'We're running to help break mental health stigma'

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."

Jacob, 26, who works as a joiner, said men often avoided talking about their mental health because of the stigma surrounding it.

"[We] try to help people but sometimes we fall victim to not speaking about it ourselves," he said.

"You beat yourself up internally that [you] should be OK, when sometimes it is OK not to be OK."

Bradley, a store manager, said running as part of a group helped people feel comfortable with sharing what was on their mind.

"It brings us together," he said. "I haven't struggled in the past, but it's meant that I've come together to support my friends in a way that I wouldn't have previously."

The group attracts between 20 and 50 people each week.

Bradley recalled a regular attendee arriving at a session "in a bundle of tears".

He said she left "with a smile on her face" after the session, and the positive feedback from members was "very rewarding and uplifting".

Radek added: "I don't think it's always about just opening up. I think sometimes it's about turning up, getting active and feeling a part of something bigger."

Quantity surveyor Elliot Shearwood and estate agent Tommy Johnson are among the group's regular members.

"If I have a busy, stressful day at work, I get into the running session and forget about it straight away," Elliot, 28, said.

"When you finish the session, that dopamine release [feels] different."

Tommy, 31, added: "I'm a massive advocate of running anyway, but being able to do it with friends makes a huge difference.

"If you're doing it on your own, it can be a bit of a lonely place sometimes."

The group is not exclusive to men and is open to anyone who wants to join.

Emergency nurse Amber Roberts and wedding singer Xanthe Legaspi are among those who attend every week.

"It's massively helped me," Xanthe, 26, said. "Even when you don't feel like you're down, it does just put a spring in your step.

"When you're running around the track, it opens up a conversation that you might not have had."

Amber, 25, added: "It's definitely made it feel a lot easier to talk to people... It makes it feel less daunting to have those conversations."

The group regularly shares updates from its runs on social media and welcomes new members every week.

Bradley said: "There is a community out there that can involve you, whether it's us [or] whether it's someone else."

Radek added: "You don't have to suffer alone... you never are alone."

If you have been affected by any of the issues in this story, help and support is available at BBC Action Line.

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