Four men have launched a running group to honour their late friend and to break the stigma surrounding men’s mental health.
Bradley Hardy, Eimard Legaspi, Radek Kogut and Jacob Lidgett founded Miles That Matter after losing their friend Jake to suicide.
The group meets twice a week in Lincoln for runs, with the aim of creating a space where people feel comfortable talking about their feelings.
Bradley, 27, said: “I feel like it’s created a closer atmosphere and a closer-knit group [after] that tragic loss.”
Jake died at the end of last year and the friends launched the club in March because running was one of his passions.
Paid for out of their own pockets, they host sessions every Wednesday evening at Yarborough Leisure Centre Track as well as a social run from a different coffee shop in the city each Sunday.
“We used to go down to Yarborough track and do normal sessions,” Eimard, 28, said. “So I thought we’d carry on with his memory.”
Radek, 27, added: “Running was a way that we connected… It was a way we stuck together, socialised.”