Horsham MP to act as official starter at Run Barns Green

Jeremy has been a strong supporter of this unique village event and has acted as the official starter before back in 2017.

At 10am Jeremy will get the runners underway for the half marathon and 20 minutes later will set the 10k runners on their way.

The 2021 races will be the 39th anniversary of the half marathon race which began back in 1982. This will be the sixth anniversary of the first running of the 10k race which began in 2016.

This year’s official charity for the event is once again St Catherine’s Hospice and the main sponsor is Architectural Plants from Pulborough.

Run Barns Green race director, Vernon Jennings said: “We are thrilled that Jeremy has agreed to be involved.

"It is always a great boost to us to have the support of our local MP.

"We are thrilled to be able to get the races back underway again after last year’s enforced cancellation.

"We will of course have strict Covid-19 safety precautions in place to make sure all the runners, spectators and officials are kept safe.”

Jeremy Quin MP added: “I am delighted to be able to support this unique local event. Run Barns Green has made a huge contribution to the local community over the past 39 years.

"Mental and physical well-being have never been more important than at this time and Run Barns Green provides a great opportunity for runners of all ages who want to get active as we hopefully move on from lockdown.

"I am also personally delighted that Run Barns Green once again has the magnificent St Catherine’s Hospice as its official charity”.

Run Barns Green is organised entirely by volunteers and relies completely on the loyalty and commitment of the committee who work tirelessly to maintain and improve the standards of the races each year.

On race weekend a small army of additional volunteers get involved. These include sports clubs – tennis, cricket, rugby football, stoolball and hockey – the local scouts, cubs, brownies, youth club, church and playgroup.

These groups and many others each take on an area of responsibility – running water stations, helping with catering, marshalling, car parking, security and de-tagging and looking after all the runners as they finish the races.

The Barns Green Players provide the commentators for the event to keep everyone informed about what is going on.

Each organisation receives a donation which helps them to pay bills, buy new equipment and generally improve their offering.

Last year’s races were cancelled because of the Pandemic but in 2019 just over 2,000 runners registered for the two races which follow routes on closed roads through the lanes of Barns Green, Itchingfield, Christ’s Hospital and close to Southwater through some of the most scenic countryside in West Sussex.

The race also goes through the magnificent grounds of Christ’s Hospital School.

There is plenty of free car parking and there is chip timing for each runner in both races and they also receive a gold, silver or bronze medal depending on their finishing time.

There are also pacemakers running who will help runners to achieve their target finish time.

Registrations for the race are open on the Run Barns Green website; runbarnsgreen.org.uk