Colin Johnson helped to set up VI Runners Bristol seven years ago after he started guiding a friend who is completely blind and realising the difference running made for his friend.
Since then, a Facebook group was started which now has over 700 members, including Rob who is registered as severely sight impaired and has partial hearing.
Rob has been running for nine years and last year took part in his first marathon in London last year with help from VI Runners Bristol.
Since then, a Facebook group was started which now has over 700 members, including Rob who is registered as severely sight impaired and has partial hearing.
Rob has been running for nine years and last year took part in his first marathon in London last year with help from VI Runners Bristol.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Hi, I'm Rob from Cheltenham, 42 years old. I'm registered, severely sight impaired, and I have partial hearing, and I've been running for nearly nine years now.
00:17Hi, and I'm Colin Johnson from Bristol, and I help set up VI Runners Bristol, which helps start the Bristol 10K VI Challenge race.
00:28Can you tell us a bit about the VI Runners?
00:33The VI Runners Bristol has been going for about seven years now, and it was when I started guiding a friend of mine who's blind, completely blind, and I realised what a difference running made to him.
00:48And I thought, wouldn't it be a great idea if I could get a group of trained guides, and then we could go to the Royal Society for the Blind and say, look, we can do a couch to 5K.
01:00And that's how it started. We got that group together, and we've now got over 700 people on the Facebook group who are both guides and visually impaired people.
01:11And we meet once a week in Bristol, and from there, people have started running who'd never run before, and have gone on to do their own marathons, and even some of them doing an ultra.
01:23And Rob, he's from VI Runners Bristol as well. And you did your first marathon last year, Rob. Did you want to say about that?
01:32Yeah, I did my first London marathon last year. With Stephanie, who's from living in London, and Colin, who's stood next to me now.
01:48Yep.
01:50And how has the experience been so hard for you, Rob, from joining the Bristol VI Runners and taking part in the Bristol Great Run?
02:00It's always, like, really kind of busy. But the atmosphere is electric. I've never, like, kind of top of the pile. I'm always kind of in the middle.
02:17But I've always enjoyed it. I've always pushed myself to the limit. I've always been around 60 to 65 minutes.
02:32And I'll be looking to go for about, I don't know, I could probably get around 60 minutes, just under, maybe this year, I think.
02:45And the Great Run Company, I think they're really, you know, setting the barrier high for inclusivity.
02:56They're one of the only businesses and running companies in the UK, and they were the first to pioneer the VI Challenge race, the 10k VI Challenge race.
03:07And I think, you know, really they should be applauded for their, you know, desire for inclusivity.
03:13It's a fantastic thing that they're doing, encouraging anyone with sight loss to be taking part.