WHAT a summer of sport we have enjoyed – England made the final of a first major football tournament for the first time since winning the World Cup in 1966 followed by the awe-inspiring efforts of Team GB at both the Olympics and Paralympics in Tokyo.
And the world class sporting events are still going on – in fact, one will be passing through our very own communities.
The Tour of Britain is the country’s largest series of cycling races, and attracts some of the world’s best cyclists – Olympic hero Sir Bradley Wiggins and Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas were regular competitors, while household name Mark Cavendish is again competing this year.
The prospect of watching these elite cyclists racing through Cumbria on Friday, September 10th, is simply amazing, and one that has rightly got local residents and businesses super excited.
After the racers set off from Carlisle Castle on Friday morning, many villages throughout Cumbria will feature on the route including Penrith, where our office is based.
While boosting the local economy and lifting community spirit, these types of events also play an important role in inspiring local people, especially young people, to get involved in sporting activity and become more healthy generally.
It is widely acknowledged that physical activity has a positive impact on people’s mental wellbeing, and that is something we at Genesis Homes promote at every opportunity.
Each Tuesday after work, we welcome a local personal trainer, Josh Dowson from Dowson Fitness, to our office to let our staff blow off steam after a day at work, and put all their stresses behind them.
Our staff find exercise at the end of their working day a great way to de-stress while getting healthier at the same time.
As Josh himself puts it: “It is fun, functional fitness for all abilities. We slam, rope thrash and run into a post-work de-stress. The guys love the circuit style functional workout to help get a busy day out of the system and boost their mood before heading home!”
Bootcamp is just one of the physical activity sessions we promote at Genesis Homes and we take part in the Cycle to Work Day each year to encourage people to cycle in the morning to get the blood flowing ahead of a day at work. Our staff really get behind the initiative and one employee even cycled 30 miles and back – now that’s commitment!
As well as the physical side to things, we also mix this with social events and our Breakfast Club, staff socials and Walk N’ Talk Club help us create a healthier environment and more sociable atmosphere for our staff.
Encouraging physical activity has proved beneficial to our staff, and we have seen first hand how it can improve people’s mental wellbeing too.
We can’t wait to get out to support the outstanding cyclists coming through our area, and we hope they may inspire the next cycling star of the future from our great county and encourage cycling among more people.
