London Marathon charity gifts junior parkrun £1m

Junior parkrun wants to get more than 300,000 children joining its events by 2026

The London Marathon Group's (LMG) charity is awarding more than £1m to junior parkrun.

The London Marathon Foundation is giving £1.19m to the organisation to "inspire children to be active".

In a statement, LMG said the three-year partnership could lead to "more than 300,000" more children joining the free events by 2026.

Chrissie Wellington, of parkrun UK, said she was "thrilled" with the partnership.

Junior parkrun is a weekly event in which children aged four to 14 tackle a 2km course.

There are currently 405 events across the UK, with 22,000 children taking part every Sunday.

LMG said 53% of children were not meeting the chief medical officer's guidelines of taking part in an average of an hour's sport and physical activity a day, as recorded in a Sport England 2022 survey.

The partnership will establish more than 120 new junior parkrun events across the UK, focusing on communities where inactivity is at its highest.

Catherine Anderson, London Marathon Foundation's executive director, said that the pandemic and cost-of-living crisis affected access to activity for young people.

"Together, we're now championing a healthier and more active future for children and young people across the UK - especially those living in deprived areas," she said.

Ms Wellington said: "Junior parkrun is already changing lives. However, we are only just scratching the surface in terms of what we can achieve."

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