Mo Farah surprises families ahead of Great Manchester Run

Two families from the North West who have been chosen to take part in the Simplyhealth Great Manchester Run Family Challenge were given a massive boost to their training when they met Sir Mo Farah this weekend.

The Parry family, from Prestwich in Greater Manchester and the Wilkinson family from Bolton travelled to South-East London where they had a surprise meeting with Great Britain’s most successful distance runner.

Sir Mo, the four-time Olympic and six-time World champion, will be competing at the Simplyhealth Great Manchester Run on Sunday, 20 May, and the 34-year-old was on hand to give the families some training advice ahead of their own challenge.

The Family Challenge was launched to set families the goal of improving their health and wellbeing in 2018 by training for and taking part in the Simplyhealth Great Manchester Run events.

Families across the region were asked to let organisers know why they wanted to take part in the challenge which offers training plans, expert led sessions and ongoing advice, to support them in their journey to the start line, whether they were taking on the 10K, Half Marathon or Junior and Mini distance.

Sara Parry and her husband Dominic, who are both 42, will take on the 10k, with their children Keira, 14, Fraser, 11, Erica, 10, Heidi, 8 and Skylar, 3, taking on the Simplyhealth Junior and Mini Great Manchester Run.

Sara said: “To meet Mo Farah was absolutely amazing, you could say it was a once in a lifetime experience.

“He is such a positive and motivating person and genuinely kind. The children are still in 'awe' at meeting such a great role model for fitness, family and fun.”

The family have set themselves the challenge in order to help manage Erica's asthma and Fraser's autism.

They regularly take part in organised runs together and hope to improve their distance goals by taking on the 10k and kids' events.

You can sign up to take part in the Great Manchester Run here.

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