IT’S 6am in the morning and while most of the Silver City sleeps, a group of about 30 women are stretching outside of a local cafe in preparation for a three-kilometre group run.
Feel Good Run Club is an initiative that came to Broken Hill when club organiser Leisa Shields moved to the town last year and was formed to bring a social and community-focused approach to group exercise.
“I actually don’t like running,” Ms Shields said. “I never was a runner.
“But running with other people when you can motivate and inspire each other to keep it going, working together and everything, I like that part of the community.”
Ms Shields moved from Wollongong last January and had been running with a run club on the coast for a few months before arriving.
“The first event was just women, which is how lots of the run clubs are,” she said.
“But I wanted to bring what people here were telling me they wanted, so I started doing mixed gender runs on Fridays, and now we’ve introduced a men’s run club alongside the women’s on Wednesdays.”
The club now hosts three runs a week — a 6am women’s run leaving from Giovannis on Oxide Street on Wednesdays, a 6am men’s run leaving from The Deli Café next to the town square on Wednesdays and a mixed gender run at 6am on Fridays, leaving from The Deli Café.
The women’s run is leaving from Giovannis, heads towards North Oval and back down Williams Street.
There’s also an option to add an extra two kilometers and make it a five-kilometre run for experienced runners, or to take part in an interval training style run.
Ms Shields said when she first suggested the idea to some new friends and work colleagues shortly after moving here, she hadn’t imagined the run club becoming such a popular and well-attended social activity.
“Initially I discussed it with some people I’d connected with, some of the footy girls,” she said.
“It spread around with word of mouth and the first time we went for a group run there were like 20 girls there, which was amazing.”
Most runs have between 15 and 30 runners take part on average.
Ms Shields said for many runners, the social side of the run club is far more important than the exercise.
“Running by myself isn’t as fun,” she said.
“It’s so nice to see all these friendships come together from the run club, it’s such a great opportunity to meet people we normally wouldn’t.”
“Some people choose to walk it entirely, and others don’t even attend the run at all, they just come for the social aspect afterwards which is when we all catch up over coffee.”
Joining the Feel Good Run Club is free, but runners must register via the run club’s Instagram @feelgoodrunclub_brokenhill
