Groups from all over Ireland –from Innishowen in the far North West, to Tralee in the equally distanced South West and all points in between, gathered in DCU for an Athletics Ireland ‘Fit4life Leader’ training day on Saturday, October 13th. The Fit4Life Meet n Train programme, supported by Athletics Ireland and the Irish Sports Council’s Women in Sport initiative, will be led by trained club leaders and aims at getting thousands physically active, across the country, during the coming months. Athletics Ireland C.E.O. Mr. Brendan Hackett, indicated that ‘following on from the success of last years programme of ‘Fit4Life Leagues’ (many of which are still in operation), we hope to further build on the recreational section of athletics clubs by encouraging recreational runners/walkers to join clubs and enjoy appropriate and sociable training sessions’ The content of the day included inter-active sessions on Health and Fitness, Designing and Planning Appropriate Training Programmes, Promoting Fit4Life,Warming up/Cooling down; Stretching; and Developing Core Strength and Stability. Valuable inputs also came from successful Fit4Life League leaders and from Lindie Naughton, Coach, Journalist and well known in Dublin Meet n Train groups. All participating Leaders were given a copy of Lindie’s new book ‘Lets Run’ A handbook for Irish Runners; which includes lots of practical advice on how to introduce and develop friendly walking and running programmes to recreational runners. The Fit4Life Meet n Train groups will now begin to offer opportunities to recreational runners to join their clubs and upon registration with Athletics Ireland, the participants will receive branded goods and training diary as well as benefiting form being part of a regular training group. Each group will have fliers to distribute in their local area in the coming weeks. More details of the Fit4Life Meet n Train programme as well as a list of the 30 participating groups are on the Athletics Ireland website www.athleticsireland.ie in the Development section. Picture shows participants at Athletics Ireland’s Fit4Life Leader Training in DCU.