London’s Hyde Park saw 7,000 runners take part in the highly successful 10k BUPA Great Capital Run on Sunday 15th July - and add another 43,540 miles to the Great Activity Campaign.

The Great Activity Campaign is a revolutionary scheme aimed at improving the health of the nation with the target of getting two million people to clock up one hundred million miles of activity per year, every year, by 2012, through running, walking, swimming, cycling, gym exercise and dance.

Aimed at increasing activity and improving fitness to fight obesity, the Great Activity Campaign, with its slogan Take to the Streets, has the support of the Government.

Following the BUPA Great Capital Run, the campaign, which was launched in May, has now chalked up 565,482 participants and over 930,307 miles of activity – tantalisingly close to its first million miles.

Elite runners and fun runners from all over London and the UK were joined at the BUPA Great Capital Run by a host of celebrities and teams from foreign embassies based in London.

Brendan Foster, founder of the Great North Run and the man behind the Great Activity Campaign, said: “It’s fantastic to think we are so close to that first million miles. We will definitely hit the million at the BUPA Great North Run on September 30. The big question is will we hit that target before then?

“I am delighted with the way so many runners have responded to this initiative. Inactivity is a time bomb for the youth of today. Leaflets in a doctor’s surgery telling people to exercise more don’t work. You have to motivate people to do this. That’s what mass participation events like the BUPA Great Capital Run can do.”

Presenters such as Little Rich, Paddy and Welshy from Capital 95.8’s breakfast show took part, cheered on by fellow DJs plus children from Help a London Child’s projects.

Presenter of The One Show Myleene Klass started the event along with model Penny Lancaster. Celebrities included 400m Commonwealth Champion Du’aine Ladejo, Love Island’s Bianca Gasgoine, The Apprentice star Naomi Lay and Shipwrecked winner Ben Lunt.

One highlight of the event was the Embassy Challenge where teams from the embassies of Belgium, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Germany, Panama (including the Panamanian Ambassador, Her Excellency Ms. Liliana Fernandez Puentes), and the High Commission of Barbados all competed against each other.