Local Schools Participate in ‘Daily Mile’ National Event

The Daily Mile Network in partnership with Daily Mile Foundation hosted its first national event ‘Northern Ireland Does The Daily Mile’ with a virtual mass participation involving primary and nursery schools across Northern Ireland being active together at the same time on Friday 28 May 2021.

The event was organised in an effort to raise awareness for children’s mental health and wellbeing where children run, jog, wheel or walk for fifteen minutes every day, in which time, most children will average a mile or more. The initiative was started by then Head Teacher Elaine Wyllie in Stirling just eight years ago at a single primary school in Stirling.

Since then the initiative has enjoyed phenomenal success with 3 million children worldwide are now running a mile a day across 12,000 schools in 80 countries but this was the first national event of its kind.

Former Newry, Mourne and Down District Council Chairperson, Councillor Laura Devlin who attended some of the events in the district said, “The aim was to capture the camaraderie that children have missed while schools have been closed, and give young people the chance to get involved in fun healthy activities. I would encourage all schools within the district to sign up to the Daily Mile so that all school children can enjoy fifteen minutes of exercise, jogging or walking a day, which can lead to them becoming happier, fitter and stronger.”

Orlaith Moley, Health & Social Well-Being Improvement Senior Officer with the Public Health Agency said, “We were thrilled to support the first ‘Northern Ireland Does The Daily Mile Day’. We had 372 primary and nursery schools registered for this event across Northern Ireland which is a fantastic achievement in getting children moving on the same day and celebrating the positive benefits that daily activity can have on their physical health and emotional wellbeing.”

 For more information on The Daily Mile and how to get involved visit: thedailymile.co.uk