On Saturday 13th October, last year’s and this year’s Club Captains of the Running and Athletics Club travelled to the Ricoh Arena in Coventry for England Athletics’ National Volunteer Awards and Hall of Fame. We had recently been crowned East Midlands Club of the Year at the regional awards and were shortlisted alongside two other clubs for the national club of the year award. This was a great honour for the club and recognition for all the hard work of the previous year. We were recognised for our work in promoting inclusivity within the club by making all of our sessions open and accessible to all abilities and promoting LGBT equality through our annual Pride Colour Run!
On the evening we unfortunately didn’t win the national award, but it was still a great honour to be recognised in the top 3 athletics clubs in the country and represent Leicester Uni on the national stage! We were inspired by all the nominees present that were up for awards and are planning on introducing some of these ideas into our club this year, for example introducing England Athletics Mental Health Ambassadors within the club to champion mental health and promote the wellbeing of our members. Through this scheme we plan to host several #RunAndTalk jogs throughout the year to provide a platform for students and staff of the university to talk about mental health and encourage people to get into running as a way of improving mental health and wellbeing – watch this space for dates!
The evening also featured new inductees to the England Athletics Hall of Fame which included Jessica Ennis-Hill, Katharine Merry and many more, amazing to be at a ceremony alongside so many greats of the sport.
Overall, an excellent and inspiring evening alongside some of the greats of the athletics world championing the University of Leicester and our Running and Athletics Club. If you are interested in any form of running or athletics it’s not too late to come along, more details on our website www.uolrac.com or just drop us a message on Facebook and come along to a session, all of our sessions our suitable for all abilities!
James - Club Captain
