Children and adults of all ages are being encouraged to become more active by taking part in a six-week family sporting challenge, which starts on Monday, 19th February.

Mansfield District Council, in partnership with Mansfield District Leisure Trust and Mansfield School Sports Partnership, is holding the challenge linked to the Commonwealth Games, which takes place on Australia’s Gold Coast in April.

This is just one of the initiatives the council is running to encourage more people to get more active and improve their health, fitness and general wellbeing.

Free family taster sessions for a range of sports and activities including table tennis, boccia, badminton, gymnastics, sports hall athletics and indoor cycling will be held at leisure centres across the district from Monday 19th to Friday, 23rd February and again from Tuesday 3rd to Friday, 6th April. There will also be some boccia and table tennis sessions held at Mansfield Museum during this time.

The sessions are designed for adults to participate in alongside the children.

Each participant will be given a card that will get stamped each time they take part in an activity. Once five activities have been completed, they can enter it into a free prize draw to win a prize. The prizes are a month’s swim pass for a child aged under 12 and a month’s gym pass for a young person or adult aged over 12. The cards are available now from all the council’s leisure centres.

Details are at www.mansfield.gov.uk/commonwealthchallenge

Working in partnership Mansfield District Council, Mansfield District Leisure Trust and Mansfield School Sport Partnership aim to increase the number of people who are involved in sport, recreation and physical activity either as a participant, coach, volunteer or administrator.