#91 - The Power of Community and Exercise - Mark White, Founder of Your Town Active and Red Bull Social Entrepreneur

The Inspiration Space Podcast

Your Town was planted when the Founder, Mark White, sent himself an email in 2011 with an idea for a running event that started and finished in Hoddesdon town centre. Three years on, a chance meeting in April 2014 brought ‘Give Your Town The Run Around’ to life, and following a steep learning curve, our first event happened just 5 months later in September 2014.

A year later in October 2015, after putting on two more successful events, the company decided to have a permanent presence in town and invested in our first Street Office. And so… Your Town was born!

Fast forward a few years and Your Town pursued their passion for building and celebrating community in a diverse range of ways. In December 2015, they launched Your Town Clubs, with free weekly clubs for local runners and walkers. In October 2016 they piloted our first “Get-Togethers” simultaneously across three Hertfordshire towns with a run, walk and bike ride for up to 100 participants in each. During the summer 2017, they kicked off “Give Your School the Run Around” programme, which included 10 local primary schools in activities to raise awareness of health, wellbeing and community, culminating in a grand finale event hosted by a local secondary school.

More than most people I get to see the power of what exercise can do to a community. Mark has a passion for it too and it was amazing to see. It was great to meet him and I am so glad he got the chance to be a part of the Redbull Ampahiko Academy. On that note going up and seeing what the Redbull Amaphiko Academy was all about was pretty sensational!! For those that don't know what it is the Red Bull Amaphiko is a programme to help Social Entrepreneurs create innovative and sustainable change in their communities. This episode is the last part of a 3 part series I recorded. I also interviewed two other great guys with two other great business. The link for Your Town is below here.https://www.yourtown.community

Also follow their instagram page - @yourtownactive