Temple Newsam Leeds: Crossgate Harriers running club launches Crowdfunder to raise money to fix running track

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A running club in Leeds is raising money to repair a well-used running track.

Runners of Crossgates Harriers have been gathering once a month for more than a year to repair the running track at Temple Newsam.

It was secretary Richard Whitehouse who had approached Leeds City Council and Temple Newsam about the running track being unfit for purpose and offered to help raise the estimated £26,000 to £30,000 it would take to upgrade the facility.

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The club, which has about 150 runners, was then joined by running club St Theresa’s shortly after it started repairs.

Runners of Crossgate Harriers and St Theresa's are repairing the Temple Newsam running track. Photo: Crossgate Harriers Runners of Crossgate Harriers and St Theresa's are repairing the Temple Newsam running track. Photo: Crossgate Harriers
Runners of Crossgate Harriers and St Theresa's are repairing the Temple Newsam running track. Photo: Crossgate Harriers | Crossgate Harriers

Richard explained: “I said [to the council], ‘we'd like to offer to help as a running club to improve it, do what we can, we'll volunteer’. We run on it. It's a free facility and we wanted to give a little bit back. And as a running club, we started doing it.

“We've got a long way to go. We've got a lot to do. It's a big project.”

Richard said he worries that if such free facilities are not cared for now, they may cease to exist. He added: “We've made a big difference to how it looks. but just to how it looks. At the moment, it needs a new track. “It's costing us a little bit of time every month to go down but it's quite enjoyable. You go down, you just do a bit, you make a difference.

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“It's nice to see the improvements, but to do it properly, it needs the surface doing because it's got potholes in it.”

The support runners have shown to the cause has been great, Richard said. He added: “People are bringing their kids to help.

The two running clubs in Leeds have launched a Crowdfunder to help the council and Temple Newsam repair the track. Photo: Crossgate Harriers The two running clubs in Leeds have launched a Crowdfunder to help the council and Temple Newsam repair the track. Photo: Crossgate Harriers
The two running clubs in Leeds have launched a Crowdfunder to help the council and Temple Newsam repair the track. Photo: Crossgate Harriers | Crossgate Harriers

“It's not like a full day's work or anything like that. There's 15 to 20 people coming down on a Saturday morning for two hours each. It's nice. You get stuck in, it's weird. You're chatting away while you're doing it. 

“If we did it in July, I'm thinking, we need to be back in August. I think, ‘I'll put another shout out, but people are not going to come because they've done it and I'm asking them too often’, but every time that, there's always been a good number.

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“We know we can organise volunteer mornings and do a bit, but the hardest part is raising the fundraising.”

Crossgates Harriers run sessions on the Temple Newsam track every Monday at 6.30pm. Find out more information about the running club via its social media channels and its Crowdfunder via the official page.

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