A Brief history of running at The Open University

Quite who were the first runners at the Open University after its formation in 1969 is unclear but what is certain is that by the mid 1970s there was, coincident with the running boom of that time, a sizeable group of lunchtime runners. The words ‘12.20 at the Pavilion’ were no doubt by then in widespread use. Unquestionably the location of the University campus in the Ousel Valley Park and close to the Grand Union canal towpaths provided every incentive for staff to relieve the stresses and strains of working life with some lunchtime exercise.

The first organised running events were monthly handicap races where runners started at different times ” slowest first and fastest last. The first recorded race took place in 1979 with about a dozen participants and was organised by Chas Kendall. The first finisher picked up the stopwatch and recorded the finish times for all those following. Chas Kendall’s races continued monthly until 1983 when they ceased.

The baton was picked up again by John Gillespie in February 1987 and followed the format used by Chas with monthly races over 3 miles (later to change to 5 km), 5 miles and 7 miles. Typically there would be about 30 participants reflecting all standards. Soon numbers increased dramatically as not only OU participation increased but word spread outside the campus. Runners from Abbey National, TSB, Parcelforce, Siemens, EDS Scicon, Universal Records not to mention Milton Keynes AC regularly took part and it was not uncommon for fields of over 60 to do battle.

As numbers increased the range of events was broadened. An annual ‘Tour’ was introduced incorporating all three regular distances into one week of racing. There was no handicapping and the times for the three races were accumulated to determine a winner. Soon there was competition across the full range of age/gender categories and the OU Runners gathered together a not inconsiderable collection of trophies for award to the winners.

The Tour was soon followed by an annual relay pitting against each other teams from University units and outside. Teams comprised four runners of which at least one member had to be female. The relay leg was 1.1 miles in distance and the requirement for a female member soon resulted in boosting the number of ladies running regularly. By 2000 the relay was firmly established in the OU running calendar with over 50 teams, i.e. over 200 runners regularly taking part.

Alongside the races informal weekly training sessions were being organised usually comprising a mixture of fartlek training, interval training and hill sessions. OU runners were regularly participating in external events with a sizeable group undertaking each year’s London Marathon.

All of this activity had been informal but by the mid-2000’s it was clear that the runners would need to organise themselves into a formal running club within the structure of the Open University Club. This would provide ‘member’ benefits such as insurance cover and provide the Club itself with funding to purchase trophies and other equipment. So a club was formed, officers elected and a constitution adopted.

In 2008 and approaching retirement John Gillespie passed over the responsibility of organising the monthly handicaps to Nicky Moss with Joe Devlin and Jeff Lewis helping with the Relay and the Tour. New race routes were introduced to provide monthly races over a series of 5 km, 5 miles and 10 km distances. And so the story goes on with regular racing and training opportunities available to encourage staff to enjoy the OU running experience into the future.