Me in the latest issue of Runner's World!

By Simon Wright (Personal Piece)

ON MONDAY July 11 2011, I began a nervous trek on the London Midland train from my home in Milton Keynes to London Euston.  The destination was Broadwick Street, a short walk from Oxford Circus tube station.  The building I would be attending was the National Magazine Company.  However, this wasn't for a sporadic visit to see how a magazine works; this was real.  I was about to spend the next fortnight working for Runner's World magazine.  In the nine days I was there, I learnt a lot about the magazine industry, how it works to tight deadlines and build up a wide range of manufacturer contacts and beat some nerves along the way.  The experience was well worth it and I now have evidence of the hard work I undertook in the latest issue of Runner's World, which is priced at £4.50 and is available at all good newsagents.

     Before I show off some of the stuff I did, a bit of background info about Runner's World.  It is alongside a number of magazines that are produced within the National Magazine Company range.  Other popular titles include Traithlete's World, Men's Health, Cosmopolitan and Company magazine.  The magazine is all about tips of how to improve your levels of fitness; from new training regimes to healthy food diets.  Some issues will also contain emotional interviews with normal members of the public about incredible stories of running.  For example, the latest issue has a link to the tenth anniversary of the horrific terrorist attacks on America on September 11th.  There are also plenty of reviews of the latest gear equipment, previews of upcoming races and detailed reports of other races that have taken place of late, and also stars from athletics can be covered, especially with the countdown to London 2012 getting ever closer.  Recent editions have featured golden hepathlon girl Jessica Ennis, while senior writer Kerry McCarthy (my mentor on the placement) flew out to Jamaica earlier this year to meet the great Usain Bolt.
 
     Enough about them and more about me.  See the pictures as I explain some of the processes of the work I did in the two weeks I was there;

It isn't much to look at, I know - but underneath the 'acknowledgements' section - I am listed as a contributor towards this issue.  It's pleasing to see my name in print, even if it was a very small contribution to the process.

On page 30 is a section called Real Runners.  I had to do some research on the website forums to learn some heartwarming and incredible stories of running.  I was also set the task of doing a telephone interview with Gina Little, who features on the left-hand side of this section in the issue.  Gina was great in the interview, especially as this was a technique I've never enjoyed or looked forward to with any anticipation.  In the magazine is the shorter 60 word version of Gina's amazing marathon story, but for a longer, more detailed version of what we talked about, visit; http://happydude88.blogspot.com/2011/07/gina-little-marathon-magic.html

Although I never wrote this race report, I played a huge part in it going to print.  NO, I DID NOT DO A MARATHON IN THE SAFARI, I couldn't possibly survive.  Jessica Hatcher took part in the event and did a lengthy race report on her experience.  My role in this was to cut-down the word length, due to space and structural changes within the magazine.  Once again, I feel privileged to have played a part in this report and it was very interesting to read, and also, difficult to cutdown as a lot of it was very relevant.  Those who know me will remember that I was a sub-editor for one of the journalism groups on the Christmas Unique magazine at the University of Northampton last year.  It was good for me to be involved in this process again.

This is the key page and all my own work.  On day one, I was set the task to find five races in September, to go into the magazine.  I had to find a range of type of race; (Trail, Off-Road), surface (Flat, Uneven), distance (10K, marathon) and geographical distance.  Also, I had to do a search of races on the RW website and count up the amount of races taking place in September.  The flashy graphics, such as the UK Map, rating percentages from the the website and pie chart are not my doing, but the rest is.  This is my first official byline for a magazine and it is a page I can look back on with immense pride and satisfaction.  Watch out for the January 2012 edition, which will be sold in December 2011, as I did a similar thing towards the end of my placement for December's races.

Finally, a photo I took of my first byline.  For any journalism student studying at a college or University, this is the first stepping stone towards a positive and aspiring future.  

Other tasks I did included getting in touch with many sports manufacturers to release pictures for an update to the RW website catalogue.  It was probably the most work I did, but whether it will be updated and changed is upto the website editor.  However, I'm delighted to have loads of contacts now available to me.  I also did some research into some running shoes that feature in the current edition.  However, this was a very minor part, as I only had to compare prices and hand over a website link.  It was upto the senior writer to call in the testers and rate just how good these shoes really are.

The placement at Runner's World was an immense experience and I don't regret one bit.  I'm very happy to see my work officially published and let's hope there is more to come for many years to come.