Recovery Runners Community was born in January 2021 when two runners from Leeds, Dean Smith, and Jamie Heselden, came up with the idea of introducing a small group of people in recovery from drugs and alcohol to the benefits of running.

Since then, the Community has grown and achieved local and national recognition, officially launching as a running community in Leeds on 1st August 2021.

Although Dean and Jamie use running in their own recovery from alcohol addiction, Recovery Runners Community welcomes anyone who is curious about, or uses, the benefits of running to recover from and manage life changing events or addictive behaviours including substance addiction, gambling, disordered eating, and mental health issues amongst others.

The team working with Dean and Jamie have all been impacted by some of these issues, either personally, or through supporting friends or family.

Running is the glue that holds them together, and they offer friendship, fun, and a non-judgemental running community for all.

They aim to ‘heal souls with soles’ and strongly believe there should be no barriers to this. They supply donated kit and trainers to those that need a start..

Contact: recoveryrunners21@gmail.com to find out more or ask any questions.