Our Move Maker for March has been awarded to Acacia, who volunteers at Great Notley Park Run. At the age of just 15 she has managed to take part in over 300 Junior and Adult Park Run’s and has volunteered at an amazing 188 Parkrun events. Acacia has conducted various roles including warm up leader, pacer, time keeper and has also been the run director, making her one of the youngest in the world to do so!
Upon receiving the award Acacia said;
“I wanted to get involved in the Move With Us campaign to play my part in inspiring others to become more active, as I have really benefited from others sharing their passion for running and volunteering with me. Encouragement and motivation to take part in activities, delivered by people of similar ages to their audience, are often really powerful and the Move With Us campaign provides a platform to do this.
From my perspective, getting young people involved in running is beneficial for a number of reasons, ranging from the social aspect of meeting new people and making friends through to the aspect of staying fit and healthy. I have found it can be difficult to get young people interested in sports – especially running – but it all comes down to finding the right balance. What I have learnt over the years is sometimes you do not want to go out when you have been pushing yourself to go out as many times as you can per week, so I would encourage youths to start with just one or two runs a week in a comfortable and pleasant environment where there is not any pressure on the time you take/the pace you run.
Starting junior parkrun at age of seven helped me find my passion for running, leading to me joining Braintree and District Athletics Club. I now compete at a variety of distances on the track, at cross country, and at road running events such as 5k and 10k races. I also enjoy running socially, especially at parkrun where I have friends of all ages and backgrounds. This has helped my confidence in meeting and interacting with adults.
I am delighted to receive the Move Maker Award for March. I do not volunteer or participate for recognition – I do it because I genuinely love what I do. This Award will make my smile even wider though!”
Acacia has also signed up to be a #MoveWithUs ambassador so she can continue to help inspire the next generation of runners, join her here.
