The Daily Mile is a social physical activity, with children encouraged to jog or run – at their own pace – in the fresh air with friends. Children can occasionally walk to catch their breath, if necessary, but should aim to run or jog for the full 15 minutes.
The Daily Mile supported by INEOS, Irish Life Health, SPAR, Healthy Ireland, Tomar Trust and Local Sports Partnerships has now been rolled out in 974 primary schools.
This results in 194,800 primary school children engaged in daily exercise.
This represents rapid growth when benchmarked against other countries who have implemented the program. Scotland were one of the first countries to launch the Daily Mile back in 2012.
Schools % Uptake Per County (Top 10)
| County | % Uptake |
| Meath | 56.64 |
| Kildare | 49.02 |
| Cavan | 44.74 |
| Kerry | 44.44 |
| Longford | 36.84 |
| Mayo | 35.50 |
| Offaly | 32.32 |
| Dublin | 31.21 |
| Louth | 30.99 |
| Limerick | 30.94 |
Research
Athletics Ireland have also commissioned research in conjunction with Cork Institute of Technology to examine a “physical activity programme in Irish primary school settings and the effect it has on the health, fitness and physical activity behaviour measures of participants”.
According to the new research, teachers see The Daily Mile as an essential part of the school day, with THREE-QUARTERS of primary school teachers stating that The Daily Mile has a positive impact on the attentiveness and concentrations levels of children throughout the school day.
A summary of the early findings can be found here, with a more detailed report available here.
Some additional research carried out in the UK is details below;
Current research on the benefits associated to The Daily Mile available by clicking HERE
Speaking in late 2019, Professor Niall Moyna, Clinical Exercise Physiologist tells us that if current trends continue, that this generation will be the first in history not to outlive their parents.
Visit www.thedailymile.ie
