The people, campaigns, research and updates making an impact in our running community this month
WORLD RECORDS FALL AT TCS LONDON MARATHON
2024 marked a bumper year with world-beating performances
Kenya’s Peres Jepchirchir set a new women-only world record of 2:16:16 at this year’s London Marathon, and Swiss athlete Catherine Debrunner won the wheelchair division.
Not only were the women athletes on fire this year, the 2024 edition of the much-loved race set a new world record for the biggest annual one-day fundraising event. More than £67 million has already been raised from the event, beating the record set at the 2019 marathon. And a record number of participants finished, making this year the most inclusive race ever. Over 50,000 lucky runners finished the 26.2-mile race through the capital, and got to see London at its spring-time best.
DIRECT LINK BETWEEN EXERCISING AS A TEENAGER AND BETTER MENTAL WELLBEING LATER IN LIFE
A new study from Asics, led by Professor Brendon Stubbs, found those who engage in exercise throughout their adolescence exhibit higher activity levels and mental wellbeing as adults than those who don’t.
The Global State of Mind Study, which included over 26,000 respondents across 22 countries, was able to pinpoint the ages of 15-17 as being the most critical years for staying active. Those who drop out of exercise before the age of 15 display the lowest activity levels and worst state of mental wellbeing in adulthood.
In the UK, people who are regularly active have an average State of Mind score of 61/100, while inactive people have a much lower score of just 54/100. Worryingly, the study also uncovered an exercise generation gap, with younger generations being increasingly less active, a fact that negatively impacted their State of Mind score.
In the UK, over half (55%) of the Silent Generation (aged 78+) said they were active daily in their early childhood, compared to 35% of Millennials (aged 28-42) and just 21% of Gen Z (aged 18-27). This shows a concerning trend for younger generations being less active and dropping out of physical activity earlier than the generations before them.
ON THE OLYMPIC TRAIL
Runners from communities across the UK took on a trail run of 455K, from London to Paris, in April, to mark the fact that this year marks 100 years since running off-road became an official discipline at the Olympics.
Ahead of Paris 2024, runners came together to campaign for the inclusion of trail ru
