She may have European and Commonwealth gold medals to her name, but gymnast Becky Downie still brought up the rear at this weekend’s Rushcliffe parkrun.

However, rather than experiencing a dramatic loss in fitness, the 25-year-old was actually taking part in UK Sport’s #teamparkrun event, acting as the 'tail walker', to ensure that – as is the parkrun ethos – no-one finished last.

On August 19 UK Sport is encouraging National Lottery funded athletes to follow in Downie’s footsteps and be a tail walker at their local parkrun as a way of saying thank you to the millions of people who play the National Lottery each week and, in doing so, help fund elite sport in the UK.

Downie took to the pathways of Rushcliffe Country Park at 9.00am on Saturday for her very first parkrun and encouraged everyone to get involved on August 19.

“It was really good fun. I was not really sure what to expect as it’s not something I had heard about but I had a really enjoyable time,” she said.

“It’s great to see so many people out exercising on a Saturday morning, it’s really cool.

“I was actually quite enjoying chilling at the back, offering my support to other people. I’ve not been training much because I’m recovering from injury.

“Normally when I’m in full training, I’m training at 8.30 in the morning but I’ve been able to be a bit more flexible currently so it was fantastic to come along.”

Parkrun is a nationwide network of organised, free, 5km timed runs that take place every Saturday morning and encourage anyone, of any ability, to get active – with a volunteer tail walker, such as Downie, at the rear to ensure no-one finishes last.

The two-time Olympian is currently on the injury comeback having had surgery on her elbow earlier in the summer.

It rules her out of October’s World Championships although it is at times such as this, where careful rehabilitation is the name of the game, where the importance of financial support received via the National Lottery comes into focus.

“National Lottery funding is massive for athletes, we are training week in week out, so to have some of that financial pressure relieved in that we don’t have to worry about working on top, helps us,” she added,

“I train 28-30 hours a week so to then go to work on top of that would be very tricky. The British public are always so supportive and we all appreciate it.

“The amount of support we get, it’s important to be able to give something back and show much we appreciate it so I was so happy to help out with the parkrun.”

To thank the public for their support through playing The National Lottery, Britain’s top athletes will volunteer as Tail Walkers at parkrun events across the UK on Saturday August 19. Everyone is welcome at parkrun - be part of it! www.teamparkrun.com