Meet the prez

Meet the prez

To those who know Ben Jackson by his late night persona, DJ Stryker, the news that he has been elected president of the Frontrunners may come as a shock, but Jackson assures all that his passion for running is great enough to overcome any residual hangovers.

Jackson has always been the sporting type. For years he played squash but defected to running as his main sport of choice after realising that he really wasn’t putting in the dedication necessary.

I’d occasionally jogged and run for fitness purposes and then one day I realised that my squash game wasn’t going in the right direction. I wasn’t putting in the time and discipline needed so I decided to give running a go. I made the decision that I wanted to get involved with running events and I’d heard of Frontrunners and thought, what better way to get a framework for what I wanted to achieve as well as a way to get involved with the gay community?

From the very first run I was pleased to find that they were a friendly, inclusive bunch, which made a genuine difference to the running process. It made it less isolated, running with a group of people who share the same goals and experiences as you.

The things that drew me into the club are still in place and in fact I think we’ve picked up the pace. So from a presidential stance, I’m not coming in with a big reformation agenda because I don’t think we need it. I see my role as being about helping people to continue that work we’ve been doing.

The structure of our new committee has a nice balance with four of the people having already served on the committee and it’s great that we have two new girls on the committee. If I have one guiding principle as president, it is to continue to make the club as relevant and as inclusive to both gays and lesbians, and not just pay lip service to that but really work to make it happen.

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