FORCE link earns national award
Its work with FORCE has helped Active Devon win the Participation Project of the Year title at the England Athletics national awards dinner.
The award, which recognises work done by community organisations to raise participation in athletics, was presented to Active Devon’s Matt Evans, accompanied by Tony Gale.
The project has engaged with more than 650 new runners and has forged relationships with numerous different clubs.
A notable example of Active Devon’s work in the community is how they worked with the FORCE to form a 5k running group specifically for patients recovering from cancer.
Gale, who is chair of the InStep Devon running network, was delighted that their scheme had helped Active Devon win.
“It was great to learn that one of InStep’s projects setting up a beginner running group for the FORCE Cancer Charity in Exeter had featured in Active Devon’s citation for the award,” said Gale. “I was pleased to hear that this had reached the national shortlist, and absolutely delighted to find that we’d won.”
He added: “It was a real buzz to chat to legends like Roger Black, Basil Heatley, Ron Hill and David Moorcroft and for them to be congratulating me. InStep has worked hard to set up and support a range of initiatives for recreational running creating more opportunities for beginner runners and occasional joggers. We currently support something in excess of 25 Run England groups.”
Our thanks to the Express & Echo for this report
