Football fans promote 'healthy rivalry' in Bristol 5K running battle

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Bristol Rovers and Bristol City supporters are being pitted against each other to prove who has the fitter fanbase.

'Fans to 5' was piloted in Eastville Park on Saturday 9 March.

Fans of both teams are being encouraged to join the Saturday morning ParkRun event, logging their times.

Around 240 people have signed up so far, in what's thought to be the first event to link a ParkRun with football rivalry.

The idea came from Grant Rees, an endurance coach and PT, who previously launched 'Gas to 5K', a scheme to encourage Rovers fans with little running experience.

Fans of Bristol Rovers and City are being encouraged to join the Saturday morning ParkRun event. Credit: ITV West Country

Grant now has opened it up to City supporters and encouraged them to log their times and to see if they match up. He said: "23% of sign-ups joined based on rivalry alone - the second most popular reason.

"The stats also show almost half (47%) of those who've completed a park run were physically inactive before they joined the scheme. We have 243 fans signed up: 137 Rovers and 106 City.

"There are currently more Rovers fans than City fans but everyone taking part is rewarded with points for being active, so supporters of the two clubs can compete for which team has more points overall."