Guernsey runners of all abilities are being invited by researchers from the University of Nottingham to take part in a study looking at how their running habits have changed during the Covid-19 pandemic, and what impact running could potentially have on the virus itself.
Covid-19 has affected everyone’s lives, and many keen adult runners in the general population have been affected too, for example by lifestyle changes or through changes to their running activities due to lockdown or other restrictions that have been in place.
Academics from the University of Nottingham’s Department of Orthopaedics, Trauma and Sports Medicine in the School of Medicine, are now inviting members of the running community to share their training data, so they can examine any changes in running habits associated with current restrictions, as part of a new study called Running Through.
To sign up and complete the survey click here. When selecting country remember to choose "Other".
“The data we collect will help us to understand the impact of the pandemic on the running communities. We will also be able to see what impact running could potentially have on the severity of Covid-19 or whether it aids recovery times.
People living in Guernsey have a higher life expectancy compared to other parts of the UK and so we invite everyone to take part, to enable us to understand how physical activity levels can contribute to a healthy lifestyle. Through understanding how different injuries and illnesses in Guernsey affect long term sport participation, we can also identify if resources available to runners in Guernsey should be utilised to help other runners in the future.”
The team is undertaking a global survey and has, particularly, reached out to communities such as Australia, New Zealand and now Guernsey so that they can consider the impact depending on different lockdown circumstances.
‘The Bailiwick of Guernsey has had a unique lockdown and post-lockdown experience in terms of activity generally and running in particular.
Evidence from sources such as the running app Strava suggests that amongst people who use it, there has been an increase in the amount of running both informally and through engagement in organised events.
For example, Guernsey athletics hosted a busy programme of cross-country and road races from June 2020 to January 2021 and we were one of the first communities to restart parkrun once lockdown restrictions eased.
The experience is very different in England, where the study is based. Events have not been organised for over a year and running take-up has varied according to region and different demographic sectors.
We are working with Dr Stocks to see if we can identify a group of Bailiwick runners to participate in the study so that they can track and monitor our different experience. Signing up to the programme is very simple. If fifty runners can sign up we will have a sufficiently large cohort to report separately on the Guernsey experience which should be really interesting.'
To find out more about the study check out the University of Nottingham's media release here.
More information is available from Dr Joanne Stocks in the School of Medicine at the University of Nottingham at joanne.stocks@nottingham.ac.uk and Alun Williams alun.williams@healthimprovement.gg or on 07839 741223