THE KATE Koaching Running Club burst out of the blocks for the first time in Limerick last month on July 22, with a 3km morning run that set out from the Maguire’s pitches at University of Limerick (UL). And the club’s founder wasn’t even in the country.
The club was launched by 23-year-old Kate Hewitt. Though currently based in New South Wales in Australia – bringing a whole new meaning to long distance running – Kate decided to utilise her platform of 12,000 followers to get likeminded people back home in Limerick to get active.
Kate currently organises a running group in Australia, which she says inspired the drive to bring the club to Limerick.
“The community we have out here in Australia is absolutely incredible. People show up every single week. So I said I’d love if people could experience this at home.
“The high that we all experience after run club every week genuinely fills my heart, everyone says the exact same thing. I just really wanted to bring that home for people to experience that same experience that we have every single Saturday. It’s just unmatched, it’s incredible.”
Kate initially used her online following to see if there would be any interest for a social run club in Ireland and the response from her community was extremely positive, with 44 people initially signing up to take part.
“I honestly couldn’t believe that so many people wanted to do it,” Kate confessed, explaining that she wanted to create a safe space for people to run.
“A lot of people identify themselves as not being a runner. And what I always say is, ‘Disclaimer: You are a runner, everyone can run.
“A lot of the time, people just put themselves under a lot of pressure. They go out and they just try to run a 5k straight away and that’s just ridiculous. You have to be able to walk before you can run I suppose.”
The next meeting of the Limerick branch of the Kate Koaching running club will take place this Saturday morning (August 5) at 7.45am before taking off from the Maguire’s pitches at UL from 8am. Participants are invited to join together for brunch afterwards in Hook and Ladder in Castletroy.
For information on how to join, contact [email protected].
by Anna Powell.
