The power to inspire

It’s been dubbed one of the biggest legacy’s of the London 2012 Olympic games with about 50,000 taking part in Saturday’s Freecycle, and 25,000 taking part in Sunday’s London-Surrey 100. The 100 starts at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and usually takes in Box Hill and Leith Hill before finishing on the Mall. However, with the remnants of Hurricane Bertha swooping in from across the Atlantic we saw the usual route shortened by some 16 miles. It also made for some very challenging conditions and the fact that so many still took part and successfully completed the event was a fantastic achievement for so many individuals.

I think that this event is a testament to how the Olympics continue to inspire us as a nation - even after two years. They have really provided us all with a spring board to get out there and get active. Besides large scale events like RideLondon, we are seeing more people get active in their everyday life. A keen cyclist myself, I now find I’m sharing the roads with an always increasing number of people cycling to and from work.

Some might say that more people taking part in this and other large cycling events are the greatest legacy of the London Olympics. But I think the biggest legacy is getting more people active in their daily lives, even if it’s by making a small change to their commute so that people walk or cycle a bit further each day. It all helps people get healthier. And for us that’s the ultimate prize – a healthier nation.

At PruProtect our goal is not just to protect people when things go wrong. We want to help them get healthier and get more out of life

At PruProtect our goal is not just to protect people when things go wrong. We want to help them get healthier and get more out of life through Vitality, our healthy living rewards programme. We know that by helping our customers to get healthier we will all benefit. That’s why we are doing our own bit to help get more people active, by making it more accessible and affordable through our partnership with for example; Evans cycles – giving people cashback when they purchase a bike.

We also recognise the power that sport has to inspire and how watching our sporting heroes can drive us to achieve great things. That’s why we’ve also partnered with leading sports figures, teams and events to help us spread the Vitality message. Our collaboration with some of the top teams in the country; Premier League winners Manchester City, runners-up Liverpool and FA Cup Winners Arsenal – is the latest move in our goal of changing the game when it comes to people’s health.

Justin Taurog is marketing and distribution director at PruProtect