COMMITTEE

When did you start running?

I was always a treadmill runner until I joined GFR. I never had a positive relationship with sport and activity so this solo activity seemed more suited to me.

When did you join GFR?

I first joined GFR back in 2012. I was working for a queer charity that GFR had been raising money for so a number of us came along to run with the club. Promoted as a “post Pride” introductory run it was for me a super fast sprint along the canals. However, the sense of being part of my community for the first time that was not either work or “the scene” was really eye-opening for me and I stayed with the club for the next two years. I was pretty shy but within 2 years had gone from barley running to completing 10K runs on the regular. I then left in 2014 to move up north and become a teacher.

With the teacher life came stress and the staffroom trap. My weight ballooned, my fitness level collapsed and my confidence disappeared along with my ability to rejoin the club when I returned to Glasgow. Eventually I was encouraged to re-join GFR by some of the new friends I had met through the Queer Badminton Club. So I waited a couple of months and then joined with the C25K programme in 2020.

When did you join the committee?

Sadly most of the first two years of GFR for me was disrupted by the lockdowns and restrictions. The C25K pals I had made became my surrogate family in the city as I was isolated from my own. My running ability once more went into reverse and I started to develop a number of muscle problems. In this time though the club had become fractured and a shadow of what I had seen in January 2020. Though I had only recently returned to 2k-3k recovery groups I heard the pleas for people to put themselves forward for the committee to start the recovery phase of GFR. I was pretty nervous, and didn’t really know very many people in the club – but I am a firm believer that if you see something isn’t working, you should offer yourself up to help. Which is why, while at a wedding in Madrid, I found myself being added to a group chat of strangers. The last two years though, this club, and the time with those then strangers, have been some of the best of my life.

Joining the committee, being able to (hopefully) positively contribute to my community has been so rewarding. There is a lot of work to do, and my role is often invisible, but bit by bit it has been amazing to see the club grow and watch as more and more members take ownership over the club and feel, as I do, that they have a place to belong. And these strangers from across the club have also become so important to me, which couldn’t have been more evident with the death of my mum last year.

What runs and races do you typically attend?

Typically now I am a 7.5K to 10K runner. I will be very honest – I am a social runner. I am here for the chat… if there is no chat I am questioning my life choices and why I am running. So you are more likely to find me cheering a run with a whistle than running it. Besides, it is way more fun to dance, whistle and cheer others running than it is to actually do it myself. I have set myself a fitness goal of sub hour 10K and so I will do a few throughout the year just to check I am maintaining that.

What's your favourite GFR event?

My favourite GFR event has to be OutRun. This event I think represents the best of what GFR is for. We connect with the wider running community in Glasgow and beyond. We also provide an opportunity to bring other clubs from the FrontRunner family together for the weekend. I love that there are so many opportunities for members across the club to get involved, lead and own the event. What is special also is seeing the family volunteers take part that in decades past, for many more of us, could have been unthinkable.

The fact also that it is not in Pride Month is really special to me as it ensures Queer activity in other parts of the year. Particularly as it is held in an iconic part of Glasgow.

Watching the last two OutRun events come together has been phenomenal as everyone puts in so much. The run and coaching programme of the club getting people from C25K, to 10K, to Outrun. The work of the Events Ambassadors helping to organise. The efforts of the volunteers bring a smile to so many and the comms work makes sure the event is visible beyond our community. The social events are a massive celebration of our wider family and has that perfect fusion of Scots culture with our communities own. I love OutRun because it is very much making GFR an absolute FrontRunner for Queer visibility in this city, in the running community and beyond.

What do you love most about GFR?

I love that if your looking for it, and you try, there is a place to belong in this club. I am not a fast runner and I am not a distance runner. But I am way more than those things anyway. I am actually quite a shy person who prefers to be in the background – a quiet part of everything. At first I found it difficult to mix or make friends as I didn’t get involved and kept to myself, but since then I have found so many different ways to connect and belong. GFR has helped me to make friends in my own neighbourhood through at first sharing transport to and from events and now for dinners, coffees and local activities. I have found fellow ABBA & Eurovision lovers to dance with. Joining up with the club Teachers during the holidays (which can actually be pretty long and isolating) has also really helped me at times of the year that can be quite low. I have a group to enjoy rugby with and there are bingo lovers and gardeners and jigsawers. In this club, you are more than just a runner. By sharing more of who I actually am, I have been able to find more ways to belong than the first 30 years of my life.

What's your favourite animal?

Its totally a Duck – and then a Panda. And then a Penguin…which is kind of like a Duck Panda?

What do you do when you're not running?

I think I have shared enough. Anything more and it’s a dating profile.

Anything else we should know about you...

I am 95% Disney – but a lot of that is dark. Maleficent is a Queen and my absolute fav. No one can take her down in my eyes. Not even Mary Poppins – who isn’t even a princess.

Johnpaul’s responsibilities as Welfare and Inclusion Secretary

• Develop diversity framework and build relationships with minority / marginalised groups within the LGBTQIA+ community to encourage and support their involvement with GFR with the aim of achieving greater club diversity

• Own and maintain club policies in partnership with Club secretary to ensure compliance with governing body requirements and the principles of Equality, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (EEDI)

• Act as the primary contact for all issues of welfare, concerns, complaints and inclusion on behalf of the committee

• Have responsibility for reporting on club diversity to committee on a range of protected characteristics

• Support and record relevant EEDI training undertaken by the committee

Johnpaul’s responsibilities as a member of the Committee

• To act solely in the interests of Glasgow Front Runners membership

• The governance and strategic development of the club

• Organising club run sessions

• Welcoming and supporting runners

• Regularly attending club runs, social events and races

• Adhering to club policies and procedures

• Supporting President, Treasurer, Secretary and Run Secretary in discharging the duties of their offices

• Creating a safe space for LGBTQIA+ runners and our allies

• Promote regular club running amongst the membership

• Create and promote leadership opportunities for and with the membership