Brendan's Running Club was set up almost 12 years ago, and Brendan explains that he “set it up as an alternative to the sometimes very competitive nature of athletic clubs.”
Brendan has worked in the fitness industry for the last 25 years, but the idea for the running club originated when a local shop owner in Naas asked for Brendan to put together a program for his staff who were looking to compete in the Kildare 10k. Brendan trained them all up to 10k level and the idea grew from that point. “When I launched it, I never thought it was going to grow into what it did.” Brendan now trains people “literally from couch to Marathon level”.
“It’s not as competitive” when asked about doing things differently to Athletics Clubs, “It’s not all about speed, it’s not all about times, it’s not all about winning races. I have found a lot of people want to run and want to be part of the running community, they want to enter 10k’s or 5k’s, but they’re not necessarily interested in the race, they want to better themselves rather than beat the person beside them”.
Brendan’s Running Club works in 12-week terms. There are beginners’ groups, intermediate groups, and advanced groups, so all levels of runner are welcome to join and will be catered for accordingly.
“What I do is a very personal based, every run that they do I run it with them.” Monday and Wednesday nights are catered towards people aiming for 5k’s, Tuesday and Thursday nights are for people running up to 10k, and Saturday mornings are geared towards what race each person is training towards.
Brendan attributes the initial growth of his running club to word of mouth, but there’s no doubt that his time and dedication also hugely boosted its growth, “I had morning classes going and I had afternoon classes going. I was doing personal training. I’d say I was running in excess of 100 kilometres every week without fail.”
Each year, Brendan’s Running Club hosts the Naas Town 5k & 10k runs in aid of the Jack & Jill Children’s Foundation, and in 2023 the race raised €5,500 pushing the total funds raised to €47,700!
Brendan says that what he is most proud of is the number of friends the club has put together. “The amount of people who would have never met from all walks of life and then they've all come together with the running club.” “People like to run in groups and have company and most of the time all you can hear while we’re running is chat, banter, laughing, joking, and more than anything else it has become very, very sociable over the years.”
Brendan then shared a story about late club member, Peter Sheridan, who passed away earlier this year. He had struggled with addiction in his life and sought help through Tiglin, a centre in Greystones which help people through addiction. With the help of Tiglin, Peter turned his life around and went to college, completing a Masters degree, and joined Brendan’s Running Club. Peter trained for the Dublin City Marathon two years ago with Brendan’s Running Club and had signed up to do the Marathon with the club in 2023 alongside his niece Roisin. Brendan’s Running Club raised money for Tiglin when they took part in the Dublin City Marathon this year, raising an incredible €8,380!
Finally, when asked why people should join Brendan’s Running Club, Brendan explains that “The nature of running is that you keep pushing your boundaries, you know, so you do a 5k and all of a sudden that's brilliant, now you want to do 10k or you want to the 5k a bit faster” and closes saying “people who join Brendan’s Running Club never look back, without a doubt.”
If you would like to join Brendan's Running Club, just simply follow the link here for more information! https://www.facebook.com/Brend...