Youngsters from Newham and Barking & Dagenham schools took part in Go Run For Fun, the world’s largest children’s running initiative.
Together with the Daily Mile, the initiative brought together 5,000 primary schoolchildren from London and across Britain to take part in a 2k fun run at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford.
Pupils from 18 Newham schools, including Curwen, Kier Hardie, Drew, William Davies, Selwyn, Winsor, Calverton, Scott Wilkie, Southern Road, Tollgate, New City, Colegrave, Portway, St Winefrides, Carpenters, Gainsborough, Gallions, Hallsville and Maryland joined up with Barking & Dagenham schools St Peters, William Ford, Northbury and Valence Primary at the event, with Olympians Denise Lewis and Colin Jackson among the VIP guest cheering them on.
Former gold medalist Lewis said: “GO Run for Fun and The Daily Mile are two amazing projects that are inspiring a new generation of children and schools to become more active in their daily life.
“Hopefully these young ambassadors will continue to enjoy exercise and even join a local sports club.”
GO Run for Fun and The Daily Mile have been making a positive impact in engaging and educating schoolchildren on the importance of healthy living, wellbeing and regular physical activity over the past four years, supported by Jim Ratcliffe, Chairman of INEOS.
The GO Run For Fun Foundation celebrated its 200,000th child crossing the finish line at the event, with pupils from over 2,000 schools having been involved to date. The event also featured 800 children from London schools that have been taking part in The Daily Mile.
GO Run For Fun is, however, more than just a fun run. With the UK Educational Programme the initiative ties in with the national curriculum by visiting schools before the event to enable teachers to educate children on nutrition, hydration, the importance of team work and an active healthy lifestyle.
Teaching materials including short films featuring the event mascot DART are available to schools and the programme will have engaged with a remarkable 19,500 children across 65 schools in its pilot year.
This year The Daily Mile is also getting involved, originally founded by former headteacher Elaine Wyllie, whose mission is to encourage every child to walk, jog or run for 15 minutes every day in school.
Since launching in 2015, and being supported by INEOS, the scheme has been adopted by more than 2,500 schools with over half a million children taking part on a daily basis.
Lewis hosted a panel discussion featuring Elaine Wyllie, Jack Shakespeare (UK Active), Gary Palmer (London Sport) and Jackson, with the importance of encouraging children to be more active and the role of parents, teachers, schools and Government in improving the health and wellbeing of children in London, the UK and beyond, spoken about.
INEOS Chairman Ratcliffe added: “It has never been more important to support young people in leading healthier, more active lives.
“We are very proud to support and celebrate these two initiatives that have been making a positive impact on the health and wellbeing of hundreds of thousands of children in the UK and beyond, for the last four years.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here