A RECORD-breaking number of young people raced to victory.
More children than ever took part in a junior Park Run, after being inspired by their peers.
The junior run at Queens Park, Bolton, typically only sees 40 young people turn up but thanks to the pupils at St Peter’s CE Primary in Farnworth and Chris Reddy at Bright Leaders, Sunday saw 142 join in.
St Peter's CE put out a call to neighbouring schools to take part.
Other primary schools who turned up to the 2km run, were The Ferns in Farnworth, Kearsley West Primary, Highfield Prinmary in Farnworth and Sy Gregory’s RC Primary School.
Together, they ended up reaching their £500 amount target for Bolton Hospice.
Chris, who worked with the children, said: “I work with school councils in Bolton, which are leadership teams led by young people. I recently worked with St Peter’s in Farnworth.
“The students wanted to do a run for Bolton Hospice so decided to join the park run.
“When asked how they could make the event bigger, they had an idea to invite other schools in the area.
“They had 142 children running, which is a record. All we did was get the message out about what we were doing, and they all showed up.”
The Queen’s Park junior run happens every Saturday at 9am.
Chris said: "It’s been really nice working on the project giving the students communication and team skills.
"It was amazing that they came up with the idea to do the run for a charity and to watch them interact with each other was nice."
A spokesman for Park Run said: “We were absolutely blown away with the amazing atmosphere this morning.
“We had a record attendance of 142 runners, who brought with them the most wonderful supporters.
“So many first timers from schools across Bolton and some super-duper PBs. Well done to you all.
“Thank you to all our wonderful volunteers, we can't do it without you. Same time next week.”
Bright Leaders are an organisation looking to building courageous influencers through 1:1 coaching, leadership experiences and retreats to develop leadership skills within young people in Bolton.
Some of the children at the run also took part in litter picking, including Benjamin Worthington.
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