The Vegan Society has assembled a team of fifteen amateur runners dubbed, Team Vegan, for the Bupa Great North Run 2010—the world’s most popular half marathon event—which takes place in England on Sunday September 19. Team Vegan hopes to “smash the tired old myth of the weedy vegan.”

“Good vegan diets can support impressive athletic achievement,” explains Amanda Baker from The Vegan Society. “Carl Lewis partly credits his ‘best year as an athlete ever!’ to his vegan diet in 1991.”

Team captain Fiona Oakes is a retained firefighter and runs a Sanctuary in Essex where she cares daily for 400 animals. Vegan since 1979, Oakes ran the 2009 London Marathon in under three hours.

“My extraordinarily physically demanding lifestyle dictates that I need a very balanced and high quality diet to sustain my levels of fitness and endurance,” says Oakes. “This is where I believe my veganism has helped me the most.”

Notes from The Vegan Society:

1. Fiona Oakes ran the 2009 London Marathon time in 2 hr 58 min 48 sec, coming fourth in the Women’s over-40 category. (Gordon Ramsay ran 4 hr 5 min 2 sec in the same age group.)
2. Team Vegan consists of: from England: Captain Fiona Oakes (Essex), Andrew Knight (Bristol), Chris Dhondee, Vanessa Hudson and Kate Vervain (Greater London), Regina Jorgenson (Cambridgeshire), and Joël Lawson (Cheshire); from the Channel Islands, Terri O'Donoghue (Jersey); from Wales: Debra Confrey (Carmarthenshire), Cedric David and Helen Watkinson (South Glamorgan); from Scotland: Liz Begg (Angus), Alison Davie (Midlothian), Clara Macindoe (Aberdeenshire), Karen Page (Berwickshire). 
3. Founded in 1944, The Vegan Society promotes vegan lifestyles - which exclude, as far as is possible and practical, all forms of exploitation of animals for food, clothing or any other purpose. Registered Charity No. 279228, Company Registration No. 1468880, VAT Registration No. 448 5973 95
4. The Great North Run is on Sunday 19 September 2010, between Newcastle and Gateshead. Launched in 1981, The Great North Run is the largest half-marathon in the world, with 54,000 runners expected to start this year. 

For more information visit www.vegansociety.com.


Photo credit: www.greatrun.org