Friends help push each other to 10k road race finish

Avid runner Jo Eismont was thrilled to have completed the Great Scottish Run in Glasgow – but insists she couldn’t have done it without the invaluable support from being part of a Facebook runners’ group.

After taking up running five years ago, Jo was the Fife representative in the race, which saw the Bank of Scotland team up with 32 local authorities in Scotland for the Community Challenge in a bid to get Scotland active.

And the mum-of-two has revealed she couldn’t have even made the start line had it not been for the online group set up by the initiative, which saw her interact with runners who put themselves through a 10-week training programme.

“Everyone from the community challenge met up in the morning of the race and it was great – we just had such a laugh together,” said the 38-year-old.

“We’ve been talking online for the best part of three months and it felt like we were all friends by that point.

“I’ve never run with a plan, so getting the coaching plan made all the difference and having the Facebook group set up just changed everything.”

Bank of Scotland supported runners from communities across Scotland on a 10 weeks to 10k challenge for the Bank of Scotland Great Scottish Run Community Challenge. For more information, visit greatscottishrun.com/community-challenge