Blood bikes take over the Torbay Parkrun with a powerful message

Two mighty motorbikes turned heads when South Devon Athletic Club members staged a ‘takeover’ of the Torbay parkrun.

They helped out by taking on marshalling duties at the Saturday morning run, wearing club colours and handing out flyers to would-be runners interested in joining the go-ahead Paignton club.

The bikes belonged to riders from the South West Blood Bikes organisation, which was South Devon AC’s chairman’s charity in 2025.

Events including the RevComps-sponsored South Devon 3k Relays helped raise £500 towards the work of the charity, which provides free, out-of-hours emergency courier services to the NHS and hospices. Using motorcycles and 4x4s, they transport urgent medical supplies including blood, samples, medications, equipment and breast milk.

Club chairman James Spalding is pictured handing over the cheque.

Torbay AAC athlete Kirsten Mundy ran Berlin half marathon on Sunday. Her third race for the Super Six series. Coming off a challenging season in training she decided to Jeff the race ("Jeffing" is a run-walk-run training method created by Olympian Jeff Galloway that involves alternating intervals of running and walking to build stamina, reduce injury risk, and increase enjoyment).

Kirsten ran the half marathon breaking every mile with a 45 second recovery. She stuck to her plan and crossed the line in 2.26. She reported that it was a ‘Great race, great atmosphere and flat!’