Around 300 people from County Durham will take part in a Fun Run on Sunday 21st June at Greenfield Community College, and become part of the biggest children’s running campaign in the world.
INEOS GO Run For Fun, a global campaign aimed at encouraging young people to live a more active life, is lending its support to a 3k fun run in Newton Aycliffe.
Held in partnership with Aycliffe Running Club and supported by sponsors 3M UK Plc, INEOS and Great Aycliffe Town Council, the fun run is part of the annual Aycliffe 10k.
Mick Beadle, Coach at Aycliffe RC and Training and Process Technologist at INEOS Chlorovinyls, said: “We’re delighted to have the support of GO Run For Fun this weekend. For new runners, a 10k race can be quite daunting so the fun run provides an opportunity for anyone to get involved and experience the atmosphere and enjoyment of taking part in a group run.
“The GO Run For Fun campaign is doing a great job of encouraging young people to get active and we hope plenty of kids and families are inspired to join in.
“The great thing about a fun run is that it doesn’t matter how fast you are – you’re assured of a warm welcome. It’s a fantastic way to do something active with your friends and family and we’re really looking forward to cheering on everyone who takes part.”
The run takes place in Country Durham at a time when childhood obesity is a rising concern across England. Public Health England statistics suggest that 33.5% of children in England aged 10-11 are now overweight or obese – a figure which rises to 36.1% in County Durham.
The GO Run For Fun campaign, which aims to encourage kids to get off the couch, give the TV a rest and get active, is backed by a number of sporting heroes, including former 60m world hurdling champion Colin Jackson and paralympic champion Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson.
The campaign has organised more than 160 events to date and has many more planned throughout the UK and Europe in the coming months. To date, it has encouraged more than 70,000 children to take part in its 1-2km fun runs, making it the biggest children’s running initiative in the world.
The GO Run For Fun series is the idea of Jim Ratcliffe, owner of INEOS, one of the UK’s largest manufacturing companies, who announced a £1.5m donation to establish a new charitable foundation to encourage children to run for fun.
Jim Ratcliffe said: “I’m passionate about getting as many children running as possible as early as possible. The idea is simple – to get children out of the house having fun. It is not rocket science. Running is the basis of so many great sports. If our children can catch the running bug early, they’re more likely to stick to it, and this can only lead to them having more active and healthier lifestyles in the future.”
Moving more is an important part of tackling childhood obesity which is fast-becoming one of the leading areas of public health concern in the country.
Events like GO Run For Fun are a great way to get children to keep fit and enjoy sport with their friends, in a fun and relaxed environment.
For more information and to enter your child for INEOS GO Run For Fun events happening near you, or to register your local club or school’s interest in joining our campaign, please visit: www.gorunforfun.com.
You can also visit the GO Run For Fun Facebook page, or find them on Twitter @_GRFF
