CURRENT – and future - Olympians lined up in Shawlands to celebrate a new partnership aimed at keeping kids active.
Children at St Conval’s Primary School in Shawlands put Scotland’s most decorated track star Eilidh Doyle, para-athlete Kayleigh Haggo and sprinter Asha Philip through their paces when the three stars visited yesterday. to launch the joint venture by groundbreaking children’s health initiative The Daily Mile and Scottish Athletics.
The Daily Mile, set up by former Glasgow Times Scotswoman of the Year finalist Elaine Wyllie, encourages children to run, jog, wheel or walk for fifteen minutes a day.
Elaine came up with the idea when she was a headteacher in Stirlingshire eight years ago. It now has more than three million young people taking part each day across 12,000 schools in 80 countries.
She said: “This is an exciting new partnership working with leading governing bodies to promote the physical and mental health benefits of The Daily Mile.
“I am particularly excited about a focus on inclusion and ensuring children with a disability are provided with the opportunity to participate. It is important to me that irrespective of age, ability or background The Daily Mile is accessible to all and is fun for all. This partnership will help us deliver this ambition.”
The partnership links the charity with UK Athletics and the athletics governing bodies of all home nations in a bid to emphasise the important role sport and physical activity have to play when discussing mental and physical wellbeing.
Colin Hutchison, CEO for Scottish Athletics said: “I would love to see the partnership developing into links between The Daily Mile organisations and our local clubs and running groups. We also have a growing number of clubs who are integrating opportunities for Para athletes into their training, so that could be another link with The Daily Mile, which is very much open to everyone.”
Maree Todd, Minister for Public Health, Sport and Wellbeing, said: “I wholeheartedly believe in The Daily Mile - the notion is simple yet so effective and one that helps us to reduce health inequalities and the impact on our NHS.
READ MORE: Call for Glasgow schoolchildren to sign up for Daily Mile
“Teachers and parents are already noting significant improvements in relationships amongst children as well as between pupils and teaching staff, therefore it is important that we continue to provide opportunities and work together to become a Daily Mile Nation.
“Active children are healthy, happy and ready to learn.”
Olympic medallist Eilidh Doyle said: “The Daily Mile is a really positive initiative to get young people more active. I’ve loved running since I was very young and the first steps in the sport come via school and then via athletics clubs.
“It is great fun when you exercise regularly and even better when you are doing that with your friends – it’s so good for your physical and mental wellbeing.”
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here