The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
The Yaxley Runners and Joggers club was built on solid foundations
Yaxley Runners and Joggers were formed on 13 May 1986, when 15 fitness-oriented villagers attended a meeting at Yaxley Church of England Primary school.
Originally a small village club their membership is now well into three figures thanks partly to a considerable surge in the population of their catchment area.
Although they attract runners from across the Peterborough region, their main hunting grounds are Yaxley and Hampton.
When the club was formed the area which became Hampton was mainly abandoned brickworks, and, fittingly, the club has been built on solid foundations which have seen them grow and flourish over the 35 years of their existence.
Among the 15 founder members were Steve and Christine Humphries.
Christine Humphries was chair for the first two years before filling the role of secretary for the next 11.
Steve Humphries stepped up from vice-chairman to chairman in 1988, a role which he carried out for seven years.
The current chairman Gary Thurgood took over from Gavin Farrow in 2017.
During his five year stint Farrow, along with his wife Tracy, set up a junior section which is now thriving and has produced talented runners such as Abbie Branston, Joe Wright and Ben Wright.
The original base was Yaxley Cricket Club’s pavillion but the club have had their headquarters in Hampton since 2002.
Yaxley promote themselves as a family friendly club with all abilities welcome, but one constant over recent years has been the excellence of their senior and veteran ladies.
In 2019 a trio of Kayleigh Draper, Ros Loutit and Gina Crane were the winning team at the Folksworth 15, and the club were senior ladies winners of the Green Wheel Relay and the Oundle 20 in both 2018 & 2019
Kayleigh Draper led them home at Oundle on each occasion.
She was joined on the podium by Claire Piercy amd Sue Harlow in 2018 and Gina Crane and Louise Hathaway in 2019.
In 2020 they were Sublime Winter 10k ladies team winners thanks to Abbie Branston, Lesley Coles and Carry Murphy.
In addition veteran Sharon Toms has 10 marathons under her belt with a best time of 3:33.47 set in Manchester in 2019 while Caroline Woods clocked 1:28.21 in the 2019 Market Harborough Half Marathon. Thirty yearold former GB triathlete Abi Schofield has recently joined the Yaxley ranks. Abi has competed at European and World events for her country.
James Mogridge has been the most successful male runner at Yaxley, and had his best year in 2016 when winning bronze with a 1:14.31 clocking at the Milton Keynes Half Marathon.
Mogridge ran a marathon personal best of 2:36.22 when finishing 202nd in the London Marathon in the same year.
Two members, Ian Vallance and Dean Longman, are members of the 100 marathon club for runners who have completed a century of the long-distance races.