University of Stirling students and staff sport their trainers on Commonwealth Day

Students and staff from the University of Stirling showed their support for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games today (Monday 12 March).

A range of free, fun sports activities were held on campus at Scotland’s University for Sporting Excellence as part of Sport Your Trainers, the annual event which takes place on Commonwealth Day.

Professor David Lavallee, Head of the School of Sport, and Jon Doig, Chief Executive of campus partners Commonwealth Games Scotland – the organisation which will prepare Team Scotland for the Glasgow 2014 games – donned their trainers and joined in with a community Zumba class, which featured a number of Winning Students sports scholarship students.

Other fun activities included a sport your flippers swim class; an extra-long evening indoor cycling class and a series of sports taster sessions in badminton and basketball.

Professor Lavallee said: “There may be more than two years to go until the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games get underway, but already the excitement is building and Sport Your Trainers is a great idea enabling the Scottish public to show its support.

“The sports facilities here at the University of Stirling are all open to the local community and it has been nice to see so many people sporting their trainers and trying out a different sport. Many of our students are also training hard in the hope of selection for the Games and they will be spurred on by the support from the Stirling community.”

Commonwealth Day also saw the launch of the Walk at Work Challenge, where seven staff teams sporting pedometers will step it up to clock the longest cumulative distance over an eight week period.

And parents too got involved on the day, joining their children in a tennis class at the Scottish National Tennis Centre, the venue where British No.1 Andy Murray trained as a youngster.

Making the most of the scenic campus, coaches and sports staff from governing body triathlonscotland took on a time trial challenge around Airthrey Loch, while back in the fitness centre, University gym instructors challenged gym members to top the 3km treadmill leader board.

Gail Niven, Sports Participation Manager, said: “Our team has worked really hard to showcase the many sport and fitness activities available at Scotland’s University for Sporting Excellence. I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as we did and will continue to sport their trainers as the excitement builds towards the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.”