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For The Animals

For The Animals

April 19, 2023 0

Vegan Runners UK has many talented and energetic members.  It is such a great organisation to represent and to be a participant.  Whether it be repping, establishing or supporting an animal sanctuary, orchestrating animal rescue, fund raising, protests & marches, marketing vegan foods, running vegan cafes, winning events, producing a vegan documentary, setting national records, winning prestigious medals, debating on TV, making presentations to schools, producing a Youtube channel or many other forms of advocacy –you are all just amazing! Below is someone on a mission that influences the transformation towards plant-based diets from a different direction with the prospect of making an enormous impact. Shortly after the March newsletter was issued this member responded: “it was great to see the article on vegan dogs!  I’m actually the researcher behind some of the key studies cited/described…” That second point is a significant understatement, the respondent has made animal advocacy his career as well as shaping his personal life.  This Vegan Runner is a Professor of Animal Welfare & Ethics.  This club member is Founding Director of the University of Winchester Centre for Animal Welfare.  Professor Andrew Knight has a long list of credentials, awards, publications, and media appearances.  To list them here would take several paragraphs, so here’s an excellent summary – links to various media are provided at the end of this article. Andrew grew up in Perth, Western Australia and became a vegetarian aged 8 (after his parents gave him a book about baby animals) and became a vegan at 23.  Whilst working with charities and initiatives focused on human welfare, he observed that the extent of animal suffering in the human food industry was in orders of magnitude higher than human suffering.  Australia’s live sheep exports was an initial motivator.  So, his compassion and energy became reorientated.  He became a vet with the purpose of improving animal welfare and was a practicing vet for nearly 10 years before moving to academia. Professor Knight has recently been putting the final touches to the end of two years of latest research.   This ground-breaking study on the Environment Impacts of Pet Food is now undergoing review for publication in a scientific journal later this year. In this study Andrew has calculated that the population of kept dogs and cats globally equals ~ 10% of human population and the food energy savings resulting simply from feeding all kept dogs a nutritionally sound vegan diet, would be sufficient to feed hundreds of millions of people.  Impacts on land use, water use and climate change would also be very significant.  In the attainment of NetZero, vegan pet food is a necessity and it’s also a very near-term practicality.  In one of Andrew’s interviews a fascinating discussion contemplates pet owners being swayed to plant-based diets after observing the beneficial impacts on their own pets. Racing Andrew having fun leading the 45:00 pacing pack during the Southampton 10 km race, 02 Apr. 2024 Somehow, he finds time to lace up and race.  Sunday 2nd April was a big marathon day for many members.  There was Brighton, Southampton, the Great Welsh as well as some half marathons including London Landmarks.  Due to a 7-day-a-week effort to complete the research combined with the University workload Andrew’s training was severely constrained in the recent months – so the Southampton 10 km event was a sensible choice. Andrew achieved a more than respectable ~44 minutes placing him 7th in his V50 category – out of 212 – a performance he justifiably attributed to his quality vegan diet. Andrew has been a strong (if unconventional) runner for most of his life.  In his 20s in Australia his two-person team won a 24-hour Australia Rogaine, covering ~ 100 km whilst navigating highly challenging terrain.  His team stopped only once, for 10 minutes at dusk on the first day to don head torches and night gear.  Even their meals were taken on the move.  He’s been placed strongly in many other interesting events and enthusiastically shares amusing stories of his numerous misadventures with any audiences – if given half a chance. The Extreme Vegan Sporting Association Andrew led what might be the first all-vegan team ( which he liked to jokingly call the ‘Extreme Vegan Sporting Association’ ) to complete the Three Peaks Challenge in 2009 which is reported  here.  The following year the team successfully completed the Vegan 15 Peaks Challenge which is recorded here.  This may also have been the first time all the 15 Welsh peaks above 3,000 feet were scaled within 24 hours by an all-vegan team (the second even comprised six men and two women).  As well as being plant powered for both their training and the challenge they relied solely on all-vegan boots and gear.  Carbon off-sets were purchased to help make both events as net neutral as practicable. The Vegan Team ascending Crib-Goch Due to some ‘navigational uncertainty’ one peak was scaled twice for good measure turning it into a ’16 peak’ event (possibly also the first time that has been done).  The amusing stories and photos from these events are well worth perusal. Sponsorship from both challenges raised funds for several animal charities. Vegan Society Podcast Around the date our March newsletter was published the Vegan society issued a podcast discussing companion animals and their diets.  Andrew was one of the two experts contributing to this podcast.  Anyone still doubtful about vegan dog food might want to listen to this one. Andrew covers all the points mentioned in the last newsletter and many more.  There are three key considerations for the pet food being 1) Nutritional soundness; 2) palatability and 3) digestibility.  All three factors are addressed in the range of leading vegan pet foods. It’s not logically valid to reject vegan cat or dog food on the basis that it is artificial.  Many pet owners fail to realise that meat-based cat and dog food is also nutritionally supplemented with additives.  As an example, take Taurine.  It’s an essential ingredient for cats – it’s naturally occurring in meat but is degraded by the processing (temperature), so Taurine must be added to meat-based food synthetically to compensate. So both vegan and meat-based cat food includes synthetic taurine. Sentientist Podcast On this YouTube channel Andrew explains his motivations and aspirations.  One message he relays in the introduction is that as activists and advocates we need to pace ourselves, to sustain energy and avoid burn-out and be in it for the long game.  We should also aspire ethically to be the best person we can be. This thought-provoking podcast encompasses a philosophical journey, an examination of the world from an altruist’s compassionate perspective.  From a vegan activists’ perspective, it advises that we strategically evaluate our choices for making an impact and align these with our skillset and opportunities. We learn in the podcast that meat-based dog food cannot be justified on the basis that it’s partly comprised of ‘animal by-products’.  The demand for such ‘by-products’ is high and thus it’s a driver for animal slaughter.  Therefore, purchases of meat-based dog food are driving demand for animal rearing and their slaughter.  Some meat-based producers boast of incorporating ‘human grade’ meat. It’s an irony that care for a pet has consequences in cruelty to animals reared to feed them. Furthermore, pet ownership growing is the developing world (associated with rising affluence). This makes pet food even more of an opportunity for vegan advocacy. In this interview Andrew explains that surveys of petfood purchasers (both cat and dog) have shown that a substantial minority would realistically be willing to consider alternatives to meat-based pet foods, if their concerns were met.  In order of priority, these are: – Pet health Nutritional Soundness Diet quality Diet palatability Environmental sustainability In fact, large scale surveys indicate that over one third of pet owners would realistically consider switching to plant-based pet food if these top concerns were met.  Amongst vegans, this rises to almost 80%.  It’s important for purchasers to understand that animals require certain nutrients, not meat or any other particular dietary ingredients. The podcast also discussed the research mentioned in the last newsletter (including the systematic review) and the long list of benefits arising from switching pets to plant based including the additional 18 month life span for dogs.  More favourable studies are expected to be published this year but there is no doubt about the benefits (including reduced itchy skin complaints and healthier body weight). The challenge today is not the lack of evidence but it’s the lack of awareness amongst pet owners.  And here lies an opportunity for all club members to spread the word.  When we take our vegan dogs to parkruns and engage in discussions with other dog owners – there is an opportunity.  Refer them to https://sustainablepetfood.info/  (it’s an easy one to remember). EAT YOUR OWN DOG FOOD?  We hear of an amusing anecdote: a producer of vegan pet food in the USA (from ‘Wild Earth’) consumed his own product on TV to demonstrate that it was high quality and even fit for human consumption, in contrast to the meat-based on alternative. Another argument against meat-based pet food is that it is NOT natural.  It is likely to include body parts that a pet would not ordinarily consume, as well as preservatives and unnatural, potentially hazardous additives. Andrew is justifiably hopeful that the over $9bn global vegan petfood industry is going to rapidly grow in the next few years with more vegan products appearing in supermarket shelves, as it has with meat alternatives in food for humans.  It’s a hugely exciting space which he feels privileged to be influencing. Andrew discusses the massive conflict of interest that is experienced by vets working in the intensive animal farming industry which echoed a haunting accounts of the pig industry by Alice Brough. In 2017 Andrew stood for parliamentary election for the Animal Welfare Party against Theresa May to raise awareness – an experience which he enjoyed. What Next? This is not the end of the story.  We can expect to hear more on Andrew’s initiatives and hopefully his running performances in future publications. In a few weeks or so we can expect a new study to be published in a scientific journal evidencing that cats fed vegan diets (these should always be nutritionally-sound) are healthier than conventional fed cats. Back to Running Someday Andrew would like to run the Welsh 15 peaks and return to more extreme adventures. Currently his workload gets in the way, but he does need to train for one event.  A few years back, advancing age caused him to set a goal of running a half-marathon on each birthday.  The first two years went ok but insufficient training last year resulted in significant and prolonged discomfort.  He has not trained this year either and his birthday is at the end of May, so training needs to start very soon… Links and References : – VeganFTA https://veganfta.com/2022/08/07/professor-andrew-knight-the-vegan-vet-who-is-truly-a-friend-of-all-animals/ Andrew’s Linkedin  https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-knight-409b7434/ Vegan Society Podcast https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-8mf9y-13c8ed3 Open-access (free) PDF Book – Routledge Handbook of Animal Welfare – (Andrew is Lead Editor) covers virtually all animal welfare issues and animal law in all major world regions, in thirty-six chapters written by 50 expert authors.  https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/oa-edit/10.4324/9781003182351/routledge-handbook-animal-welfare-andrew-knight-clive-phillips-paula-sparks Presentation on Dog (&Cat) Food – Darwin College Cambridge Lecture.  https://www.andrewknight.info/presentations/pet-food/ A collection of evidence concerning vegan pet food. https://sustainablepetfood.info/ YouTube paylist  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOzpV6VOlvsl5cCI2ZgqoziPUBhdJAcaL Vegan Peaks Challenge – www.vegan3peaks.info and   www.vegan15peaks.info

Press Release : Vegan Runner sets 4 new Welsh Ultra Running Records

Press Release : Vegan Runner sets 4 new Welsh Ultra Running Records

April 17, 2023 0

On Sunday 16th April 2023 Gareth Prichard won the 24 hour track event at Crawley completing 160.262 miles (257.9 kms) in 23:57:59.   This improved on his previous track PB of 246.9 km.   Gareth set 4 new Welsh records in this single event.   These are longest distance within 12 hours and 24 hours; the fastest times for 100 miles and 200k. Gareth expressed his delight at the achievement and gratitude to his support team lead by his partner Catherine and his trainer Anna Seeley (both of whom are also a Vegan Runners).  Gareth commented that his Welsh speaking father from north Wales and a life-long runner would be proud of his achievement. In 2019 Gareth competed for the second time in the Leeds Endure 24 event- but this time as a Vegan, winning with 135 miles and breaking the course record. In 2021 Gareth won the Hardmoors 160 Mile with a significant one hour and forty-two minute lead – an achievement which was featured in the ‘Vegan Runners UK’ September 2021 publication. Some fellow competitors and spectators at Crawley were heard expressing surprise and wondering if the vegan diet was an advantage.  With outstanding ultra running achievements by plant based runner Damian Hall and vegan Scott Jurek and the mounting evidence of plant based nutrition presented in the documentary film Game Changers at the very least there is no disadvantaged being 100% plant powered.  A broad range of successful vegan athletes are portrayed on the Great Vegan Athletes website.

TWO EUROPEAN GOLD MEDALS

TWO EUROPEAN GOLD MEDALS

April 1, 2023 0

Marianne and Lisa win gold medals for their category’s in the European Duathlon Championships Lisa Gawthorne competed in the sprint duathlon and Marianne Carpenter was in the standard event. The sprint event comprises a 5km run, 20km cycle, 2.5 km run – the standard event is double the distances for each the three sections. Lisa has been vegan since the ago of 6 and has been featured in our club magazine.  Marianne became Vegan in January and joined the club at the beginning of February.  Marianne explains “I went vegan this January while trying ‘Veganuary’ for a month, and I liked it so much, I stayed. I think it helps my athletic recovery time too, which is an unexpected bonus!” Both athletes are competing in the World Championships in Ibiza which kicks off 27th April.

Ultra Xmas effort for the animals

Ultra Xmas effort for the animals

December 8, 2022 0

On Winter Solstice (21st December) Sean Barrs and Rory Cockshaw will be running with other club members from sunrise until sunset in Bushy Park as a Christmas Run for Animals. Sean, Rory and others will be attempting to be as conspicuous as possible in accomplishing this endurance event to raise awareness – and funds – for animals this Christmas. They are each going to be running and maybe walking and crawling as far as they can between 8:05am and 3:54pm.  That’s a whole 7 hours and 49 mins. The team is keen to raise awareness for the 10 million turkeys that are slaughtered just for Christmas dinners.  These Turkeys will end their lives at between 9 and 21 weeks old yet their natural lifespan could be 10 years. An overwhelming majority of these turkeys are factory farmed and will never see the light of day, they will have no space to roam nor able express their natural behaviours. There is a mass murder event in the days leading up to Christmas which  omnivores, celebrating at their dinner tables, are oblivious. So this initiative seeks get maximum publicity and raise money for Viva!  And Sean (above) has a special hat for this occasion.  Rory will be wearing a turkey shaped hat. The runners have set themselves a target of £1,000. If you would like to support them on this ultramarathoning effort, you can do so here. Good luck to Rory and Sean and all others who will be supporting them. Some of the press coverage below :- In this first link Rory explains more fully his motivation for this initiative. https://www.ladbible.com/news/vegan-is-running-for-8-hours-to-honour-all-the-slaughtered-turkeys-212695-20221207 https://uk.news.yahoo.com/vegan-campaigner-run-dawn-dusk-070046079.html?guccounter=2 https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/vegan-run-from-dawn-dusk-28673710 https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/real-life/vegan-run-dawn-dusk-memory-25691748 https://viva.org.uk/get-involved/fundraise-with-team-viva/the-christmas-run-for-animals/?fbclid=IwAR1QmHVUvZXu_svV21Y_2QhYOecxIRzGgyn3cZg-_giU3xKNZJKZHFPWBzQ https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/real-life/vegan-run-dawn-dusk-memory-7902759?fbclid=IwAR0UyePYUOqvd3yNvFnBxFK86F208jOEneL9mCnwZ41AevhJYf6v4uMsnbA      

Member appears on BBC local news in club kit

Member appears on BBC local news in club kit

November 25, 2022 0

Anyone who has read Fiona Oakes’ Running For Good might recall when being prepped for a prime time TV interview about her international running achievements the producer asked that she didn’t mention the ‘V’ word.  But she went ahead and mentioned the V word anyway 😊 Recently a club member, Adrian Pope, was interviewed for the BBC South East lunchtime news concerning a football exhibition that celebrates the life and legacy of Isaac Newell who was an inspiration for football in Argentina. There is a club called “Club Atlético Newell’s Old Boys”  in Rosario, Santa Fe in Argentina. That club was founded on 3 November 1903, and is named after Isaac Newell of the English county of Kent, one of the pioneers of Argentine football. When working in Argentina twenty years ago, Adrian, a Gillingham FC fan watched a Newell’s Old Boys football match and became curious about the English-sounding name of the club and did some research.   Over the last two decades, Adrian has campaigned for the story of Isaac Newell to be told. So, Adrian was a logical choice to interview for the BBC local news coverage of the opening of the exhibition. Adrian chose to wear the Vegan Runners club’s race day jacket for the interview (naturally).    It’s no surprise to some of us that the BBC asked that Adrian take off his race-day club jacket but he refused and compromised just a little by unzipping it slightly. So did the BBC then deliberately take the club name out of focus in the long shot ?  Was it intentional that the close up cropped off the club name?  We can only speculate but they do have a track record (and we won’t mention Country File). So well done Adrian in his determined attempt to champion the club’s logo on TV. The news recording is no longer available on the BBC website but there is a youtube posting here.

JOSH’S PODIUM PERFORMACE

JOSH’S PODIUM PERFORMACE

November 14, 2022 0

Readers of our September newsletter may recall Josh’s impressive endurance accomplishment of 31 marathons in 31 consecutive days to raise funds for an animal sanctuary where he volunteers.  That incredible and highly commendable effort raised over £17,000 for Millington’s Magical Barn. Running 812.2 miles in a month is more than some of us achieve in a year and might have debilitating consequences for many but for Josh it seems his efforts was beneficial preparation for an competitive ultra event. On Saturday 5th November whilst many of us were enjoying a 5k parkrun, Josh was already one hour in a grinding hilly race equal to nearly 10 parkruns but somewhat more hilly – the White Rose 30 mile ultra. Much to his surprise after 4 hours and 40 minutes Josh was first across the finish line after 30 miles and was a good 9 minutes ahead of second place. Josh summarised the experience “[It was a] relentlessly brutal course, climb after climb with the weather thrown in.   Nice to see it, through I had to dig deep but got my reward in the end.  If I knew all I had to do to win was do 31 marathons in 31 days, I’d have done it ages ago.” Once again proving that plant power is perfect for performance. (see what I did there?)

Picture of the month.

Picture of the month.

October 30, 2022 0

The guy on the right is a club member who goes by the intriguing handle ‘Pope Adrian IV’.  Can you guess who’s the guy on the left – (first clue – he runs and borrowed the hat from our member for the pose)? The moustache is another clue.  Still not there.  OK, your third and final clue is ‘118’! David Bedford was the world 10,000-meter record holder back in 1973.  He also held the British 3,000m steeplechase and the 5,000m records.  Today he’s the Chairman of the IAAF Road Running Commission which he took on in 2012 after retiring from race directorship of the London Marathon. Sadly, David isn’t a vegan, but it seems he’ll do almost anything to sell raffle tickets for his local non-league football club. Pope Adrian IV was having a busy day of metropolitan encounters which later included punk Charlie Harper of UK Subs and others. (Facebook post).

Gareth Competes for GB

Gareth Competes for GB

October 30, 2022 0

Who is this chap in the GB vest and why is he surrounded by an enthusiastic bunch of VRs? It’s Gareth Pritchard.  And he’s competing for Great Britain on the 24th of September 24-hour European Championships.  Gareth finished 28th overall, 6th GB male with 247km in his debut for Great Britain on the 24th September at the European 24 hour championships in Verona.  When competing for GB you can’t wear club kit – not even patches. But his enthusiastic support team left no doubt for every spectator and competitor concerning the plant diet that fuelled his performance.  We hope to bring you the full story of this amazing achievement in our Christmas edition.  

Jordan sets course record in Hurtwood 50k ultra

April 26, 2021 0

Trophy Awaited in post due to Covid19 measures Twenty-four year old local runner Jordan Clay took first place in race covering a 50 kilometres Sunday 17th April.  He set a course record of 3 hours 34 minutes and finishing just under 30 minutes ahead of second place. The race finally took place after COVID19 restrictions were relaxed for organised sporting events after being rescheduled several times.  The course starts from Dorking and follows the Greensand Way trail route into the forested Surrey Hills and with three hills involving 4,200 feet of climbs.  This was Jordan’s only second attempt at an ultra distance competition.  He said he very much enjoy the run and announced “I’m looking forward to racing over more ultra distance races throughout the year.” The above press release, including the photo, was published on the back page of the Leighton Buzzard Observer on Tuesday 27th April 2021.

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