Pictured L-R: Pete Snodden and Rebecca McKinney, Cool FM; Mark Jones, Action Cancer; Paulo Ross, Cool FM; Gemma Beattie, Centra NI launch the Centra Run Together 10K event at Ormeau Park, Belfast, in a bid to raise over £20,000 for Action Cancer.
CENTRA is challenging runners to go the extra mile with the launch of its Centra Run Together 10K event at Ormeau Park, Belfast, in a bid to raise over £20,000 for Action Cancer.
New for this year, this more challenging 10K race will bring this year’s Run Together series to a close.
The Ormeau Park event on Sunday 20th October will offer both 5K and 10K routes to create an exciting grand finale event, with all proceeds being donated to Action Cancer.
Centra Run Together is part of Centra’s Live Well initiative, which helps people to make healthier food and lifestyle choices.
Now in its fourth year, the initiative encourages people to get active by running, jogging or walking with a friend, kids, or even the family dog.
To date, the 2019 Run Together series has received a fantastic response, with a total of 1,550 participants getting active in locations including Enniskillen, Bangor and Derry and one further regional event still to take place in Armagh later this year.
Whilst the new 10K race is aimed at those seeking to take their running journey to the next level, Centra is encouraging participants of all ages and abilities to put their best foot forward and get involved.
For the finale event at Ormeau Park, a small entry fee will apply to both the 5K and 10K races, with 100% of the fee donated to Action Cancer.
It is hoped that the event will make a large contribution to Centra’s major £3million fundraising target for the charity.
Funds raised as part of Centra’s Action Cancer charity partnership help to support projects including the Big Bus mobile breast screening unit and a Health Action Programme for children in schools.
In the first half of 2019, the money raised has enabled the Big Bus to travel to over 113 locations and provide over 1,200 MOT Health Checks and over 2,400 breast screenings with an average of six women diagnosed with Breast Cancer per 1000 women screened.
These funds have also allowed the Health Action Programme to visit 124 schools across Northern Ireland during the academic year, educating over 12,000pupils on their knowledge of health and encouraging them to make better lifestyle choices.
Championing the Run Together series are Cool FM Breakfast Show presenters Pete Snodden, Paulo Ross and Rebecca McKinney, who will support Centra and Action Cancer by encouraging the people of Belfast and beyond to join them in ‘running together’.
Speaking ahead of the event, Pete Snodden said: “I am really looking forward to being part of Centra’s Run Together and am proud to support a fantastic cause like Action Cancer.
“Paulo, Rebecca and I all try to maintain a healthy lifestyle and think that this is a great opportunity to inspire others to do the same.
“I am an occasional runner and really enjoy it, but I admit that I don’t get out as much as I would like. We each have varying levels of running ability, and there’s no doubt that a 10K will be a challenge for us all.
“However, we are looking forward to taking on the challenge as a group and would encourage others to rally their friends and family to do the same.
Jennifer Morton, Centra brand manager said: “We are really excited about the addition of a 10K race in this year’s Run Together series.
“We have had a fantastic response to our regional 5K events and are excited to make an even bigger impact with this finale event.
“At Centra, we’re really focused on making it easier for people to live healthier lives – whether it’s through our tasty, wholesome and fresh food in-store, providing online tips on healthy lifestyle choices or getting out into the community and hosting events like these to encourage people to get active.
“Helping people to make the transition from 5K to 10K seemed like a natural progression for our Run Together Series.
“We are edging closer to our fundraising target for Action Cancer with every Centra Run Together event and have high hopes that our Ormeau Park event will make a huge contribution to our fundraising efforts.”
Mark Jones, Corporate Fundraiser at Action Cancer added: “We are very excited for the new Centra Run Together 10k event in Ormeau park this October.
“The 5k events at Enniskillen, Bangor and Derry have been brilliant so far and the general public have shown fantastic support towards Action Cancer, through the Centra Run Together initiative.
“We are really looking forward to ending the series on a high and hopefully hitting the £20,000 fundraising target, enabling us to provide more of our prevention and detection services throughout Northern Ireland.”
For further information and details of how to register visit www.centra.co.uk/runtogether or the Centra Facebook page, www.facebook.com/CentraNI
