'If I can do it, anyone can do it' - Newport running club urges people to sign up for 'Couch to 5k'

Be it to get fit, lose weight, improve your mental health, run for pleasure, or actually work towards longer distances, the Couch to 5k programme offers a structured and supportive way for people to become regular runners.

Newport District Running Club (NDRC) is inviting people to join its latest 'Couch to 5k' starting on April 30, and lasting for ten weeks.

The programme, which costs £10, includes weekly sessions from 6.30pm every Wednesday.

NDRC member Catherine Lamond, 61, is encouraging people who want to take up running but who might be too intimidated to join a club to sign up and take part in the club's Couch to 5k.

She said the idea of the programme was to build up to the distance, starting off with lots of walking as people get used to running.

She said: "We have had great success in the past with some people starting with coming to the Couch to 5k and ending up as really successful runners, running things like the London Marathon and all sorts."

Explaining how the programme is tailored to people who are not used to running, Catherine said: "It is very structured and starts off very gently with run-walking and we do it as a group, it is all very supportive and even if there are different abilities no-one gets left behind - it just does not operate like that, it is everyone together."

Catherine said that people are also given homework to complete a couple of runs before the next session, building up in a very structured way from run-walking.

The ten weeks is rounded off with a graduation ceremony event at the Isabel Trail parkrun in Stafford on July 5, where people are given a medal to mark the achievement and then enjoy a celebratory breakfast together.

Catherine said: "It is totally not competitive. It is about everyone starting from where they are and building up confidence."

She added: "This is a way of starting as a beginner, you don't have to have done running before, that's what we are prepared for and that's what we are expecting. It is all about building confidence and having a structured programme, and people doing it together really helps with that."

Catherine explained that her own running journey had started with a Couch to 5k.

She said: "Ten years ago I was in this position of thinking 'I can't go to a running club, they will all be really good', but following a Couch to 5k I managed to go from nothing to doing a half marathon. If I can do it, anyone can do it."

She also paid tribute to the run leaders who turn up and help with the events.

Anyone interested in taking part can email secretary.ndrc@gmail.com.