ADE Holloway, who founded Bournemouth parkrun in 2013, passed away on Saturday, 11th October aged 66.
A significant figure in the local running community, Ade also contributed to the creation of the Bournemouth Marathon Festival, now named RunBournemouth.
Bournemouth parkrun celebrated the life of Ade by encouraging people to wear parkrun UK or RunBournemouth tops at the weekly event, in which over 500 people turned up for.
Simon Davies, the owner of Up & Running in Winton, gave a heartfelt tribute to Ade, nicknamed “Mr Running”, prior to the start saying:
“An accomplished runner himself, Ade was the endurance king.”
“His favourite races always seemed to be ultra distances: the Dartmoor Discovery, the Ridgeway, the Oner, the Marlborough Downs. His most favourite one the Grand Union Canal of 145 miles, which he popped up into conversation frequently.”
Ade completed the 145 mile Grand Union Canal race in 2008 in 39 hours and 52 minutes, alongside over 100 other marathons in his life.
Over 500 runners completed the 5k run in Kings Park on Saturday 18th October to celebrate the life of Ade Holloway.
He suffered from strokes and was living in a care home before his death, Simon Davies spoke of his friend Laura who visited him earlier this year.
“She said: ‘he still had a sense of belonging in this community. Even though he was unable to communicate, he was able to acknowledge certain things around the room that reminded him of his running.'”
Run director, Mike Draper, didn’t meet Ade but spoke of what he heard others anecdotally tell him:
“People have mentioned to me about Ade that he was somebody who was so dedicated to the running community, so committed particularly in terms of getting other people involved. It wasn’t always about him.”
“Unfortunately I never got to meet him which is a shame because he sounds like the kind of guy you’d love to spend time with if you were into running.”
You can listen to the memorial run report below.
