A MILLION SCHOOL KIDS SET THE PACE FOR A GREAT BRITISH SPORTING WEEKEND
Over a million sporty school kids have set the standard for our World Cup and Wimbledon warriors in what is promising to be an exciting few days of Great British sport.
With England's footballers facing Algeria later today in South Africa and Andy Murray beginning his quest for tennis glory on Monday, this week's sports headlines were hardly up for grabs.
But by completing the Tesco Great School Run earlier today and all this week, youngsters from 4,000 schools proved that we Brits do still have the desire for sporting success - and British sport legends including Colin Jackson and Tessa Sanderson were there to testify.
The former World and Olympic champions were in Newham, East London to cheer on hundreds of kids taking part in the annual 2km run.
Colin, along with current Olympic gymnast Louis Smith who won a bronze medal in Beijing, were later choppered out of East London as they went on an incredible helicopter tour to start runs in Wolverhampton, Sheffield and Hull.
Elsewhere, a series of grand finales at locations including Glasgow and Manchester hosted up to 5,000 children as 2010's races got well under way.
Former 10,000m World and Commonwealth Champion Liz McColgan was on hand to start the Glasgow race, while current Manchester Sale Harrier, Shaunna Thompson was joined by former 400m Olympic medallist, Katharine Merry to start the Manchester finale.
Thousands of schools around the country also staged their own runs, enabling many more children to enjoy the event.
Now in its sixth year, the Tesco Great School Run - organised by those behind the world famous Bupa Great North Run - aims to encourage children between the ages of five and 11 to get fit and healthy through exercise and nutrition advice.
Prior to the finale week, a five-week activation tour took place throughout the country which saw athletes including Colin and Katharine visit schools and promote the event to pupils.
Colin said: "It's been fantastic to see so many children in the UK get really enthusiastic about running. Schools have a vitally important role to play in ensuring our children remain fit and healthy and the teachers we've met over the past month have clearly taken their commitment to the Tesco Great School Run seriously."
John Mayock, former Olympic athlete and campaign manager for the Tesco Great School Run, said: "Every year this run gets bigger and better and we get more and more interest from schools in even the farthest corners of the UK. This year has exceeded our expectations and it's been so inspiring to see the effort that all of the children have put in."
Posted on June 18, 2010