Runners give special thank you to national health service as Hartlepool parkrun helps celebrate 70th anniversary of NHS

The town’s parkrunners turned out in force for one of its weekly 5k events - but this one had special significance as it was dedicated to the NHS 70th birthday celebrations.

Staff at North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust joined runs across the area to show their support, including in Hartlepool.

Physiotherapists from the trust were also on hand at events at Hartlepool, Tees Barrage in Stockton and Durham to take part and to offer advice before the run and support after.

Josh Lincoln and Jason Marsh, physiotherapists at the trust, took part in the Hartlepool event.

Josh, who also came third in the race, said: “It was fantastic for the team to be a part of such a landmark event – celebrating 70 years of the National Health Service.

“Much like the NHS, parkrun is all about a community of people pulling together to do something for the benefit of others.

“On behalf of all of the trust’s physiotherapists who were involved, I’d like to thank parkrun for welcoming us along and hosting such a special event to mark a very special birthday.”

Organisers of the weekly parkrun would love to hear from more people wanting to join in with the Saturday morning 5k runs.

Hartlepool parkrun is a free 5k event held every Saturday at 9am on the promenade, starting at Maritime Avenue.

It is open to walkers and runners of all ages and abilities and is co-ordinated by volunteers.

The link-up with the health service also comes at a time when growing levels of obesity is a major health issue for the NHS, and can lead to life-threatening conditions, such as type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, some types of cancer and stroke.

The cost to the NHS of treating diabetes alone is about £10 billion every year – nearly 10% of the NHS budget. It is estimated that obesity is responsible for more than 30,000 deaths each year and that obesity could overtake tobacco smoking as the biggest cause of preventable death.

To find out more about Hartlepool parkrun, visit http://www.parkrun.org.uk/hartlepool.