Eilish McColgan is inaugural grant recipient, with elite athletes and community running groups able to apply

Runners of all abilities can apply for a grant issued by The National Running Show to help facilitate the careers of the next wave of elite athletes and community running groups.

The grant programme, which launched at the third annual National Running Show in Birmingham in January, offers grants ranging from £500 to £3,000 under two grant streams – the Elite Sport grant and the Community grant.

The programme’s judging panel will feature a host of industry experts and carefully chosen individuals from the business world. The judges include Olympic silver medallist Wendy Sly; former international athlete Allison Curbishley; world gold medallist Steve Cram; British 400m record-holder Iwan Thomas; ultra runner Susie Chan; Mark Brider, CEO of Children with Cancer UK; Hannah Beecham, founder and CEO of RED Together and Jessica Robson, founder of Run Talk Run.

The Elite grant is the top tier of funding which aims to support elite runners who inspire others through their activities. The money can be used to purchase specialist equipment, access professional training and coaching and cover travel costs to events.

The second stream of funding, the Community grant, offers groups operating across England an opportunity to apply for support. The criteria for selection will identify those who help encourage inactive people to become more active, promote and encourage lasting sporting habits and help to develop positive attitudes towards running among young people.

European 5000m silver medallist Eilish McColgan is the inaugural recipient of the Elite grant and said: “The grant will be a huge help in this Olympic year.

“I will be using the grant to fund my altitude training camp and I’m also hoping to use the extra money to help bring my mum, who coaches me, out to the Olympic Games in Tokyo – should I qualify for Team GB!”

Mike Seaman, CEO at Raccoon Events and founder of the National Running Show, commented: “We have met so many inspiring runners in the three years since we launched the National Running Show, and not just athletes, runners who do a mile a week but are so motivated because the positive physical and mental outcomes.

“When I set up the National Running Show it was my aim to be able to give back to this amazing community and I am delighted to be able to do that through these grants.

“We feel passionately that running is about more than getting fit and healthy, it’s about friendship, motivation and positive mental health and we know first-hand just how important community running groups are in inspiring people who might be reticent to get out and take a few steps.”

Applications for both grant streams should be submitted by midnight on March 21, 2020, at [email protected].

Successful applicants will be notified by April 1, 2020.

For more information on the funding and how to apply visit nationalrunningshow.com/grants.

The next National Running Show takes place in London on June  13-14, 2020. Tickets are available at bit.ly/3buv19s.