Live Active Leisure launches their award-winning Pitlochry 10K for 2016 and joins forces with their Perth counterpart to get the kids running! 

Regular readers of our blog will know that LAL are immensely proud of their award-winning Pitlochry 10K which last year celebrated its 10 year anniversary.  They must have impressed a few important people – you tend to do that when you haveh Olympic athlete Eilidh Childs at the start and finish! – as they’re up for Event of the Year at the Perth & Kinross Sports Awards in March.  Fingers crossed!

This year’s race has just opened on Entry Central and will be held on Sunday 18th September; promising to bring more thrilling 10K race action alongside the Jog Scotland 5K for those who prefer a more leisurely pace (me!), this glorious run through some of Scotland’s most scenic countryside is a hot favourite amongst the 10K regulars.  The LAL Event’s Manager, Richard Pearson, has set an early bird special price which will run until the 30th April so if you know you’re heading for the glorious hills of Highland Perthshire in September, then get on over there and sign up now!

Now, as much as LAL likes to shout about its own fabulous events, they are also committed to supporting all sports and fitness opportunities in Perthshire and Kinross. Their aim of helping us all become more active is singular and they like to encourage a good run round a park regardless of whose name is on the bill. Community  involvement is at the core of their ethos and that means that wherever possible, they like to give a boost to events they know will benefit the people of Perthshire, Kinross and their families.

Which is why this year they’re sponsoring the first ever double kids race at the Keepsafe Perth 10K.  Due to be held on Perth’s North Inch on 28th August, Perth 10K has been going for some 30 odd years. It’s currently run by Perthshire Running Events who have opened up things up this year to host two specific children’s races.  Live Active Leisure has sponsored their kids’ events which has allowed the organisers to offer the first one hundred spaces across the 1.5K and 3K races FOR FREE!  

I caught up with Steve Bonthrone from Perthshire Running Events and he was even more excited than usual!

“We were already excited to announce the new children’s fun run distances for this year’s event but thanks to Live Active Leisure’s involvement, we’re now in a position where we can offer one hundred free spaces to the first kids to sign up. I really hope this tremendous news encourages some of our younger athletes and budding runners to take part.” 

It’s no secret that encouraging a love of exercise in kids is one of LAL’s key priorities and through their Active Fun and Active Energy brands they offer a whole host of opportunities for kids right up to age sixteen – I’m sure you will all remember how cute Jake was in the Wee Springers blog a couple of weeks back!  Quite apart from giving your kids a gift they will have for life, nurturing a healthy attitude towards exercise and keeping fit will help them right now - physical fitness, confidence and stronger self-esteem, more energy, better memory, and simply a good feeling about themselves all go hand-in-hand with kids who like to… well, live active!

Perth 10K will run on Sunday 28th August with two kids fun runs to choose from; the 1.5km route will see five to eleven year olds run an 'out-and-back' course on the North Inch with the 3km route for eleven to fifteen year olds a simple extension of this.   If your kid is a runner then this is great opportunity to get them into a race at no cost to you (let’s be honest, how many times do you get to do anything for free with your kids!?).  All entrants will receive a commemorative t-shirt and medal ;
to find out how to claim your free space and to enter, please visit www.perth10k.co.uk. 

Richard Pearson, Events Manager for Live Active Leisure and the man behind the award-wining Highland Race Series is delighted to be joining forces with the team in Perth.

“Live Active Leisure is delighted to be working with Perthshire Running Events and their sponsor Keepsafe Storage, in delivering this great event for the city.   We’re currently planning some additional fun for the day itself and will be offering young runners some top tips when training season starts!

And of course, as the event takes place three weeks before our Pitlochry 10K, we’re also suggesting to all the grown-ups that they do the double and fit two superb Perthshire 10K races into their 2016 plans!” 

Do the double…. GULP! Runners I’m sure will be signing up now for those early bird offers and in order to keep the side up I might just about manage Richard’s Jog Scotland 5K and a few phone calls to rustle up a niece or two to do me proud in Perth!