New fitness trend '˜Plogging' comes to Mansfield

‘Plogging’- the act of picking up litter whilst jogging, originated in Sweden, and has spread across the world via social media.

Maddy Collins,68, is a running coach for Mansfield Runners, and she wants to get more people involved in plogging to keep the town litter-free.

Maddy has been running for 37 years, and started to see more and more litter on her routes.

She noticed more dumped waste after sunny days when people had been out enjoying the weather, and began to pick the litter up on her runs.

She said: “It gets you fit and tackles litter at the same time, so it’s a win-win for me.”

On May 19, Mansfield runners completed their first plog along a one-mile stretch of the A608, leading up to the M1.

Armed with bin bags and litter grabbers, the group collected two big bags of rubbish in only 30 minutes.

Maddy said: “After plogging and picking up the litter, we reward ourselves with a run. We love our environment and we love exercise, and plogging seems to do both.”

She added: “You can’t run in beautiful countryside and not want to keep it clean and enjoyable.”

Maddy is already planning the groups next plog - for more information, visit: www.facebook.com/MansfieldRunners/