COUCH TO 5K GETS OFF TO GOOD START

Bishop Monkton's very own 'Couch to 5K' programme got off to an encouraging start earlier this month when 15 villagers signed up to a nine week programme offering the chance to take up, or restart, running. Emma Oates, an accredited triathlon coach, who runs the course. said. "I am absolutely delighted with the response, but there is still plenty of room for even more participants" . The programme itself was created in 1996 and, together with an NHS app launched in 2016, has helped millions of people embrace running in a controlled and planned way.

Emma last ran a similar course in the village in 2021. Completely free to join, the group gets together three times a week -Monday and Thursday evenings with a leader and Saturdays, which is group-led. A WhatsApp group has been created so participants can encourage and motivate one another, sharing their achievements and receiving support for those "not so great" days.

The session includes six cycles of fast walking, (five minutes) running (one minute) and cooling down (ninety seconds) the length of each altering and adapting to take into account increased levels of fitness as the weeks progress. At present, the training takes place at the Village Hall Playing Fields, but before long will spread out around the village and then, if Emma gets her way, the group will celebrate their success by participating in the Park Run one Saturday morning in the beautiful setting of Fountains Abbey.

If you are interested, or would like more details, contact Emma via Facebook Messenger or telephone 07861 770164.