Portslade Hedgehoppers grew from Portslade Sports Centre Jogging Club, which was formed by the then sports centre manager, Geoff Hodgson, in the late 1970s. The group met regularly on Sunday mornings at the sports centre, and among the early runners were some who would eventually become Hedgehoppers.
Early in 1982, Norman Collingbourne started to run with this group and, after discussion with one or two others, began work towards forming an official club. Prior to that it had been a club in name only, with no evidence of appointed officers or committee meetings. At the same time, discussions were taking place which resulted in the formation of the West Sussex Fun Run League. Norman and Peter Hills attended a meeting in Horsham in October 1982 which led to creation of the league. Prior to attending the meeting a club name needed to be decided on. Norman came up with the idea of Portslade Hedgehoppers. To hedgehop, Norman said, is the ability to fly close to the ground. Enough said!
A West Sussex Fun Run League programme of races was drawn up for 1983 which included the Hedgehopper 5. This has continued at roughly the same time almost every year since then, the second Sunday in May. There have been only two gaps in the event’s otherwise annual history, during the foot and mouth epidemic, and more recently the Covid pandemic.
Portslade Hedgehoppers running club has been thriving ever since that initial year of formation in the early 1980s. A walking section also started up in the mid-1980s, initially with a monthly Sunday walk, and then with regular Tuesday walks. In 2023 the walking group decided to become totally separate from the running club.
Portslade Hedgehoppers meet every Tuesday and Thursday evening at 6.45pm for training runs, at various local venues. Please see ‘Training Nights’ for details of forthcoming locations. Please note that although we cater for runners with a wide range of running speeds, we can’t cater for complete beginners. You need to be able to run around 5 miles to run in one of our groups.
The club also has a regular programme of social gatherings, including pub nights, quizzes, restaurant meals, and parkrun outings.
With thanks to Roy Taylor for the detail on the early years, from his great little book ‘Portslade Hedgehoppers – The First 30 Years’.