Duchy McCain Athletics Network discover more about Run England

The Duchy McCain Athletics Network has been keen to find out as much as it can about Run England and so recently organised a visit to Cornwall from Charlotte Fisher - the recently appointed Midlands and South West Run England Area Co-ordinator.

The DAN was pleased to host a visit from her with the assistance of a member club, St Austell Running Club, on Monday 11th July. An open invitation was sent out to all the running clubs in Cornwall which resulted in six clubs sending members along to take part in Charlotte’s presentation, which was received well by the fourteen attendees from Cornwall AC, Hayle Runners, Truro Running Club, St Austell Running Club, Moorhaven Running Club, Falmouth Road Runners and the Cornwall Sports Partnership (CSP) and in particular it also proved very helpful to three members of Falmouth Road Runners who are currently looking to assist the Dracaena Community Sports Centre in Falmouth with setting up walk/run groups in the local community.

Charlotte’s presentation highlighted the need for running clubs and Group Leaders in the county to flag-up what great work they’re already doing in the county to increase participation in running, by encouraging group members to sign up to Run England, which will help give feedback to England Athletics on how many people are taking part in walk/run groups in Cornwall and with the added bonus of gaining free membership of Run England, which has a number of benefits, including the eRunner online newsletter giving training tips, event updates and special offers.

Tim Marrion from the Cornwall Sports Partnership also offered support to clubs and Group Leaders with the offer of bursaries to train Leaders wishing to run 16 to 25 years of age running groups and with marketing and promotion, including a month of Run England activities under the banner of ‘Run Cornwall’.

The Network club and coach co-ordinator Rob Cockings commented that it was great to have Charlotte in the county to give an overview of Run England and it has been very much appreciated by members of the clubs who attended her presentation. It has also helped forge good working relationships which is already paving the way for various initiatives to encourage more walk/run groups to be set up in the county and to market Run England to a wider audience in Cornwall. The DAN 5k series will also be used to encourage runners to sign up to Run England.