2 minute read
Welcome
Welcome back, Norwich
t’s been three years since we last did
Ithis, and it’s safe to say we’ve dearly missed our favourite day of the year and all of you.
Since we last saw each other in person, we sold out, we postponed, we cancelled, we opted for a later date, we cancelled, and then we sold out again. Through it all we felt your support and understanding, even when our entry process for this year’s race hit a lastminute technical hurdle. In isolation, Run Norwich is just a race and we’ve all sacrificed far more in the last two and half years, but its return will bring a lot of joy and some important impact in our community. In case you aren’t familiar with us, we are the Norwich City Community
Sports Foundation, the charity of
Norwich City Football Club. We work to drive inclusion for people with disabilities, boost mental health and wellbeing, and help disadvantaged people to reach their potential. Each year, once the substantial costs of organising and improving Run
Norwich have been met, anything left is used to sustain and grow the charity’s work. Our main sources of income for Run Norwich are entry fees and sponsorship and therefore it’s time to say a thank you or two. When we eventually cancelled in 2020, we were too far down the line to recover many costs and appealed to entrants to waive their right to a refund.
The response was incredible, and thousands of people left their money with us. Those generous souls are recognised both in our Race Hero wall at the expo, and on their running numbers. We said at the time we would never forget that support, and we honestly never will. This year once again we have a terrific group of sponsors, headlined by Aviva, who are crucial to the race. We thank them all for their support because Run Norwich would not be possible on a grand scale without them. We have 12 official charities with runners in this year’s race, while many of our general entrants use Run Norwich to fundraise for another cause close to their hearts. It means so much to us that Run Norwich can be used as such a platform for good, and we love to hear your stories in our post-race survey. Then there’s the direct impact on all of you taking part. Sport is a powerful tool for boosting physical and mental wellbeing, and we hope Run Norwich can be a catalyst for anyone looking to improve those areas of their life. There are, for example, over 1,500 of you lining up to complete a 10k for the very first time, on Sunday. There must be some fitness or personal journeys to tell us about in there somewhere, so again please don’t be shy when that survey drops into your inbox. We encourage you to bring as many people to watch as possible on Sunday, and we would love for you to join us in the race village afterwards to relax and soak up the post-race atmosphere. All the information you need as an entrant is contained in this pack, so please have a good read to avoid any race day stress. Good luck, and we’ll see you bright and early on Sunday morning for the long-awaited return of Run Norwich to our beautiful city. It’s going to be emotional.
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