The time is soon upon us to say goodbye to White Star Running… and hello to Keep Running Rural. The same great races; the same team; the same quirky race signs, bespoke medals, funky cows, muddy trails, big hills and funny t-shirts – but under a new company name.
What?
Back in April, we announced that Andy Palmer, founder of WSR and race director, was stepping down and into retirement (which you can read about here, in case you missed it White Star Running update 2023 – endings and beginnings – White Star Running). This meant a huge behind-the-scenes transition of the company was put in motion.
White Star Running has been through a lot over the years, putting on well over 100 races and watching as thousands of runners have crossed over the finish line. Then Covid hit and it was tough, not just for us, but for every race company in the country (and the world). It took a lot of hard decisions, sacrifices and blind faith to keep WSR going during this time – not to mention the loyalty and kindness of our community of runners – and even now, race numbers are not back to pre-Covid levels.
When Andy announced his retirement, there were a lot of options for how White Star Running would go forwards. A lot of conversations with accountants and business people and stakeholders and partners… one thing that was a certainty was that these races would continue and that the company, whatever form it took, would be headed up by Gemma Wilton, second in command at White Star Running and race admin extraordinaire.
Anyway, very long story short, White Star Running is coming to a close and in its place will be Keep Running Rural, a brand-new race events company with all of your favourite WSR races under the new branding and with a fresh start. Bar the name, very little will change for you as a runner, but we’ll highlight a few things here.
What will be changing?
You may have already noticed the new branding creeping in here and there as we start the formal transition of White Star Running to Keep Running Rural. There is an awful lot to do, so you’ll see a mixture of the two names for a little while, but over the coming months, everything will switch over to Keep Running Rural.
This means that our website, social media channels and race entry system will all bear the new Keep Running Rural name and logo soon. We’re also taking this opportunity to refresh the branding colours a little bit, and swap a few fonts around.
There will, over time, be new email addresses and website URLs, but we’ll make sure that nothing gets lost during the transition period, so for now, everything is still under the White Star Running domain until we say otherwise.
What won’t be changing?
Pretty much everything else! The races are the same races you already know and love, organised in the same way. The event team, shop team and regular volunteers will remain, as will the core team behind the scenes.
Our ‘runners-first’ ethos is firmly in place, the Lovestation™ is going to be there on your events, and you’ll still get the same awesome medals for your hard work.
White Star Clothing is staying the same for now too, both for the shop at events and online, but you will see that our newer kit will bear the Keep Running Rural logo.
If you have any questions, do let us know on [email protected]
Thanks,
Gemma and the KRR Team