Susan Wheatcroft – The Founder of Virtual Runner UK

Hi, I’m Susan, the founder of Virtual Runner UK – the original virtual racing organisation – where we motivate people to move more whilst earning rewards and raising money for charity.

The idea for Virtual Runner UK came about when I was very new into my running journey. I had completed my very first half marathon; my local Robin Hood 13.1-miler. I absolutely loved it, the buzz I got from earning a medal was something else! I then went on to do some other local events and that buzz remained.Then we hit winter and the ability to race disappeared – there were no live races!
I was really missing the motivation of having a goal to work towards so I decided to create my own event where people could compete against each other (and themselves!) to earn a reward.My very first event was in January 2014 and we had a little over 300 participants. Shortly after, I created the Virtual Runner concept, I also got a charity London Marathon place so this is where the charity element came in.Fast-forward almost eight years and Virtual Runner is now multi-award winning and has sent thousands of medals and rewards to motivated individuals all over the world!

The charity fundraising total now sits at over £600,000, which has been raised through the entry fees for lots of amazing causes.I am personally still running, my favourite type of running is Canicross (running with my dog) in the trails and woods near my home in Nottingham.So, I do practice what I preach, and even after all these years I still get the buzz from challenging myself and earning medals. Virtual Runner UK has been working with the great team at Scimitar Sports for a number of years now. I really love their products and ethos – many of the values in line with my own organisation.

They have some amazing fun designs in the Funky ranges and I am so impressed with the quality of the products made from recyclable materials. If you like the idea of Virtual Runner, please do give us a follow on social media – you might also be lucky enough to win one of our competition prizes.

Follow Susan/Virtual Runner UK on Instagram or Twitter. You can also join the Facebook Group.