Running Awards celebrates the best of running

The second annual Running Awards have been held with Run England partners at the event. Many of the organisations Run England and England Athletics work with that play such an important role in the growth of running were recognised on the night - a full list of winners can be found at therunningawards.com/results/view/2015-results.

Matt Birkett, Head of Running Participation at England Athletics, was present to represent England Athletics and specifically Run England and presented the award for the best 10K event. The category winner was Southport Mad Dog 10K (www.maddog10k.co.uk) and the runner up was the Wigan 10K (www.wigan10k.co.uk). As part of the event Matt found out more about the events including the work of the Wigan 10K which raises money for the Joining Jack charity. The charity uses the joined fingers symbol to raise the profile of the charity and has been supported in this by people including Olympic and Tour De France champions Bradley Wiggins who did the gesture on the Tour de France podium. You can read more at joiningjack.org.

Matt said: “We were proud to support the Running Awards. The Awards celebrate the best of running and its culture. There were plenty of deserving winners and the event rightly gave recognition to the wide variety of people, partners and organisations that have made, and continue to make, the running sector so vibrant. Over two million people now run on a weekly basis.

“This continued growth is down to the hard work, innovation and dedication of many people. Running is an incredibly accessible form of physical activity and is flexible enough to fit around people’s busy schedules.

“One of the ways people can access running is through Run England, the official England Athletics recreational running programme that aims to get the whole nation running.”