Barns Green Half Marathon looking for Windsor-style backer while Prostate Cancer awareness is raised

The long-standing supremo has been involved with the organisation of the event since 1982 and has been chairman for the last 14 years.

It is expected the race’s competitors will again raise around £50,000 for charity plus around £10,000 profit netted by the organisers which is also donated to charity.

Jennings said: “I’m really proud of the event because we don’t get the major backers like some do like the Windsor Half Marathon which is on today.

“We have a number of sponsors: we’ve got Berkeley Homes, Toyota Motorline, More Than insurance and Bluecoat Sports.

“The big hassle is every year the cost the cost of putting on the event goes up - for instance the cost of bringing in toilets is £1,500 - if you get someone to pay for the toilets, it helps!

“This year I personally was concentrating on our charity Prostate Cancer UK and making more men aware of it and taking care of their bodies.

“That is why we had Kenney Jones of The Small Faces and The Who here to add to the weight of it and its importance to men.

“It is a cancer which can be detected and cured to a great extent. If you get tested you might not have Prostate Cancer, you might only have an enlarged prostate.

“We have had personal collections of over £600 and donations from the runners before they’ve even started of £500. I am really pleased.

“We had just short 1,500 entries and you always have a fall-off and 1,102 took part.”

Jennings revealed a plan to continue to innovate by adding a new 10k race to the existing half marathon event and holding it at the same time.

He said: “Next year I am working hard to have a 10K run at the same time as the half marathon, starting and finishing on the same line but run on a different course.

“We have a lot of young mums wanting to have a go at running at the 10K distance is the perfect fit.

“If I could get the entry up without too much efforts to 2,000 we could increase the contribution to the charity. We have worked out a course, we just have to work out a finish so they can collect their medals.

“99 percent of the money coming in is from outside the community.

“The event is supporting this year 17 organisations who are supporting me and we need them!

“I am very fortunate to have a fantastic team - I have about 138 people helping me on the day from drinks marshalls to people in the car parks.

“This is a reason it is such a success. The start/finish gantry was put up starting at 7.30pm on Saturday morning. I am so appreciative of the support I get.”

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