The Peldon Rose run club has gained momentum, and members!

By Alan Jamieson, Chief Operating Officer, Peldon Rose.

I’ve worked at Peldon Rose for over 20 years and was very much not what you’d call “a runner”. There were runners within the team and somehow, about five years ago, a colleague persuaded me to enter a half marathon. A few expletives and lots of training later, I found myself crossing the finish line of the Eastbourne Half Marathon, albeit with jelly legs but a newfound hobby.

Fast forward a couple of years, and we have the Peldon Rose run club. Supported by the wonderful Strava and a highly competitive, banter driven WhatsApp group, we have regular runs every Wednesday, and have entered a variety of 5k,10k, half’s, marathons, triathlons, Tough Mudder – you name it, we’re in.

The team has changed over the past 20 years…

My journey at Peldon Rose started as a mechanical and electrical project engineer - back then we were a quarter of the size we are today. I can tell you everything you need to know about the fan coil unit system we installed into Moo, and now as COO, if you ask me what I love about Peldon Rose it’s the people and our culture that makes us truly unique to work with and for.

The impact of Coronavirus on team culture

The impact of COVID-19 on all businesses is challenging and at the forefront is the question; how do we maintain our culture and employee engagement – virtually?

Running has helped me keep a clear head addressing the daily new challenges that are presented to us. Mental health is a subject which has a lot of stigma attached to it, and considering the current situation we’re all experiencing, it’s becoming even more important to find your own outlet. Using our PR Runners group is another way to stay connected with a large majority of the team daily.

There are many practices to support mental health, exercise is one of them. It’s key to many aspects of our wellbeing, combining this with communicating with remote colleagues is a double win.
Keeping PR Runners going - virtually

When the majority of the team started working remotely, we communicated through our daily internal communications channels that the run club was still in existence, and has seen many of our team dust off the old running shoes, and even go out and buy a new pair!

We’ve set up a Strava leaderboard and are actively encouraging each other to be involved, Cheerleading one an another to remain competitive in a comradeship type way. Surprisingly, it’s taken very little to maintain the momentum we had pre-Coronavirus impact and we’ve had an increase of people asking to join. The connectivity within the group spreads smiles onto many faces.

I’m really proud to see so many of our team involved in the NHS Charities fundraiser ‘Run 5. Donate 5. Nominate 5.’ – raising towards an incredible goal.

It’s a challenging time, I’m missing the hustle and bustle of the office, but we’ve remained connected, via technology and tarmac! As soon as we can hit the road together again, it’ll be epic. And I’ll probably have to pick the pace up!