Police Don Riot Gear To Take On Great South Run

Enter the Simplyhealth Great South Run at: Greatrun.org/South

A group of nine police officers from Hampshire Constabulary will take on 10 miles in full Public Order uniform to support a charity that helps bereaved children from the force.

Sergeant Spencer Wragg, Sgt Paul Bromell, Sgt Justin Noons, Sgt Charles Ilderton, PC Jermaine Miller, PC Eric Wong, PC Mark Kingston, PC Paul Scott and PC Dan Turner, will take on the Simplyhealth Great South Run on Sunday 22 October while wearing full riot gear weighing up to 30 kilos each.

The police officers are often called on a variety of jobs within the force, such as football matches, music festivals and protests, but this Autumn they will don their uniform and take on 10 miles for a cause close to their hearts.

PC Miller has taken on the Simplyhealth Great South Run before and suggested that it would be a good challenge for the group to try and make the run more difficult for them.

The officers are putting in the training at their Headquarters in Netley before and after work, as they are determined to complete the distance by running as much of it as they physically can.

Spencer Wragg, from the Public Order team at Netley, near Southampton, said: “We are all police officers who work for Hampshire Constabulary in differing roles across the force.

“We are all running in our own time and have taken the day off work to complete it.

“Some of us have taken part in the Simplyhealth Great South Run before and one of our colleagues Jermaine suggested that it would be a challenge to try and complete the course in our full public order kit.

“With a flat course this seemed an ideal opportunity to take on such a challenge and if we were going to do it, we decided to support a charity at the same time.

“We’re all now thinking we aren’t sure if it was a good idea now training has started! The kit we are wearing is designed to protect us from all sorts of incidents so we are completely covered from head to toe.

“We will also be carrying shields the entire way and in all, the kit weights around 30 kilos.

“The training for the event has been tougher than we all thought. Obviously we can’t just run down to our local park in full riot kit so we have been squeezing in training before and after work at the Headquarters.”

The police officers will join 20,000 others for the Simplyhealth Great South Run, which is the world’s leading 10 mile running event.

The route features a fast and flat course around Portsmouth, giving runners the unique opportunity to run through Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, home to HMS Victory and the Mary Rose.

Participants cross the finish line on the sea front with beautiful views of the Solent and the Isle of Wight.

Hampshire Police force actively supports The Gurney Fund, which helps children of police officers who have died or been medically retired.

The group began to get involved with the charity as each year the force hosts the children as part of their summer holiday.

The children’s stories moved the group to want to support The Gurney fund in their own unique way at the historic running event this October.

Spencer added: The support that the charity provides to the children is invaluable and the stories of the kids are very humbling.

“To make the challenge even tougher we have decided to also run in our police boots.

“All of us have a good level of fitness but running in kit is a whole different ball game.

“I very much doubt we will be able to run the whole distance but we will not stop and are determined to start and finish as a team. “As above we have never tried anything of this nature before we have three main goals. To raise as much money as possible for The Gurney fund, to complete the course and finally, not to have the road sweepers and marshals clearing the course behind us!”

Support the team’s fundraising here.

Enter the Simplyhealth Great South Run at: Greatrun.org/South