A DRAGON boat trip on the River Severn helped launch the 2020 Air Products Worcester City Runs.
Members of Worcester Dragon Boat Racing Club joined event organisers and sponsors last Friday (January 24) to celebrate ‘7 on the Severn’ as the event prepares to grow for its seventh year.
The popular Worcester City Half Marathon, 10K and Young Athletes Run will be joined on the weekend of September 5 and 6 by a family athletics project devised by Paula Radcliffe.
Now well-established on the region’s sporting calendar, the Air Products Worcester City Runs are delivered through a partnership between Worcester City Council and Events of the North.
For the second year, local organisation the Grace Kelly Childhood Cancer Trust will be the event’s official charity partner and is hoping to recruit a large team of runners, after raising thousands of pounds at the event last year.
Meanwhile, several representatives of Worcester Dragon Boat Racing Club will also be taking part this year.
Athletics legend Steve Cram, founder and event director of the Air Products Worcester City Runs, said: “I find it hard to believe that we’ve already reached ‘7 on the Severn’! It’s always a huge pleasure to put on the Air Products Worcester City Runs.
“Worcester City Council and the people of Worcester have been massively supportive since day one and have helped us to make the event bigger and better each year.
“One of the great features of the Air Products Worcester City Runs is how the event has successfully engaged with so many different parts of the local community.
“That’s epitomised by our partnership with the Grace Kelly Childhood Cancer Trust, and the fact Worcester Dragon Boat Racing Club has decided to get involved this year.
“We’re really excited about bringing Paula Radcliffe’s brilliant Families on Track to the city. We will be sharing more details about that in the near future and I’m sure that its addition to the programme will encourage even more people in the city to participate in this great festival of running,” he added.
Paula’s Families on Track is powered by Atom Bank and will kick off the Air Products Worcester City Runs weekend on Saturday, September 5 at Worcester Racecourse and will give family teams of between three and five members the opportunity to work together to complete 10K in a continuous relay in laps of either 1,000m, 500m or 250m, all on a safe, enclosed course.
Coun Allah Ditta, Mayor of Worcester, said: “The Worcester City Runs event is one of the city’s most popular annual fixtures, attracting huge numbers of participants and supporters every year.
“I’m particularly pleased for 2020, people with less or no experience of running will have the opportunity to get involved too and experience all the benefits which exercise can bring.”
Dr Jennifer Kelly, director of the Grace Kelly Childhood Cancer Trust, said: “We are so pleased to have been selected as the official charity partner of the Air Products Worcester City Runs for the second year in succession.
“Last year, the event raised just over £8,000 for the Trust as well as a great deal of awareness. We love the atmosphere of this event so much and we cannot wait to see our Ladybird Runners hitting the streets. If anyone would like to walk or run for our team at the event, we’d love to hear from them.
Visit www.worcestercityrun.com for more information on entering this year’s event.
