the winter woodland to a thrilling finale.

Crackers will only be pulled when the second runner crosses the finish line (and their team mate may well have already sipped a little of the anticipated mulled wine refreshments.)Runners need to apply with their usual 5K time, and will be paired with a team mate who runs at a different pace, with the fastest timed entrant running with the slowest, the second fastest with the second slowest and so on throughout the times submitted.

The handicap system should ensure the relay will be “a fun, semi-competitive run,” said Andy Davies of Hillsborough and Rivelin Running Club.

“We think this is a great cause, and hope the run will be an incredible event!”Andy Woffinden added: “It’s been a tough couple of years for everyone, but when money is tight it can be hard to find the extra cash for gifts and little extras that make Christmas.

“If we can as a local running club go some way to combine our passion for running and contribute to help people who use food banks then it can only be beneficial to everyone.”

More information about the run and how to get involved is on the Hillsborough and Rivelin Running Club’s Facebook page at.

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