Inspired by the Olympics

Have you been inspired by the Olympics to get more active? The final of the mens 5000m has certainly inspired me to encourage participation in physical activity, sport and exercise this week.

Hopefully people across the UK have been inspired by what they saw last night when Mo Farah achieved a second Olympic gold for Great Britain in the 5km. What a race by Mo! And what a great way to raise the profile of UK athletics.

parkrun, together with Join in Local Sport are aiming to make Saturday 18th August the biggest parkrun ever and get as many people in the UK running and walking 5000m as possible.

No country has ever done this before, so let GB be the first!

With North East parkruns now at Newcastle, Whitley Bay, Gateshead, Durham, Chester-le-street Riverside, and Sunderland, theres no excuse not to get involved!

Register once at www.parkrun.com and find your local event - most events also have a Facebook page and Twitter feed if you have any questions or want to find out more. Once you're registered, just turn up ready to to run or walk for 9am at any of the parkruns around the UK. If you don't feel like running or walking parkrun, why not volunteer or simply come along to watch.

parkrun is completely free and ran entirely by volunteers. To get as many people running and walking at parkrun this weekend, everyone is encouraged to bring a friend or friends along to try it.

I am in Newcastle this weekend and will be running at Newcastle parkrun at the back of the field as Tail Runner - come and say hello!

Get involved and be a part of creating the biggest parkrun participation event ever!

Its not just the elite athletes that can do something to make us feel proud of UK athletics, we can all do it too :)

Niyc

xx