BUDDING athletes were put through their paces ahead of one of the UK’s biggest mass participation runs.

Hundreds of children from the city’s schools laced up their trainers to take part in the Get Ready to Run programme,organised by Glasgow Life and sponsored by the Bank of Scotland.

Youngsters have been training hard over the past six weeks for yesterday’s Schools Challenge under the expert guidance of PE teachers.

The event is tied in with this weekend’s Great Scottish Run, which is expected to attract some 30,000 people runners on Sunday. 

The festival kicks off on Saturday with a trio of events – the Great Scottish Junior Run over 2.5km at 10am, followed by the Great Scottish Family Dash which is done in two waves at 11am and 12am and finally the Toddler Dash over 100m, at 12.50pm.

On Sunday the 10k gets underway with the elite wheelchair race at 9.40am before the the big one, the half marathon, at 11.30am with the first person across the line expected approximately an hour later.

Sadly, the legendary Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie had to withdraw from Sunday’s 10k but the race organisers are hoping the Glasgow crowds will still turn up to support this year’s runners.

Don’t forget, the Evening Times will be publishing a 16-page pullout on Monday with all the highlights from the weekend events.