**Jason Bohan**
Run Secretary (2014-15), Club President (2015-18)

*Looking back at the first OUTrun 10 years ago.*

OUTrun – 10 years old!

I can’t believe it’s been 10 years since the first OUTrun!

I joined the committee in 2014 as the run secretary where I was responsible for organising club runs and events.

I wanted to organise an LGBT+ race to raise the visibility of GFR and LGBT runners locally, and to strengthen a positive and supportive community within GFR and the wider FrontRunner family. I saw OUTrun as an opportunity to bring people together and celebrate running and LGBT+ identity.

How it came about

The committee supported the idea of organising a race but none of us had any experience of doing anything like this and there was a lot of concern that we might bankrupt the club. I decided to do a bit of research and find out what was involved.

We had a connection with Bellahouston Road Runners who organise an annual 10k event and they were very generous in their advice and reassuring that races do not lose money.

I also met with LEAP Sports Scotland who had recently secured a grant to hold a ‘gay’ 5K race and brought together GFR and Edinburgh FRs suggesting a joint event to be held at Stirling university.

I argued against holding it at Stirling, believing the event should be tied to a FrontRunner club and based in a location where there was an existing LGBT running community; that we should hold a 10k event because there were lots of 5k runs; and, it should be set up as an annual event (not a one-off which is what they were proposing).

*Rainbow bunting and original GFR sails.*

They said that if I could plan a suitable route in Glasgow, they’d consider it. So, that’s what I did and I planned a route.

Planning the route

I used to run a lot in Kelvingrove park so I knew the location well, but it’s a relatively small park and so initially didn’t consider it as a location for OUTrun. Instead I looked at a lot of other locations in Glasgow first.

*Runners at the start line, featuring the University of Glasgow in the background.*

However, most other parks in Glasgow were already used for other races or parkruns, but Kelvingrove wasn’t used for anything, so it had the attraction of being a novel location for Glasgow runners. Another factor was that it’s also a very attractive park and reasoned that if we were inviting fellow FrontRunners to Glasgow, we should show them the best!

So, I tried to plot a 10k route in Kelvingrove, but the best I could do was 8km, although admittedly it would be attractive and relatively flat apart from the gentle incline of the OUTrun hill (which keeps it interesting). The deciding factor was realising that 8km = 5miles and 2015 was GFR’s 5th birthday, so the stars aligned and Kelvingrove was the chosen location.

I contacted the council to make sure we would get permission, which they confirmed, and met with LEAP to give them my proposal. Unfortunately, LEAP were determined to host their run in Stirling so GFR decided to go it alone (although we obviously did still support the Leap event in Stirling).

The OUTrun committee

The committee liked the idea of OUTrun, but felt they were too busy running the club to organise an event, so I suggested putting a call out to club members and forming a separate OUTrun committee. This has been the model used every since and has served as a great way to get members involved in volunteering and stepping up the main GFR committee.

One of my other initiatives as run secretary was to set up GFR’s ‘Couch to 5k’ programme. The club had tried this a couple of times before but hadn’t been very successful. I wanted to set it up in January to build on everyone’s new years resolutions. This had been a huge success and attracted nearly 40 new members and club runs were busy. When I asked for volunteers there was a hugely enthusiastic and excited response.

Starting in May 2015, I organised fortnightly open meetings in Citizen M on Tuesday nights and there was a big turnout. I had the basic outline of an event, but it was the brilliance of the people on that committee who brought their ideas, enthusiasm, and talent that made it such a success. It’s important to mention a few notable people:

Nicky Imrie
The volunteers on OUTrun have always been phenemonal and we couldn’t hold the event without them. The volunteers are so generous with their time and energy, making sure that that the runners and public are safe, and the event is a success. Nicky Imrie took charge of the volunteers, connecting with local volunteering networks, and creating maps and guidelines that we were still using many years later (and maybe still are). We owe Nicky a lot for setting up the template that made it easier in following years to follow her instructions.

Gordon Howie
For designing the OUTrun logo, it’s become really iconic and helped make us feel that we were a real event. We also owe him a big dept of gratitude for all his other contributions too, creating promo videos, designing the club t-shirts, banners etc. We also need to thank David Cherry who suggested that we use coloured t-shirts and change this in line with the pride flag each year, which has been a special element to the event as well.

Eammon Butler-McIntosh and his husband Graeme
Eammon suggested that we hire the bandstand which his husband Graeme took charge of. We should be so grateful to them for this, because having the bandstand really makes it special. In the first year we had no electricity, and all the cakes, bags, t-shirts were on table on the walk up to the start line. In later years Graeme arranged it so we could locate all this within the bandstand and even arranged electricity so they could hear the announcements.

Richard Allwood
There was a lot of concern that OUTrun would be a disaster and lead to financial ruin of the club. Richard was hugely positive and loud voice supporting the whole event – I remember his energy and challenged the naysayers. He also secured a very welcome sponsorship deal with Queens Cross Housing Association which continues to this day.

These are only a few because so many other people contributed to making the event so successful, contacting local companies to sponsor the event and donate to the goody bags, donating the tents for the cakes, t-shirts, water stations us such as Run4IT who sponsored the prizes. And each year new committee members have brought fresh ideas and suggestions to keep OUTrun exciting and fun.

*Runners wearing 2015 edition GFR t-shirts and a 2015 edition red OUTrun t-shirt.*

The first OUTrun

We had about 200 runners at the first run.

The weather was cool, but dry, so ideal for a run. I wish this was always the case, in later years we dealt with course flooding, dinosaurs and locked gates, but the first year ran smoothly. The only hiccup was that we learnt that giving out bibs was very time consuming and started a little late because of this.

We invited GFR founding members, Kevin Boyle and Gordon Munro, to start the race off. Eric Baster cycled at the front to guide the FrontRunners along the route, and Mike Wilkie and Gordon acted as backrunners making sure that everybody finished safely.

We had a cake stall, bag drop off, OUTrun t-shirts, along with fruit and water, on the path between the bandstand and start/finish line. We did the prize giving on the bandstand where the winners got a gift voucher from Run4It and a bottle of fizz.

Again, we hadn’t planned this and I found myself with a list of winners and a stack of prizes to give out, but no one else from the committee to help. Thankfully, Mike Wilkie was on hand and I was so grateful when he agreed to help give out the prizes – it was pretty scary up on the stage by yourself.

There was also no microphone in the first year and I have a quiet voice, so remember having to shout so loudly I lost my voice! Having access to the bandstand is so special and being able to invite runners on to the stage for the OUTrun photo has become iconic.

There are so many elements to OUTrun that make it so special and enjoyable for everyone involved.

Finally, for the whole build up to the event I just remember feeling hugely anxious. I was scared it would be a disaster, that we would bankrupt the club, nobody would turn up. I didn’t imagine it being as successful as it was and still running 10 years later. It wasn’t until after the event, looking back at the photos, that I actually realised how well it went and what GFR had achieved.

I’m really proud of what we did.

The OUTrun party

After the run, we knew that everyone would want to party, so organised an event as well. When GFR had visited Newcastle and Manchester for their runs, the social aspect of meeting members from other clubs was a big part of the experience.

We wanted a party to celebrate the club’s 5th Birthday, but we also wanted to play host and really make our guests feel welcome from visiting FrontRunner clubs. We hired the Tron theatre for dinner so everyone could join us for a meal, a birthday cake to celebrate the club’s 5th birthday, and a social event, which was a pub quiz. It was a way of making sure that everyone felt welcome to join us, whether or not they were in GFR or another FR club, or part of a large group of friends, or by themselves, we wanted it to be inclusive to all.

It was a nice venue and central for city centre pubs and clubs. The pub quiz was very competitive, but on hindsight was not the best decision. There weren’t enough tables and we couldn’t socialise whilst quizzing, and because there was so many people arriving, ordering dinner, we started the quiz late by which time the quiz master got drunk and belligerent with the teams!

Still, it was good fun and enjoyable. But, when Jill Leavey joined the club for the ‘Couch to 5k’ programme and told me that she played fiddle in a ceilidh band, the next year, we asked her if her band would organise the ceilidh, which was far more successful.

We held it again at the Tron, but we realised that we’d outgrown this venue and the following 2 years held it at St Andrews in the Square. The OUTrun ceilidh has become a real event on the FrontRunner calendar and succeeded in bring people together to celebrate GFR and the FrontRunner community.

I’m so proud that 10 years later this is still happening and bringing so much joy to GFR and our FrontRunner family.