Brothers and Sisters,
It’s midway through January ’22 and it’s been about 9 months since we fired off the starter’s pistol on the JSF Runners’ social pages to begin the journey of the club formed to pay tribute to a “Punk Rock Warlord” (who liked to run a bit). Unreal!
It has been 9 months of fun, running, music, learning, giving and community. It’s been amazing. We’ve seen posts illustrating support, victories, setbacks, comebacks and running rebirths, fast runs, slow runs, long runs, short runs, races, runs in all sorts of weather and on all sorts of beautiful landscapes, personal triumphs, music and laughs. And on top of that, we haven’t had to banish anyone from the page or slap anyone for being unfriendly. Cheers to all of that! We should all be proud of what we’ve become together. We thank you all for being a part of JSF Runners. As Joe Strummer famously said, “Without people you’re nothing.” And we have to say, that that is our “spiel” too. We thank you.
With our Punk Rock Run on Joe’s birthday this past August, we were able to raise a nice donation for our friends at WAYout Arts in Sierra Leone. You are making a difference in people’s lives and in this world through running!
We have big plans for JSF Runners in ’22. In addition to working on setting up charity relationships with some big, global races, and continuing to support you along the way, we have organized a set of club runs to commemorate album release dates and other dates of importance to Joe and The Clash. Here is a preview:
- March 5th – Club Run 5k – Something just to get us all moving
- W/e 8th & 9th April – JSF Runners 8K Dash to celebrate the release of ‘The Clash’ (released 8th April 1977)
- W/e 14th & 15th May – Combat Rock Run -14k to celebrate the release of Combat Rock (14th May 1979)
- W/e 23rd & 24th July – Global A Go-Go Punk Rock Run – 24k to celebrate the release of Global A Go-Go (24th July 2001) try and get JSF Runners all over the world on this
And of course, August 21st – Joe Strummer Birthday Run – Our Annual Running Fundraiser for the JSF – Distance TBD
As ever, these runs are for fun & being part of a team, to celebrate inclusivity, equality & diversity – all welcome and no pressure, just give us what you got…. and smile.
We will add more later to get us through the year. Yes, “the future is unwritten”, but this should be enough to get you ready and moving.
Lastly, we know that it’s a tough time for many and asking for donations all of the time isn’t something that we want to be doing all of the time. We will say though that purchasing the JSF merch is a great way to help the foundation. You’ll look really good representing JSF Runners and the foundation. And the proceeds go to helping JSF’s endeavours worldwide, you can’t go wrong. Check all that out here: https://joe-strummer-foundation.backstreetmerch.com/
Thank you again for your running, support and dedication to JSF Runners and friendship!
Brian & Jamie
