10 Dec Meet Vic – our newest ambassador for The Amazing Northampton Run
One of the aspects of the running world that I really like to promote is encouraging more women to take part in the sport.
A lot has been done in recent years to encourage women’s participation in races – but there is still a lot to do.
That’s why I’m really proud to welcome Vic Platridge from ‘This Woman Runs’ as our latest ambassador for The Amazing Northampton Run.
Vic and ‘This Woman Runs’ joins the ‘Caffeine and Kilometres Run Club’ as female ambassadors for the event, while we are also proud to be a partner of ‘She Races’.
Vic, who describes herself as “45-year-old mum of four children, a secondary school teacher and the community leader for This Woman Runs Northampton”, approached me after spending time at this year’s race cheering on runners at Sixfields.
She said that, along with a group of ‘This Woman Runs’ members, she had made it her “non-negotiable that we were there until the final athlete came past”.
That sparked an idea to go one step further and run next year’s Amazing Northampton Run as the ‘party at the back’, encouraging everyone to finish.
Vic asked me: “Being at the back of the pack can be really lonely and often quite soul destroying when you’ve got the tail bike or walker right behind you and the support en-route has thinned out – so, what if next year, you had a group of women from ‘This Woman Runs’ Northampton bringing the party to the back?
“We would be the final finishers meaning that no runner will look at the results feeling deflated about being ‘last’.”
I loved the idea – and not only is it going to happen, but Vic has agreed to be an event ambassador.
It’ll be the latest stage of a running journey, which started in June 2020 when the fear of Covid kicked her into action. Pretty soon she was hooked on running, becoming stronger and gaining some precious time where “all my labels melted away and the only person I had to think about was me!”
Vic discovered ‘This Woman Runs’ online in early 2021 and went on to train to become a Run Angel, enabling her to lead social group runs.
The ‘This Woman Runs’ ethos is simple but brilliant – ‘your time, your space, your pace’. Each group run is a celebration of what women’s bodies can achieve, with a looping system meaning pace is irrelevant and having fun is paramount.
It’s a community that has encouraged Vic all the way to four ultra marathons.
She told me: “My goal is to spread the word about the TWR Community and support as many women as possible to get active, to set goals and to do hard things.
“I am a proud ‘back of the pack’ runner and it isn’t glamorous or sexy; it’s strong, resilient and determined!
“I am proud to be an ambassador for ‘The Amazing Northampton Run’, my home town half marathon, and on race day, will make sure that EVERY finish line gets the celebration it deserves.”
It doesn’t get better than that!