Leicestershire Network Run England Activator scoops award

At a star studded awards evening recently held at the Leicester Tigers banquet suite, some of Leicestershire’s top sporting stars received awards, presented to them by celebrities from the sporting world and TV.

Amongst those taking an award was Leicestershire Vision 2020 Athletics Network Run England activator (and group leader) Beverley Hooper who received her commemorative plaque from cricket legend Brian Close.

Beverley was nominated by the Leicestershire and Rutland county sports partnership (LRS) for the ACTIVE4LIFE award in recognition of her tireless work in getting people running in the county.

Beverley took up running through a beginners running group hosted by local club Wreake Runners three years ago and after getting the running bug she decided to lead groups for herself and undertook the Leadership in Running Fitness course. She has now encouraged other members of her group to follow in her footsteps and become run leaders bringing a real feeling of sustainability to her role as a group leader.

The Athletics Network for whom Beverley will be working eight hours a week will be working in conjunction with LRS and Run England to help get more people discovering the fantastic benefits of running and Beverley has the task of helping to recruit 44 group leaders over the next year – a target that she is relishing!

Beverley said: “Although it is a really tough target there as many opportunities out there that you could want to find group leaders and to get people into their groups and running for fitness – I am certain that together with LRS and the Athletics Network we can continue to make Leicestershire and Rutland the centre of running for the nation.”

John Skevington, who is the coordinator for the Athletics Network and Run England local activator for the county, and was at the ceremony, added: “We are all thrilled that Beverley has taken this prestigious award and are proud to have her on our team working towards getting more people running and doing athletics in Leicestershire.”