Joe Wicks will visit Dundee as part of a charity campaign to get families walking, talking and feeling great.
Wicks, known as The Body Coach, will be leading his ‘Walk with Joe’ campaign at Camperdown Park on Saturday November 12.
The campaign is being run in association with BBC’s Children in Need and car brand MINI.
The annual telethon’s mascot Pudsey Bear and other CBeebies stars will join Joe on the walk.
Dundee is the only Scottish stop on the free event, and participants are encouraged to go at their own pace and wear their favourite fancy dress, all while raising money for charity.
The event runs from 9am until 11am.
A “bootbank” will also be in place, where walkers and spectators can donate running or walking gear to communities that need it most.
Joe Wicks Dundee Parkrun has something for everyone
Dundee Parkrun event director Emma Fardon told The Courier the main aim of the event is to encourage more people to get outdoors.
She said: “People may look at the word Parkrun and feel they have to go out and take part in a scary run, but that is not the case.
“The purpose of next week’s Walk with Joe event is to welcome more people to join in with this free event where they can run, walk or jog either alone or with friends and family.
“We have people turn up regularly with dogs or with buggies and there is no strict time limits to completing the five-kilometre course.”
Sharing what happens at a Parkrun event, Emma said: “The timed runs are facilitated weekly in parks up and down the country.
“We have been doing them at Camperdown for over 10 years.
“They take place every Saturday morning at 9.30am with courses available for people from the age of four.
“Volunteers facilitate people to run, jog or walk. We usually see 200 people a week but we’d love to have more people come to try it out.”
The ‘go-to’ coach during Covid
Wicks, 37, became a household name posting fitness and food videos on social media.
During the pandemic he started PE With Joe, in which he would livestream workout videos to encourage young people and their families to keep fit during lockdown.
At the start of the year he was made an MBE for services to fitness as well as charity in the UK and abroad, having helped raise £2 million for Children in Need with a 24-hour fitness challenge.
Young carer to join Wicks
Wicks will also be joined on stage at the event by a young carer from the city.
Vickie Carnegie, development worker at Dundee Carers Centre, said:
“We are very grateful to have been chosen to be part of this event.
“Children in Need provide us with funding which allows us to have additional staff that lets us be in every school in Dundee, to offer support to young carers and support young carer groups.”
Conversation