In 2016 Sue convinced John to volunteer at a local Parkrun. It was an easy gig that only took an hour out of his Saturday mornings so didn’t require too much arm twisting – John had to stand at the end of a field and effectively cheerlead runners while making sure they didn’t go the wrong way.  He really took to this and was fabulous at encouraging people of all ages, but particularly the little ones calling the girls "princess" and the boys "tiger". He tried a couple of other roles too, including Race Director one week, but loved marshaling the most – making it more fun by sometimes wearing silly hats (with a full on Christmas tree outfit one week).  Eventually, with a bit of encouragement and being massively inspired by all the ages, shapes and sizes of runners he had a go at the course himself, having never really run before in his life.  It took him 40 minutes but he wasn’t last (he had an obsession about not wanting to be last).  After that Parkrun lost a volunteer and gained a runner.

Between July 2017 and March 2020 John clocked up 115 Parkruns!  Sue ran the majority of those with John and they became a familiar sight at Sherwood Pines on a Saturday morning, especially with John's slightly limpy running style and little woollen/bobble hats in the colder seasons.  Whenever the family were on holiday together John would always research the local Parkruns and had tackled Minehead, Gorleston Cliffs, Dalby Forest and Sewerby in addition to the many different courses in and around Nottinghamshire.

In January 2018 John tackled a slightly longer 4.5mile course at Clumber Park which he loved, and it wasn’t much longer until he tried a 10k.  John and Sue did many 10k races together in 2018 and 2019 including Blackpool, The Global Energy Race at Rother Valley, The Pudding Run at Shipley Country Park, Edwinstowe and Doncaster, the latter being his favourite because it was mainly flat and had a brilliant medal!  In fact he loved it so much he had already booked on for this year’s, which instead Sue will run in his memory.  

A particularly proud moment was when John and Sue (through careful coordination) completed their 100th Parkruns on the same day in November 2019, running their regular Sherwood Pines course. Although John tended to shy away from the spotlight he bought two sashes and was pleased as punch when Run Director Sarah gave them a special mention.

Aside from all the Parkruns and races, which despite the effort and discomfort of running, he truly loved, John could also be seen running locally on an almost daily basis – mostly alone but sometimes with Sue when she wasn’t working.  His stomping grounds were Forest Town and Clipstone, including Sherwood Pines and Vicar Water.  In the weeks before he died he was struggling to run and had taken to fast walking, doing 7.5 miles a day during lockdown.  His Garmin watch showed he’d stomped that 7.5m route every day in the week before he died, finally cracking his sub 2-hour target on 30th April – his penultimate stomp! 

So many people will miss seeing him out and about walking and running the local area and particular at Sherwood Pines Parkrun.  Many of them won’t even know his name but often chatted to him when they saw him or came past us.  From messages left by fellow runners on the Sherwood Pines Parkrun page it is clear than that he inspired so many in taking up running and being so very persistent with it at his age.