Local runners gear up for annual memorial run

The five mile Ollie Johnson Memorial Run will take place in Kintbury on Sunday, June 5

LOCAL runners in West Berkshire are busy preparing for the Ollie Johnson Memorial Run in Kintbury next month.

The five mile run around Inkpen and Kintbury takes place from 10.30am on Sunday, June 5, with smaller fun runs for children starting at the Kintbury recreation ground, behind the Jubilee Centre, at 10am.

The annual run raises money for Kintbury Tennis Club and the Ollie Johnson Memorial Fund to provide extra coaching and equipment for young athletes in memory of the Kintbury teenager who died in a car accident on his way to school in December 2005.

The 18-year-old John O'Gaunt pupil had been a keen athlete and member of both Newbury Athletics Club and Kintbury Tennis Club and shortly after his death, the major memorial run was organised in his memory.

Up to 300 people are expected to take part in the event this year, all of whom will receive mementos at the finish, with various prizes for the different age categories, including the special Ollie Johnson memorial shield for the first person under the age of 21 to finish the course.

Entry fee is £8 in advance or £6 for members of affiliated athletics clubs, while entry will be £10 on the day, depending on availability of spaces.

For more information and entry forms, click on the link below or call David Wright on 01488 657133.