Tom & Siobhan

When travelling across South East Asia at the age of 24, we were sitting in a park in Bangkok and we noticed countless runners running in poor footwear. As Siobhan had previously worked in a sport shop doing Gait Analysis, we discussed the issue with beginner runners not wearing the correct footwear and niggly injuries becoming a barrier to their progression. Which was when we decided to open up our own Gait Analysis business called Improve on the Move in 2017 when we returned home.

During our appointments we soon realised that there was a huge demand for beginner runners to join a group, however, they did not have the confidence to start a traditional running group.

We therefore decided to take the plunge and start Improve on the Move Runners, which would be completely open to all abilities including walkers.

Fast forward a few years and we have had approximately 500 runners join us throughout that time.

We have got great satisfaction seeing many of our beginners go from couch to half or even full marathon with the help and support of the entire group and our fantastic group leaders.

We consider running to only be a small part of our group, with the social side being equally important, which is why our runners love a bit of craic over tea/coffee following our runs.

We mainly run in Armagh City, where it is hard to avoid a hill. Our big goal for the future is to open a social space where runners can gather before and after runs to provide an outlet to support runners with mental health as well as their physical health.