All About us

How we began

Woodthorpe Huffers and Puffers was started by the wonderful Cathy Rooney in 2007. She is still very much in touch with us but is now living and working in the North East. We now have a management committee to make sure the group runs smoothly which is currently expertly chaired by Claire Gollin. We are still very much inspired by Cathy's ethos in setting up the group. Here's what she says about its beginnings: 

In 2007 I saw an advert in the Nottingham Evening Post for volunteers to run the Robin Hood Half Marathon as part of the ‘Shape Up Notts’ team. I really wanted to get into a fitness routine because I’d been sporty as a kid but had become a right couch potato. I’d tried spinning, aerobics and joining a fancy gym…. But I didn’t stick to any of them for more than a month or two. I figured that if I signed up to do the half marathon as part of the Shape Up Notts campaign then I wouldn’t be able to get out of doing it without embarrassing myself!

I was really lucky that I worked with people who really got behind me. One of my colleagues Trish, another non-runner, signed up to do the Half Marathon with me and other runners in the office helped us get started. I found that entering events kept me motivated so I entered a 1 mile fun run (surrounded by kids!), then a 5km and then a 10km. It took me 1 hour and 15 minutes to get around my first 10km and I was 2^nd to last but I ran the whole thing and when I crossed the line I blubbed like a baby I was so proud of myself. That was it then! I stuck to my training program and was determined to get around the Robin Hood Half Marathon without stopping. I found the long training runs really difficult because I’m not built for running and I get bored easily so going out for an hour and a half wasn’t fun but I found great places close-by to run in – Bestwood Country Park, Blidworth Woods, Sherwood Pines, Wollaton Park and University Park, along the Embankment  and around Holme Pierrepont – I’d never seen so much of Nottingham!

I ran the whole half marathon in 2 hours and 37 minutes! It nearly ended in disaster when my sisters surprised me by turning up near the finish – they live in Newcastle and Kent and I never expected to see them there supporting me. I was feeling so sorry for myself but so proud that when I saw them with 1 mile to go I started to sob uncontrollably and thought I wouldn’t be able to finish. But I did and I can honestly say that apart from the birth of my daughter, it’s the best day of my life!

The following year I ran the Prague Half Marathon, the Northumberland 14 mile coastal run, numerous 10kms and the Robin Hood Half again knocking 13 mins off the previous years time. I don’t run quickly and I never will, but that doesn’t matter…. I’m running and that’s what counts!

In January 2009 a group of friends were sitting in the Vale pub chatting over a pint and some pork scratchings about how they wanted to get fit and tone up but didn’t know how. I offered to take them out so that they could have a go at running….. and that was it, the Woodthorpe Huffers and Puffers was born! We did a little bit of advertising for new members and before we knew it there were 20 of us!

We had to get serious then… we affiliated to UK Athletics, qualified some volunteer jog leaders, worked with England Athletics and Gedling Borough Council , set up a committee and a constitution and started charging members. Although we were getting ‘professional’ we wanted to stick to our roots by offering social, recreational jogging and running in a supported environment.  

Cathy Rooney