Bristol Uni Sport encourages students to run the Great Bristol 10K

By Maggie Sawant, Students’ Union Correspondent

More than 300 participants from the University have already signed up to run the Great Bristol 10K this May. Will you be joining them?

The 6.2 mile route passes some of Bristol’s most famous landmarks, including the Clifton Suspension Bridge and the St Mary Redcliffe Church.

Amy Brook, Sport and Student Development Officer for Bristol Students’ Union said: ‘It’s fantastic that hundreds of students are already signing up to the Great Bristol 10k.

The run is an amazing way for our students and their supporters to come out and show their love for the city.

Getting active is such a big part of looking after your wellbeing, so having this chance to join in the day at a student-friendly price is brilliant.’

As well as encouraging students to run the Great Bristol 10k, the University has encouraged students who have signed up to raise money for the University’s pioneering B:Active Healthy Minds programme, which aims to improve student mental health through physical activity, by providing accessible, social and inclusive fitness classes, as well as gym and sports opportunities, based on their individual needs.

Peter Burrows, the University’s Physical Activity and Health Development Officer, describes the programme as ‘a physical activity intervention that utilises the benefits of physical activity to support mental wellbeing.’

He told Epigram that students may access the programme after being referred by the Student Counselling Service or the Mental Health Advisory service, or by contacting their faculty Student Wellbeing Advisers.

He added that the programme, typically lasting for three months for each student, ‘combines conventional therapy with exercise’. He also said that ‘all instructors have advanced training in mental health’, and Student Activators support the activity classes, ‘welcoming people, making them feel at ease, and giving them extra confidence.’

Peter Burrows wishes to share the Healthy Minds programme as a model of best practice for other universities

He also told Epigram that Bristol University’s approach is ‘sector leading’, and wishes to share the Healthy Minds model as ‘best practice’ with other universities, which tend to give students suffering mental health difficulties free gym passes, which differs from the ‘structured’ nature of the Healthy Minds programme.

Lucy Delamere, a third-year Law student and Activator, who plans to run both the Bristol 10K and the London Marathon, fundraising for Healthy Minds, told Epigram that it is ‘not too late to start training now’, and urged students to take part in University-run training sessions over the next few months.

Featured: Epigram / Maggie Sawant

Will you be one of the hundreds of students taking part in the Bristol 10K? Or have you already started training? Let Epigram know!