6,000 join running groups in the South

The last year has seen 6,488 adults start running with Run England beginner groups in the South. Congratulations and thank you to all Run England's partners, group leaders and running group members who have helped us exceed our annual target of 6,000!

England Athletics has been working with a number of partners across the South Area to encourage more people to take up running through the Run England recreational running programme.

Over the last two years, twelve counties in the South have been involved with Run England, by supporting people to become qualified Run Leaders through the UK Athletics Leadership In Running Fitness course. They have also helped to set up and promote new beginner running groups at a wide range of locations, from clubs to coffee shops.

Since the project started, four partners (Kent Sport, Active Norfolk, Active Essex and Bucks & Milton Keynes Sport) have each achieved over 1,000 new runners in their counties, with over 1,800 in Kent alone. All partners have seen hundreds of new runners taking part in groups across their counties, many of whom have gone on to take part in fun runs and parkruns on a regular basis.

The Active People Survey, commissioned by Sport England has found that there is huge demand from adults to start running, and many more groups are being developed at various locations including the SchoolRun, where parents run after dropping off their children at school, and WorkRun, where a group of colleagues run together at lunchtime or after work.

For more information on becoming a running group leader go to www.runengland.org/leader. To find a local group go to www.runengland.org/groups. If you would like support to start a beginner running group find your local contact at www.runengland.org/contact.