BLACKBURN MP Jack Straw will start the celebration run for the 350 people from the town who have completed the nine- week Couch to 5K programme.

Mr Straw will be at Witton Park on Saturday, with runners setting off at 9am.

This is the third session of the programme, which was set up by volunteer Rick Wilson who was inspired after training from scratch to take part in a 10km race last year.

There are now 350 runners who have all gone from being ‘couch potatoes’ to budding athletes. The fourth session of 2014 begins on June 26, and already 500 people have signed up to attend. For more information, visit www.5kgrouprun.co.uk