At this challenging time, it has never been more important to stay active, keep motivated and feel connected by being part of something.

Throughout April, we’re asking you to join our monthly motivator challenge, kindly provided for free by our Head of UK Recruitment Kev Betts via his online platform, Run Things.

Kev said: “We created Run Things to promote the relationship between mental and physical health. Our events always support mental health and we give 50 per cent of all our event profits to Mind.

“When times get tough, giving ourselves the opportunity to release some endorphins, relax and have times to ourselves is proven to reduce stress, anxiety and the likelihood of depressive episodes. It’s great to be able to provide a free event for anyone associated with Sussex to keep them motivated, interacting with others and staying fit.

“We would like as many staff, students and alumni to get involved – and invite your family and friends to get involved as well.”

The idea is simple: choose a desired distance to aim for over the month and accumulate miles using your exercise throughout April to reach your target.

To take part:

• Select the Sussex Challenge on RunThings and click ‘add to basket’
• Proceed to checkout and then join as an individual, join an existing team, if someone has already invited you, or click ’create team’ if you’d like to take part with Sussex friends and colleagues. You’ll need to enter the password Sussex1 if you’re registering without an invite URL
• If you’re registering as a team, you can select a team name
• Once the team is created, you can invite others to join the event using your RunThings account
• Go to ‘my races’ and select the Sussex Challenge. You can then scroll down and find a ‘team invitation url’. Copy this code and send it out to everyone you would like to join your team

Don't worry if you’re not a runner, you can manually enter any exercise you do throughout the month; every 6 minutes of exercise counts as one kilometre distance.

To clock up your miles you can take part in Sussexsport’s online classes, workout with RunThings who are offering daily sessions, or go for a walk, run or cycle - making sure to follow the government’s safe distancing advice.

Choosing a target for the monthly challenge will help to keep you active and motivated, but it’s also important to stay connected during this uncertain time.

• Read Dr Rashaad Shabab’s blog about the University of Sussex Business School’s Running Group, who are maintaining a virtual presence to ensure crucial social interactions aren’t missed while they can’t run on campus.

• And as well as his website, Kev does a podcast alongside the exercise classes on Facebook about running and mental health - from training tips to personal mental health stories.

We want our monthly challenge to inspire connection, conversation and togetherness too, so Sussexsport have created a Facebook group where you can share your runs, workouts and exercise tips and reach out for advice and conversation with others taking part in the challenge.

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