Greggs partners with AJ Bell Great Run Series for fourth year
Food-on-the-go retailer Greggs has partnered with The AJ Bell Great Run Series for the fourth year as the official volunteer lunch provider.
The AJ Bell Great Run Series partnership plays a key role in supporting the company’s commitments to give back to local communities, as part of its pledge to build stronger and healthier communities. Greggs’ commitments are outlined in The Greggs Pledge, its annual sustainability report, which sets out its key focuses to help make the world a better place by 2025 and beyond.
The Great Run Company believe that the challenge of a mass participation events provides the inspiration people need to get and stay active. They have been delivering such events for over 40 years and now cheer over 250,000 participants across finish lines annually.
Through the AJ Bell Great Run Series partnership, Greggs is proud to have delivered over 18,000 lunches to the amazing volunteers working across events in the UK. In 2023 alone, Greggs will have delivered over 5,000 lunches to volunteers, each including one of our salads: a testament to the fact that 32% of our range in 2022 consisted of ‘Healthier Choice’ products.
This year’s partnership also saw Greggs launch a competition to celebrate and recognise the valuable contributions of volunteers participating in the AJ Bell Great North Run – the series’ biggest running event that attracts 60,000 runners every year. The competition, titled Greggs Fuelling Greatness, sought to find the most inspiring volunteer stories, with a winners’ prize of a £50 Greggs high roller gift card.
In addition to Greggs’ partnership with The AJ Bell Great Run Series, Greggs pledges to build stronger healthier communities through a variety of other initiatives, including providing free breakfasts to schoolchildren via the Greggs Foundation, Greggs’ independent grant-making charity, providing free breakfast to over 52,000 children every school day.
Roisin Currie, CEO at Greggs commented: “A fundamental part of our Greggs Pledge is building stronger and healthier communities by ensuring food is at the heart of the communities we operate in. Our partnership with Great Run Series enables us to continue to deliver this commitment and give something back to our communities. We are delighted to support and the share the stories of the great volunteers who make these fantastic events possible.”
Nicky Homes, Commercial Director at The Great Run Company said: “We’re delighted to be able to partner with a brilliant North East company like Greggs to support volunteers at Great Run events around the UK. Volunteers are such an integral part of our events, we’d like to extend our congratulations to Carole and Tara and all the other Fuelling Greatness winners, it’s fantastic to see their contributions recognised and celebrated.”
The winners include:
- Carole Heppel from South Shields, who first volunteered for the Great North Run through her Cub Scout group, the Durham Country Club Scouts. Carole has been a volunteer for over 30 years, having worked at 35 races in total, and was inducted into the Great North Run Hall of Fame in 2011.
- Tara Rutherford from Sunderland, who has been a volunteer for the Great Run for over 20 years, and helps out with the goody bags. She also took part in the running event herself after being inspired by seeing people cross the finish line.
Full details of The Greggs Pledge and its commitments can be found here
