A DUMFRIES primary school teacher has inspired her pupils to take up running after completing the Bank of Scotland Great Scottish Run.

Skye Sarahs was blown away by the atmosphere of the boisterous Glasgow crowd and now she plans to run the 2019 London Marathon after catching the bug for long distance running.

Skye ran the Great Scottish Run as part of the Community Challenge, launched by race sponsors Bank of Scotland to help get Scotland active – with the programme in its second year.

The campaign aimed to recruit one runner from each of the 32 local authorities in Scotland to take on a ‘10 week to 10k’ running challenge, with each receiving a personalised training programme by an expert coach in the weeks leading up to the run, which took place on September 30.

“It was fantastic, it was such a great atmosphere being there, because we were doing it as part of the Community Challenge, it definitely felt special on the day.” said Skye

“I finished the race in 51 minutes, so I was really happy with that. The race was over in a flash, it felt like it went so fast.

“It’s motivated me to do more events over the winter and I decided to do the London Marathon next year.

“My kids were really excited to hear about what had happened, I brought my medal in and they all tried it on. They looked at some photographs and the videos, and they all had big smiles.

“They couldn’t believe the numbers of people taking part, it’s hard for them to imagine how many people were actually there on the day.”

Receiving a motivational speech from double Olympic champion Dame Kelly Holmes prior to the race, Skye was inspired by the advice passed on by the retired star.

Completing the race alongside her friends, Skye was overawed when she heard her name being singled out as part of the challenge at the start of the race.

“It was fantastic to hear from her in the morning,” she said.

“She was very motivational, and the things she said really stuck with me throughout the race about keeping going and taking on the challenge.

“Along the way it was great to hear people cheering you on because your name is on your bib.

“They also did a shout out to people who were doing the Community Challenge and mentioned my name. A couple of my friends who were down on the start line had text me to say they mentioned me.

“It was brilliant to hear that they had done a shout out to mention everything that I had been doing beforehand.”

Bank of Scotland is celebrating its 10th year as partner of the Great Scottish Run. For more information, visit greatscottishrun.com/community-challenge.