As an established club we're delighted to see how the running scene has grown in recent years along with the increase in local running clubs. So with all these clubs, all friends of ours and all rightly proud of their unique identity, why choose us? Well, from our simple beginnings our club has also grown - not just in numbers but in every way - and we believe we're now so much more than just a running club, but please read on and decide for yourself.
We were established in 1988 with our roots in the Charity fund-raising Boxing Day fun run, an annual event still hosted by us and which has now raised thousands for Martin House Hospice, Forget me not Hospice, Candlelighters and other children's charities.
Those charitable roots are now firmly embedded in our DNA – A large proportion of all the funds we raise through our races is donated to Overgate, amounting to around £100,000 over the years. We raise funds for local search and rescue teams and many others. We are proud of our “Golden Brick” in the Forget me Not celebration wall. Even in lock down year with no races taking place we found ways to raise over £10,000 while still enjoying our running. We include charity races and events organised by neighbouring clubs in our Championship, they may not always be PB courses but a large turnout of Lions hopefully ensures them a healthy profit. We love our running and if we can help someone at the same time, let's do it!
We've always believed running is for anybody and everybody, whether you've never run before or you're a runner looking to improve. We have around 300 members, some do 17 minute Parkruns and some do 37 minute Parkruns. We have runners who have just completed their first 5K and ultra runners who have completed the Marathon de Sable and the 268 mile Pennine Way Spine race. All are equal Lions with a shared love of running, our club and all that we do. We're affiliated to England Athletics for road running, fell running and cross-country, we're also affiliated to the Yorkshire Veterans Athletics Association and the West Yorkshire Winter League, fielding large teams in both.
We have five EA qualified coaches leading weekly road, track, hill and off-road sessions and speed groups to suit all with a choice of six sessions a week from three different venues. See our Training Page for further details. These groups are led by one of our 24 EA qualified run leaders or a registered “Competent Runner”. We have a road and trail race championship and a fell race championship, some members enter none, some enter one, some enter both, no pressure - it's all up to you.
That's the charity, that's the running, but that's definitely not all there is to life as a Lion - Because our social team work every bit as hard as our coaches! Besides our annual Awards dinner, Christmas dinner, Christmas party for the kids, Summer fete for all the family and so on we have “away runs” every month from pubs around the area, we have Bier Keller outings, weekends away, random nights out and join in with the Heath social side for quizzes etc. One of the many benefits of being a Lion is the use of the superb Heath clubhouse for private parties and functions. We socialise as much as we run and we also take care of our pride. We never leave a lion behind. Check us out on Facebook and if you want to give us a try just contact any one of the committee and let us know you're coming along so we can look out for you and introduce ourselves.
Stainland Lions Constitution - February 2018
Stainland Lions Privacy Notice - April 2018
Stainland Lions GDPR Policy - June 2018