Ambassadors Jenny Meadows and Freya Ross show support to young runners as number of GO Run For Fun finishers reaches 45,000 at milestone event

There was a double milestone to celebrate on Tuesday as the 100th INEOS GO Run For Fun event was held at Callendar Park, Falkirk, and the 1200 young runners from 35 Falkirk primary schools involved took the number of total finishers of the initiative’s events to over 45,000.

The campaign, which aims to encourage children between the ages of five and 10 to get active, is supported by ambassadors including Jenny Meadows and Freya Ross, who were on hand at Tuesday’s event to cheer on the youngsters along with the crowds of supporters.

They joined the Falkirk children for a mass warm-up before sounding the horn to announce the start of the one-mile challenge.

“It’s brilliant to have hit the amazing 45,000th milestone today in Falkirk,” said 2009 world 800m bronze medallist Meadows. “When children are young, it is an excellent time for them to become active in as many different activities as possible.

“The more fun running is for children, the better the experience and GO Run For Fun provides the chance to do just that. If they enjoy it you never know where it might end up, we might find Britain s best talent for the future.”

With the 100 event milestone having been reached, the campaign now aims to meet its target of getting 100,000 children running by 2016, making it the biggest children’s running initiative in the world.

The GO Run For Fun series is the brainchild of Jim Ratcliffe, owner of UK manufacturing company INEOS, who announced a 1.5m donation spread over three years to establish a new charitable foundation to encourage children to run for fun.

The series teamed up with Nova International, the events organiser behind the iconic Great Run events, to deliver GO Run For Fun events to encourage grass roots participation and inspire the next generation of sporting talent.

“I m passionate about getting as many children as possible running as early as possible,” said Ratcliffe. “The idea is simple to get children out of the house having fun. It is not rocket science. Running is the basis of so many great sports.”

He added: “If our children can catch the running bug early, they re more likely to stick to it, and this can only lead to them having more active and healthier lifestyles in the future.”

See gorunforfun.com for more

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