Great success for Schools Half Marathon Stockport

5 Jul 2019 09:12

Schools Half Marathon Stockport took place on Monday 1st July 2019 and celebrated a fantastic morning of running with primary school pupils at Woodbank Stadium.

The event saw 270 pupils from 6 schools complete the last 1.1 mile of their cumulative Schools Half Marathon, with one school having travelled from Oldham to take part in the event. Teachers, family and friends gathered at the stadium to cheer on the youngsters, with many teachers joining the pupils for their last leg, and the atmosphere was superb as they crossed the linne and received their hard-earned medals plus a carton of One Water.

Presenting medals to each of the pupils were running coach and Elite Performance Manager Steve Vernon and athlete Ross Millington, who represented Great Britain at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janerio. They also helped to start the different waves of runners at Woodbank and support the young runners as they completed just over four laps of the track.

The event was also supported by many of the regional team leaders for Schools Half Marathon and Stockport Council.

Schools Half Marathon is a non-competitive and inclusive movement that encourages regular exercise for school age pupils. The youngsters run the 12 initial miles at school or on their own, earning rewards along the way, and at the final event they are treated to a full race experience, including bibs, a marshalled 1.1-mile route, music, commentator and a finish line gantry.

School Half Marathon is part of Schools Running Movement by UK Run Events. Other events in 2019 have included Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin and Brighton and Hove, and many more locations have been confirmed across the UK for the school year 2019/20.

School Half Marathon Co-Founder and Race Director Joe Williams commented: "We were absolutely delighted to welcome so many pupils, teachers, parents and carers to Schools Half Marathon Stockport this week. The support and camaraderie amongst the pupils was amazing, with high fives and cheers of encouragement the whole way round and right up until the last runner crossed the line. All of the children should feel extremely proud of achieving their very own half marathon and we hope they are wearing their medals with pride. We would like to thank all the teachers, schools and families for supporting the pupils on their journey, and we look forward to welcoming many back to Schools Half Marathon Stockport next year!"

Jude Riddings, Stockport SHAPES Alliance Development Manager, added: "Schools Half Marathon is an inspiring and very exciting movement and we are fully supportive of its mission to encourage school pupils to be more active. It was wonderful to see all the youngsters in their bright yellow Schools Half Marathon t-shirts at Woodbank Stadium, and realise just how much it meant to them to complete their challenge and share such a great achievement with friends. We are looking forward to seeing Schools Half Marathon Stockport grow as we move into a new school year and to seeing it make a difference to many more young people."

Details of the next event by Schools Running Movement, the Summer Running Challenge, will be announced shortly.

Go to www.schoolshalfmarathon.co.uk for further details, like UK Run Events on Facebook and follow @ukrunevents on Twitter and Instagram to keep up to date with all the latest news #SchoolsHalfMarathon #MoveForLife.

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