Brownlees join Leeds parkrun to encourage sports participation

Brownlees pair up with Sharron Davies and David Moorcroft to promote parkrun

Published: August 22, 2012 at 9:37 am

A nationwide grassroots campaign to capture the once in a lifetime opportunity of hosting the Olympic Games will see over 5,000 events take place across the UK as part of building the sporting and volunteering legacy from London 2012.

Backed by Team GB medal winners past and present, Prince William as well as David Cameron and Lord Coe, 'Join In Local Sport' is an independent charity funded by the government with the specific aim of getting as many people as possible to turn up, take part and join in at their local sports facilities the first weekend after the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games.

As part of the campaign, Sharron Davies and David Moorcroft joined forces to complete a cross-country challenge, visiting as many of these clubs as possible over one weekend.

On Saturday the Brownlee Brothers arrived in Leeds to visit the free weekly parkrun in Woodhouse Moor, a nationwide event established to increase opportunities for people in the local community to both participate and volunteer in running.

Set up in partnership with the University of Leeds, the event brings the community together on a weekly basis, with hundreds of people taking part alongside our sporting greats.

The Brownlee Brothers said: “It’s important to remember where and how you started out, and we’ve been doing weekend park runs just like this one for years and will continue to do so.

“We wanted to come here today to meet some of the people who organise the run, as events like this couldn’t happen without the volunteers who make them possible for people just like us. The Join In weekend is all about carrying on the volunteering spirit we’ve seen at the Games and encouraging more people to get involved so we can have more great sporting events just like this one.”

To find out what events are happening near you, simply go to the Join In website – www.joininuk.org – and enter you postcode.

Those looking to take part in parkrun should visit the website www.parkrun.com.