A RUNNING club continues to go 'from strength to strength' while celebrating its 40th birthday.

Hereford Couriers are not letting the current lockdown restrictions get in the way of their birthday celebration plans.

The club was formed in 1981 by a group of postworkers, just as the national running boom was taking off.

The prime mover for the club was Derek Davies, a postman who found that he was not the only Hereford postie whose legs still had a bit of spare capacity after completing his round.

A ‘closed’ club was created to begin with and took its name from its members’ occupation and was known originally as “The Couriers”, an especially apt handle given that ‘courier’ derives from the Latin word meaning ‘to run’.

However, it was not long before, with the incorporation of running members of the SAS and from across the city resulted in the club becoming ‘open’ and adopted its present name Hereford Couriers,

Through the nineties and 2000’s the club promoted a number of successful local events including a 5k series.

Along with road running, cross-country and multi-terrain races gradually became more popular within the club.

Over the past few years, the club has continued to go 'from strength to strength' as the popularity of running continues and has seen the club's membership increase year on year.

Hereford Cour continued to support the local running community during lockdown with the 'keep Herefordshire Running Initiative' and supporting St Michael’s Hospice by hosting 'Virtually Running Hereford'.

This year the club plan to reintroduce the five-kilometre series after the successful launching the former New Year's Day race as the Christmas 10k along with introducing the annual 5k charity race in memory of former Courier Jon Ward with other races in the pipeline.

The club have announce the return to racing this Spring further to the latest government advice and following the England Athletics guidance the three-race 5k series will return around the new super-quick Bobblestock route.

Over 400 entries have been received. For more information visit: https://www.entrycentral.com/Hereford-5K-series

Club secretary Jon Edwards said: "40 years is an incredible milestone and we’re all looking forward to celebrating this year with our members after what has been a tough year for so many, the club is going from strength to strength. It’s an honour and a privilege to be part of it."