You rock! Horsham Joggers keep on running - and raise mental health awareness

Have rocks, will travel - three of the Horsham Joggers who led the relay

England Athletics’ RunAndTalk initiative has been set-up to spread mental health awareness through clubs up and down the country.

Split into three teams, Horsham, Southwater and Broadbridge Heath, runners took it in turns to carry their team’s rock on a walk or run, then hide it and leave a description for the next team member to collect.

The teams kept a record of the locations and distance the three rocks had travelled via a closed social media group, which also provided an opportunity for engagement among runners taking part.

Just some of the pictures taken during the relay

It included photos, encouragement and some friendly competition between the teams.

During the eight days the rocks were constantly on the move with Southwater keeping their rock travelling from 6am on Friday until the challenge ended at 2pm Sunday, including a 38-mile night-time ultra marathon from Gary Tomlinson, and a 20-mile night hike from team members Phil Liberman and

Claire Miller. Marathon distances were also run by Ian Dickson and Andy Robins.

Over the course of the challenge the three teams accumulated an enormous 1680 miles, with Southwater accounting for more than 700 of those (averaging over 85 miles per day), and an incredible 435 from the much smaller team in Broadbridge Heath, who averaged over 8.5 miles for each journey their rock went on.

Horsham had the biggest team of the three, with more than 40 runners getting involved.

At the end, runners were asked to make a donation to West Sussex Mind, in recognition of their mental health services to the area, which has now raised over £700.

For more information on Horsham Joggers and their mental health team, please see the club website www.horshamjoggers.co.uk and search for RunAndTalk.