Ipswich to Launch Everyday Sport Campaign in the East

Every year there are 18 million working days lost to obesity related illnes. Inactivity costs this country £8.2 billion a year. Sport England has recognised this and is determined to do something about it. That’s why they are launching the national Everyday Sport campaign on Thursday 15th September. The Everyday Sport message is that sport has benefits that every body can feel, and that activity can be done everywhere.

Ipswich has been selected to host the regional launch of Everyday Sport. On the town’s Cornhill between 10am and 4pm on Sunday 2nd October the town centre will be a hive of activity. It is because  Ipswich is committed to helping it’s community to achieve health through sport and activity that it is launching the Everyday Sport Campaign for the whole of the East of England. The road show will provide opportunities to find out about, take part in or simply soak up the atmosphere of a whole host of different sports and activities.  If the high pace of sports such as volleyball or cycling doesn’t rock your boat then maybe the tranquillity of Pilates or the nostalgia of traditional playground games will get you going. 

One person who will be there to spread the message and inspire people is Ipswich’s Golden Girl and Ambassador for Sport, Karen Pickering. Karen, who has recently retired will be available to sign autographs and let us know how she is planning to spend her well earned retirement, and all at the tender age of thirty something.  

Retirement is normally associated with turning 65 and the long awaited opportunity to kick back, sit back and watch the world go by from the comfort of our own front rooms.

Is however, sitting back and watching, something that we should aspire to? What happens to our bodies when we become less active? When we are faced with a change in our circumstances that affects our activity levels, stress levels and therefore our ultimate health. 

At the height of her swimming career Karen clocked up 60,000 metres in the pool and also managed to undertake 10 hours of dry land training, every week. That’s a fair amount of physical activity!! Surely now then she is ready to rest and relax? 

Karen is of course looking forward to resting and relaxing, but at the same time is also looking forward to keeping her body and her mind strong and healthy. Without strength and health, both physical and mental, rest becomes meaningless and relaxation impossible. The point therefore is to achieve both. Karen’s plan is to train for the London marathon. She will continue to be active everyday, and has an intense and professionally constructed training plan which centres around physical and mental training and of course a well balanced healthy eating programme. The purpose of taking on a daily programme of activity which to many of us seems unnecessarily gruelling is two fold.  Firstly because without a regular and continued commitment to activity, Karen’s health and fitness, like everybody’s, will deteriorate. Fitness is not something that we can bank up and save for  a rainy day. Indeed, our bodies are the only machines in existence that improve the more we use them. Secondly, it is essential to self-esteem to have a challenge to keep working towards. Setting new goals and achieving these goals strengthens our confidence and self- esteem. Self-respect is something which can be achieved through regular activity and is often underplayed as a benefit.

Karen’s retirement has come earlier than most, and it is of course a different type of retirement to many. The message that her actions denote however is clear. Exercise and activity are an essential aspect of health for everybody; those that currently have it and those that currently don’t. It is an everyday commitment to ourselves; an investment in our bodies and the future that our bodies will allow us to pursue. Exercise, activity and or sport should be part of our everyday lives. We don’t all have to aspire to swim in the Olympics or run the London Marathon, but walking up stairs, playing football in the park with our children,  setting obstacle courses in the gardens or dancing to music will all, if done regularly benefit our health and our future.

Join Karen and many other people passionate about  activity at The Everyday Sport Road show. It’s completely free and there are many activities to try, watch or simply to find out more about. Karen along with many other attractions will be at the Road show on  the Ipswich Corn hill on Sunday 2nd October. The Road show runs from 10am until 4pm and promises to be a great family day out with activities and demonstrations for everybody.

Everyday Sport. Every body feels better for it.

For further information contact:

Claire Parker, Health and Fitness Development Officer at Ipswich Borough Council on 01473 433542, e-mail claire.parker@ipswich.gov.uk;

Simon Badman, Sport England, 020 7273 1817, simon.badman@sportengland.org

Bruce MacGregor, Regional Manager, CSV Media, 01473 418021, bmacgregor@csv.org.uk