Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Perhaps now more than ever we are truly beginning to understand the importance of physical activity to aid an individual's mental and social well-being. Today, across Wales, boys, girls, men and women of all ages, all backgrounds and all sizes will have taken the opportunity in this late and beautiful summer sunshine we are enjoying to indulge in the elemental pursuits of walking, jogging and running, and yet it's not confined to the summer.

In less than three weeks, the capital city of Wales will hold the United Kingdom's second biggest half marathon, and on Sunday, Swansea will host the Swansea Bay 10k run. And this year alone, we have seen Welsh Athletics and their partners showcase high-profile communal and social running events across our nation, ranging from the Cardiff Bay 10k, the Newport 10k, the Newport half and the Newport marathon, the Porthcawl—and I could go on. These events are characterised by mass participation running with so many of the runners running not just for themselves but to raise money for charities and causes close to their families' hearts. It is social and sociable running. And you will see often on the streets large crowds gathered to cheer and will on the runners, because running is not easy, whatever your standard or level of physical fitness. The crowds will on the runners and the runners take part for many, many reasons, but also in part to raise themselves to the challenge. There is a well-known saying, 'You run your own race', and as in life we are challenged to raise ourselves to be the very best that we can be, the same is true of nations. In Wales, we challenge ourselves to be the very best that we can be.

Islwyn is a proud Gwent valley where we also have a strong tradition of running pedigree. Local running clubs like the famous Islwyn runners are pivotal in their community life and continue to reach out to new people, with new initiatives to encourage wider participation. Islwyn runners are currently running a project called Future Flyers, which is targeting women to start running for the very first time. Islwyn runners meet twice a week every Tuesday and Thursday in Pontllanfraith—in case anybody's interested—and the sessions are free for participants with all abilities and all are welcome. The inclusiveness of the club and of running can be evidenced by the fact that over 50 women take part during sessions each week. Only last Sunday, the Islwyn Running Club hosted the Scenic 7, a seven-mile road race at Cwmcarn forest drive. You will have heard me say relentlessly the importance of the full reopening of the Cwmcarn forest drive, not only for Islwyn, but for Wales and internationally. Events like last Sunday's bear true witness to how we can holistically transform communities—a mass participation event for the entire family held within some of the most stunning natural landscapes that our nation possesses. Come and visit us.

The Welsh Labour Government has consistently encouraged the benefits of physical activity and running to the next generation of Wales, and in recent years, we have seen the daily mile officially launched in Wales. This initiative was officially launched in Islwyn, in Pontllanfraith Primary School in Blackwood by the then public health Minister Rebecca Evans and the founder of the daily mile, Elaine Wyllie. This groundbreaking initiative sees primary-aged children run, walk or jog for 15 minutes every day in school. The joy of running ensures that it is inclusive, simple and free, with no equipment or set-up required. In Islwyn, the list of the schools signed up to the Daily Mile include Pantside, Cefn Fforest, Pengam, Ysgol Trelyn, Fleur de Lis, Bryn, Pontllanfraith, Libanus, Ysgol Cwm Gwyddon, Waunfawr, Ty Sign, Ty Isaf, and more to follow. Plus, it is happening within the Newbridge area in the childminding settings of Hannah's Bananas, assisting the holistic offer for childcare applicants.

The daily mile has the potential for numerous benefits beyond simply improving fitness. And like music, and like musical access, it can help children become more engaged with the outdoors, build self-esteem and confidence as well as help developing team-working skills. The Fitbit and counting steps is not the preserve of adults, and so I'm heartened to see more and more children consciously aware of the need to be active, as a former teacher and educator, especially with all the temptations they face of staying sedentary in front of screens and now a myriad of devices, potentially, for many hours. So, from the daily mile, athletics within the physical education curriculum, to promoting the very successful Penallta park run every Saturday morning, it is good for my constituents. The simple and stunning popularity of parkrun throughout the United Kingdom is now spreading across the world. It's an event that I will be working on with my local communities to bring about the first parkrun in Islwyn.

The addition of junior parkruns on a Sunday at some venues is further testimony to how running is for everyone. Many parkruns incorporate the Couch to 5K programme that follows the Welsh national health service plan, thus encouraging people on the journey from sedentary activity to being able to run 5K by the end of the programme. Our council has ambitious plans for running on the school fields located at Rhiw Syr Dafydd Primary School in Oakdale in Islwyn, and the construction has been developed with a track and field consultant, including the sports governing body, Welsh Athletics. The new sports facilities within this proposal will provide an opportunity for 90 schools and the community to use an athletics track that will assist in supporting the increase in demand. And it will be a further opportunity within Islwyn to support the drive to increase participation to include women and girls through targeted interventions, and through partnership working with the authority's sports development team, Sport Caerphilly, Disability Sport Wales, and a number of other key partners.

But it is the lack of facilities that will always be a barrier to further elite participation, and in a decade of austerity, where the Tories have sought to squeeze Welsh and local government until the pips squeak, what further financial support can, and will, the Welsh Government give to aid Caerphilly County Borough Council in ensuring that Islwyn's future runners are given the opportunities they deserve?

A new athletics running track located in Islwyn would offer the wider Caerphilly County Borough Council area, former Objective funded areas, and my communities, the facilities they crave—a facility fit for the twenty-first century, a facility fit to serve the approximate 10 social running clubs of the area as well as the wider social running community. And I would, indeed, welcome an opportunity beyond this debate to discuss with the Deputy Minister this and the opportunities the Welsh Government has to transform Islwyn for her people. And I know that the Deputy Minister and the Welsh Government is committed to doing all that they can to make Islwyn run happy, and our aim together must be to make Wales a happy, healthier country. In running, there is an expression of encouragement that states, 'I know you've got this'. So, Deputy Minister, I know that you've got this. Thank you.