Vitality Becomes First Headline Partner Of Parkrun UK
Vitality has announced it has become the first headline partner of parkrun UK, with the community-based running series to be referred to as ‘parkrun UK with Vitality’.
Health and life insurer Vitality has been a partner of parkrun UK – winners of Participation Event of the Year at the BT Sport Industry Awards 2016 – since 2012. The headline partnership will help parkrun to continue providing free community based and volunteer led physical activity.
The partnership will also support the continued growth of new parkrun events around the country and the development of junior parkrun, which are 2k runs for 4 to 14-year-olds.
To launch the new partnership, Vitality ambassador and Olympic gold medallist Jessica Ennis-Hill took part in her local Sheffield Hallam parkrun this weekend. The run formed part of Jessica’s training for VitalityMove, a new running and music event series she has created with Vitality that aims to encourage people to be more active by making running fun.
Loved my first park run this morning! 5km is a little bit further than the 800m I’m used tohttps://t.co/uBxjgELvb8
— Jessica Ennis-Hill (@J_Ennis) February 4, 2017
Vitality members who take part in parkrun with Vitality are able to receive activity points, which unlock rewards and benefits, including drinks at Starbucks, cinema tickets, money off trainers and discounts on activity trackers such as the Apple Watch. Almost 20,000 Vitality members have signed up to take part in parkrun in the past five years.
Neville Koopowitz, CEO at Vitality, said: “parkrun has gone from strength to strength over the past five years Vitality has been involved and I am delighted that through this enhanced partnership we can contribute to its continued growth.
“The great thing about parkrun is that it provides an opportunity for people to take part in a free, organised run that’s open to everyone, from elite runners to people who have never even laced up a pair of trainers.
“At Vitality we want to encourage people, whatever their current level of fitness, to take regular small steps to a healthier life. It’s fantastic to have a partner like parkrun who shares this vision and is committed to finding ways to help motivate people to start and stay on their journey to wellness.”
parkrun chief executive Nick Pearson said: “We are delighted that Vitality has upscaled its support of parkrun. This partnership is a major step towards building the infrastructure that parkrun needs to continue to grow at the spectacular rate we are currently seeing. We expect to see the number of people taking part in UK parkruns almost double in the next couple of years.
“This landmark partnership will significantly support this growth and ensure that our events remain free, simple and accessible for everyone who wants to take part – whether that be running, walking or volunteering.
“Our vision is to create a healthier and happier planet by empowering local communities to provide free physical activity, and it’s important for us to partner with an organisation that shares that commitment. We look forward to working with Vitality to bring more people into active lifestyles.”
parkrun supports local communities in organising free, weekly, timed 5k runs every Saturday morning at more than 440 venues across the UK, along with 147 2k junior parkruns. Around 110,000 people of every age and ability take part each week thanks to the contribution of 10,000 volunteers. 1.2 million registered participants have run almost 70 million kilometres at parkrun UK events since it launched in 2004.
