During the period October 2013 – 2014, 15.57 million people aged 16 years or over played sport for at least 30 minutes at moderate intensity, at least once a week. This represents an increase of 1.63 million compared to 2005/06.
Specifically, 8.66 million males aged 16 years or over played sport once a week, an increase of 969,100 compared, again, with 2005/06.
This shows the distances that Sport England and fellow foundations have gone to, in pushing through participation in sport.
During this time parkrun celebrated its 10th year in October 2014, being responsible for 5,135,983 runs alone.
Chris Jones, Chief Executive of England Athletics, told runbritain: “It is fantastic news for the whole sport to see athletics and running growing. This year we have seen record numbers of registered club athletes and tremendous work being done by volunteers and organisations across the sport in taking running and athletics to an ever broader spectrum of people.
“We at England Athletics know that we must continue to work hard to support the club volunteers, event organisers, running group leaders and other partners in all their endeavours to ensure more people become involved in our sport and are able to enjoy all the experiences and benefits it has to offer. We are very grateful to the people we work with across the sport for the expertise, enthusiasm and innovations they provide.”
Well, you know what you need to do now gentleman. Keep on running and encourage those around you.
