Edinburgh rugby player runs to city pitches to raise awareness for women's game

A Broughton Women’s rugby player has run 18 miles around each of the seven rugby grounds where teams compete to raise awareness for the women’s game.

Broughton Rugby players

Ruth Morgan was joined by several of her teammates and players from other clubs including Broughton Women, Lismore Ladies, Liberton, Watsonians, Corstorphine Cougars, Edinburgh University and Heriot’s Blues Women.

Clubs across the capital were set to meet in a modified competition this Autumn but unfortunately the event was cancelled along with the rest of their traditional season thanks to Covid-19.

The Edinburgh vet is also a keen runner but has had many of her long-distance races cancelled along with her matches.

She said: ‘‘I plotted the route and 18 miles seemed like the perfect sort of challenge.

‘‘Women’s rugby is a fast-growing sport in the UK and around the world. We’re lucky in Edinburgh to have so many teams at all different levels, but not everyone knows what’s available.

‘‘We want to promote the sport of women’s rugby in general, but also showcase what Edinburgh has to offer if people are thinking of trying rugby or they’re looking for a good sport to watch on a Sunday afternoon.’’

She added: ‘‘At the moment we can only do individual training with no contact, while maintaining social distancing so running is perfect and as a lot of the teams are training on Sunday it’s a great addition to the training programme.

‘‘I was overwhelmed by the enthusiasm shown by all the teams to get involved, nobody told me it was mad, though some may have thought it.’’

A message from the Editor:Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.