These girls can - meet the inspirational Sheffield women leading the city-wide health movement

Kelly-Anne (“I’m a happy size 14” ) and colleague Monika Katarzyte are only too happy to say that neither of them would claim to have the physique of a Paula Ratcliffe or a Dame Jessica, but why should that matter?

“I’ve just completed a couch to 5K running course, and if someone had told me I’d do that and enjoy it and look forward to doing it, I’d have called them insane!” says Monika.

“In the past I didn’t let myself try different things so I could be who I am, I was too bothered how I looked, that I didn't look fit enough.

But now I don’t care what anyone thinks, I say I’ll get out there and do what I enjoy!”

Kelly-Anne and Monika work on the ‘This Girl Can’ initiative for the Manor and Castle Development Trust, who (along with the SOAR, Shipshape and Zest health and wellbeing agencies across the city) won a £100,000 grant from Sport England earlier this year to help more local women improve their health by being more active.

They’ve just launched their ’25 Miles in December’ challenge which asks local women and their families to stick on some Christmas clothes (socks are fine, says Monika) move themselves a mile a day up to December 25th, and then make a statement about what they did on social media.

(Or even better, share a photo with #thisgirlcanmcdt).

Walking, running, jogging, or cycling a mile is all good, says Monika.“Whatever is up your street.

Take a hot flask and a buddy, and get out there in your Christmas clothing!”

Monika is a wild swimming enthusiast (or ‘swimming’ as her friends call it in Lithuania, she says, where swimming in lakes and rivers is quite normal) and she soon enthused colleague Kelly-Anne to give it a go.

Monika says: “It’s good to try different things to find out what you like.” And why not do that with a friend?

It’s about mental health and social contact as well as being fit and active, says Kelly-Anne, mother of three small children.

“If you’re a single parent, with just Mr Tumble on the telly and the kids to focus on, getting out with another adult is a bit of a release.”

People are having walking meetings now, or instead of meeting a friend at home for a chat, setting off on a circuit together in the local park, says Kelly-Anne.

The This Girl Can teams recognise the dangers of social isolation during the pandemic, and have volunteers on hand to provide walking buddies for women who’d like company on their walk.

Since the summer, the project has helped women with injuries or illnesses, or with mental health problems, simply by helping them get outside and active.

Almost 500 women from all over Sheffield have signed up to the This Girl Can MCDC Facebook page, says Kelly-Anne.

This included women out of work due to illness who’ve been helped back into employment and a happier social life by the ‘medicine’ of physical activity.

Kelly-Anne is convinced people all over Sheffield have been increasing their activity under lockdown, despite suggestions that it’s only the wealthier professional parts of the city that have been overrun by athletes on every street posting about their daily sprints and hill climbs.

“I think some people are a bit more private,” says Kelly-Anne.

“I think they’re taking up activity but just not saying anything about it.”

Women getting active can be inspirational to their kids and families, she adds, noting how proud she is of her own son Noah, now busy and active after a life threatening illness as a baby.

Men can get involved too, says Monika, by supporting and encouraging the women in their life.

“I’ve overcome those barriers to physical activity myself, and really feel the benefits,” she says. “I’ve found that pot of gold and I’m thriving!”