Since then his running as a way of not only getting physically fit but also to get some space for himself away from daily struggles of life “headspace” as he calls it. Scott is now a real advocate for awareness of mental health difficulties especially in men.

Following on from this personal achievement and his enjoyment of running returning in 2020 he was diagnosed with Parkinsons disease and the medication floored him for about 3 months, so along came his good friend and running advocate again who he says “picked me up, helped me dust myself off, get my trainers back on and slowly got me back into running” not only on his own but with a group in Chesterfield. This was something he really enjoyed (which actually surprised him) and started to “help him back to a good physical and emotional healthy place”.  After this he then joined Rogue Runners as they “were open to everyone and thought I might give it a try”, so he did just that and says he has never looked back with his first ever run being the Friday Fun Bus led by Beki through the fields of Denby on a hot sunny Friday evening where he was made to feel like he “belonged”. 

In his words “the pure positive energy, support and encouragement of the Rogues (and my other running group) and everyone in it from the Leaders and Co-Leaders to each individual person is what drove me to be where I am now”. So by way of wanting to give back to the two groups for what they have given to him and to ‘pay it forward’ he chose to complete the run co-leader training in the Autumn of 2021 and then onto the Leadership in Running Fitness course (leaders training to everyone else!) which he completed in January 2022. As such he is now qualified and able to “support and encourage others to get out and enjoy running no matter their ability”. Scott says he is “by no-way the fastest or fittest of runners and leaders but what I am is eager to learn, get better myself and even more importantly is able to support others on their running journey no matter their individual starting points or reasons to start”.

So what running does he do now? Scott now runs at least four times a week, volunteers most Saturdays at parkrun and Sundays at Junior parkrun in Shipley Country Park where he is a Run Director of both events and yes you will get fed up of him going on about it but does genuinely love parkrun including running the Shipley parkrun course despite “our little ‘incline’ or ‘reverse decent!’”. Scott started to compete in races properly last year that included both virtual races but also the Derby and Bolsover 10K races (he loves a bit of bling and a free T-Shirt!). He also has planning to complete an event/race every month this year (already completing the Sherwood Pines 10K in January and the virtual Platinum Jubilee half marathon in February 2022) including an Ultra marathon of 100km in July called Race to the Stones – despite not even running a half or full marathon yet!!