Nicky Morgan MP to meet local running group leaders

Nicky Morgan, MP for Loughborough, plans to share her passion of running with local Run England group leaders, as she joins them on a Leadership in Running Fitness Course this weekend.

Herself a keen runner, Nicky Morgan MP is getting in on the action at a local course for new group leaders. The England Athletics Leadership in Running Fitness course will be attended by up to 25 volunteers who are all hoping to complete the course and get more people running as part of the Run England programme.

Some of the course candidates have received scholarships from the Leicester-Shire & Rutland Sport (LRS) Beginners Running Project and will go on to establish new beginners running groups in Leicestershire.

The course will take place at Loughborough SportPark tomorrow (Saturday 2 November 2013), starting at 10am and will see Nicky speak to the group about her passion for running and take part in a group warm up, as well as be available for photos.

Jacqui Campbell, one of the project’s new group leaders said: “I'm so thrilled to have this opportunity to be supported by Run England to do something I love. I've been working with another Run Leader for over a year now and I'm really keen to get qualified myself so that I can set up my own group and have my commitment to recreational running formally recognised.”

Beverley Hooper, Running Activator for Leicestershire and Rutland said: "The passion for running and enthusiasm of our Run Leaders has been crucial to the success of the project. As a result, many new runners have gone on to exceed their own expectations by entering local fun runs and events, league races and half and full marathons.  We have a core number of established groups that run all year round and many runners have joined local clubs. Thanks to Run England and LRS, running in Leicestershire has never been more popular!”

The Leicester-Shire & Rutland Beginners Running Project currently has 45 registered running groups, which are all searchable at runengland.org/groups. Over 800 new runners have taken part between January 2012 and September 2013 whilst 60 group leaders have been trained and have delivered over 60 running groups.