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London's ambitious legacy plans are taking root. Team Run! Are harnessing Olympic fever with over 6,881 extra Athletics Participants taking part in the sport since the Olympic Games begun on 27th August.

Run! Activators have been working flat out to ensure there are participation opportunities on offer during games time and in the build up to the Paralympics. Local volunteers have been on hand to assist in the Athletics provision and expert coaches have been out and about talent spotting at local community events including; Park Live sites, Festivals, Summer Programmes and Taster Days.

Run! Project Manager Rhian Horlock said; ‘The Run! Activators can now turn to delivering a lasting Athletics Legacy with great confidence that the games have had a significant impact on inspiring 6,881 participants in the local community to get involved in the sport. I want to thank the Activators who have made this all possible through hard work and dedication in their event planning working with a range of partner organisations, including Street Games, Access Sport, Local Authorities and BT London Live. The Activators have not only ensured we have adequate provision in place maximising the magnificent opportunity, but also have been accommodating to the numerous press requests and participation requests we have received throughout the games time period to inspire a generation.’

Cambridge Harriers have experienced a 25% increase in enquiries; while Track Academy are receiving an extra 30-50 extra participants per session
And The Newham and Essex Beagles club email is overflowing with over 100 participant requests.

Run! has featured highly in games time press coverage including Activator appearances on Dutch TV – RTL, Canada TV –CBC, BBC London Drive time, Radio 5 Live, Fuji TV, The Sun Newspaper,
The Financial Times, BBC London News and London Tonight. Individual interviews took place with Run! Activator Shaun Medlen on the BBC 5TH August at the Waltham Forest Festival of Sport and Nicole Evans on BBC Lunchtime News on the 9th August at BT London Live Victoria Park Have a go Athletics Taster Arena. S Factor were featured heavily on Dutch TV and Run! Activator Lisa Miller was interviewed for the Financial Times. Tune in this Thursday to hear Run! Activator Coral take part in a legacy talk with young games makers on Radio 5 Live 10am. This is a huge step forward in raising the profile for the project and thanking our partners and local funders for their contributions towards the project. The Run! Team are extremely grateful for the funding support we receive from the Mayor’s Office and Local Authorities, without this support the participation opportunities would not be available. Activators are continuously applying to the Small Grants programmes to ensure there are adequate funds in place to run their local events we have recently been successful in obtaining a grant from the Peoples Health Trust and Sport England Small Grants.

With the Paralympic Games due to start shortly the activators are gearing up to run a series of inclusive tasters and are part of the Interactive Inclusive and Active 2 Launch on the 26th August. The borough Inclusive and Active 2 Athletics Plans have been updated and recruiting more disabled participants into the sport is now high on the Activators Agenda.  There will also be a celebration of Athletics Legacy free community event in partnership with LOCOG at Newham Leisure Centre on 19th August, The Run! Calendar is bursting with events you can access here - http://www.londonathletics.org/node/158 or what’s on this week with the Run! Team here - http://www.londonathletics.org/node/451

"Fortunately media interest in legacy aspects of the sport in London has coincided with a number of Access Events put on by our highly successful Run! Project. This has allowed us to show that we are well progressed in our plans to use the Games to stimulate increased participation in London's most deprived boroughs. The real task will be to continue the good work when the media's attention has turned to other things. But for now London Athletics has been able to present the sport in a very positive way and to dominate coverage of the legacy story."

Please find a link to two pieces of Film that took place yesterday at Ladywell Arena with S Factor Academy.

1. Financial Times Piece http://video.ft.com/v/1775397285001/Funding-fears-to-follow-Olympics
2. Dutch TV piece http://www.rtl.nl/xl/#/u/82c9ca7e-f30a-413d-bda8-bb99cfbb34b4 (you might need to download a Microsoft package to watch)

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