Jonathan Kaye, owner of the Cedar Manor Hotel and Restaurant in Windermere, argues that people should be prepared to take a few more risks in life

If the Olympics in Rio inspired you to take up sport, then go ahead and risk it.

It’s a strange concept, risk. You saw cyclists facing the danger of sharp bends on the hill down to Copacabana beach, but every one of them was there voluntarily, knowing what risks were involved.

But try to organise a tea party in a garden these days and it’s likely you’ll have to undergo 'risk assessment'.

Dictionary definitions include: “A situation involving exposure to danger” and “The possibility that something unpleasant or unwelcome will happen”. But as one who knows too well the risks involved in sporting activity, I tend to look at risk factors involved in avoiding risk.

Let me explain. I like to run, as many do in this part of the world. I wouldn’t call myself an athlete, and I don’t belong to any of the serious groups who throw themselves down hills in the vests of Ambleside AC or Helm Hill, but I see those hills from the window and they call and I can’t resist the invitation.

I don’t race; when you manage a hotel, there are few opportunities to escape although my wife, Caroline, has run the London marathon twice in the last two years; more of her risk factors later.

But I’m accident prone. Over the last few months I’ve suffered sprained ankles (both), torn calf muscle, I’ve fallen over and banged my head a couple of times (though was only knocked out once) and I’ve the usual knee problems, which often leave me hobbling round the restaurant after a training session. So yes, I spend more time having physio than actually running.

My most recent mishap was tumbling on the way down Garburn Pass. A wrong step, and I was flying in slow motion towards the ground, damaged my leg and shoulder, needed stitches in a cut over my eye.

Luckily I was with my personal trainer Helen Westmoreland, who was really thrilled to have a chance to use her first aid kit. She called husband Michael who drove the truck up from Troutbeck, my very own personal mountain rescue team.

Old enough to know better, I guess. But will it stop me? Ask any runner who recovers from an injury, and all they want is get back out there and run the risk of it happening again.

Caroline, who limped around the London Marathon with a painful knee, spent a year having physio alongside training, and limped round again a second time, driven by the need to prove something, and by the desire to lower those other risk factors.

According to research, global trends in physical inactivity claim that more than 60 per cent of adults don’t participate in sufficient levels of physical activity, and inactivity is more prevalent among women, and older adults (I certainly qualify as one of those!)

It’s well known that physical activity reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease by improving glucose metabolism, reducing body fat and lowering blood pressure. And there’s no doubt that obesity as a serious problem in the western world owes as much to physical inactivity as to diet.

It’s less well known, perhaps, that physical activity can help prevent or control cancers and diabetes, and there’s plenty of evidence that being active can make a huge difference to mental health.

Our Mountain Rescue Teams – the official ones, not my personal pick-up truck – would never deter anyone from taking part in 'risky' activity. Their callouts are much more likely to ill-prepared walkers, and people who can’t read a map, than fell runners or mountain bikers.

So be inspired by your Olympic heroes, use the right equipment, and enjoy the thrills and benefits of risk taking. And remember to look where you’re putting your feet.