New running initiative for Westbury’s youth

The Junior Avon Valley Runners club (JAVR) has teamed up with the Westbury Local Youth Network (LYN) to deliver a programme of running activities for the young people of Westbury. 

The LYN is a network of groups who focus on bringing positive activities and services to young people and which sits as a sub-group of Westbury Area Board. It aims to support young people from the age of 13 to 19 – or up to 25 with a learning disability.

Along with other challenges such as art, photography, quizzes, cookery lessons and competitions, the JAVR summer challenge can be accessed remotely through the Local Youth Network Facebook Page and Strava group. 

JAVR will post the fortnightly challenges on the Facebook page as well as training videos and warm ups on Facebook and their Instagram page to help participants go from a complete beginner to being able to run 5km (3.1 miles) by the end of the summer. 

They have also posted a link to show you how do download Strava – a smartphone app which uses GPS to allow you to track all of your training.

It is not going to be a super competitive environment, and the group will be supportive to anyone who would like to improve their fitness through running, cycling or walking. 

Westbury community engagement manager Graeme Morrison said, “We’re really grateful that JAVR are helping us with this aspect of the Local Youth Network. They will be setting fortnightly challenges, with distances increasing through the weeks. The first challenge starts off with just running 400 metres and if you follow the programme, by the end of the summer you will be able to run 5k.”

“You don’t have to be into running, or even very fit to begin, you just might want to be a bit healthier or just fancy a bit of a challenge. It will also be useful if you want to stay fit for another sport. It might be a while before young people can play rugby, football, cricket, hockey or other sports, but running is fine and will keep you match fit when other sports return.”

Junior secretary, Holly Newman adds, “The JAVR members and volunteers are really looking forward to working in partnership with the Westbury Local Youth Network over the next few weeks. We are delighted that they approached us as it gives us a great opportunity to showcase the fantastic young people who make up the junior section and hopefully welcome new members to the club. We thoroughly applaud all the efforts from the LYN to provide a variety of positive and fun activities for the young people of Westbury as we move closer to the summer holidays.”

The first challenge is to run 400m as fast as possible between 19th June – 2nd July. Competitors can register their interest on the event page: www.facebook.com/events/640797043313105/ then record their effort using Strava, then send their result to juniors@ avonvalleyrunners.org.uk. 

Results will be posted onto the Avon Valley Runners’ website in due course. Families are encouraged to participate too by getting parents and other family members out to run the challenges with their children.

New junior members can sign up via Entry Central to access regular training nights once Covid restrictions have been lifted.

www.facebook.com/Westbury-Community-Area-Local-Youth-Network-112907497089272/

www.strava.com/clubs/WestburyJAVR