Parkrun is a community based 5k run, jog or walk that takes place every Saturday at 9.00am across the UK and the rest of the world.
Started on Saturday 2 October 2004 by Paul Sinton – Hewitt as a 5K run with friends in Bushey Park in Teddington, London, followed by a coffee and slice of cake, the event has grown and spread. Parkrunners will meet afterwards to share a drink and to chat through all things parkrun at local cafes and teashops. It is a very sociable event.
Parkrun was followed 2013, with the UK roll-out of junior parkrun events for 4 to 14 year olds, taking place on Sunday mornings. Running over a 2k course, these events have proven to be hugely successful at introducing children to the concepts of physical activity.
Parkrun was based on Paul’s founding principles: free, weekly, for everyone, forever. It remains free to join and participate in, being organised and marshalled solely by volunteers. All that is required is to download a bar code from the parkun website and bring this with you.
Regular participation is rewarded with milestone running shirts after 50, 100, 250 and 500 runs. The junior parkrunners have their own running shirt after 10 runs.
Since its inception, parkwalk has been added for those wishing to complete the course at a much more leisurely pace. Parkrun has always had a tail runner. This has recently been renamed as a Tail Walker to reassure those who are slower runners or feared coming last. Nobody finishes last at parkrun, except for the Tail Walker!
This change has been reflected in the average times for completing a parkrun. In 2005, the average time was 22:17. By 2002, this had slowed to 32:30. In parkrun terms, this shows that it has welcomed more people who are not fast runners, but who have embraced the opportunity to participate at their own speed.
There are now over 2,200 parkruns across 23 countries. Over 9 million parkrunners have taken part.
I ran my first parkrun in May 2013 and am just about to complete my 250th run. My personal best time is 37:56 – I am one of the slower runners.
I was given a GL running shirt in June last year. As soon as I received it, I thought of one of the ethics of the All Blacks Rugby Team. Wearing their black jerseys comes with a responsibility to enhance its legacy. The jersey must be handed on better than you first put it on.
Bearing this in mind, I have set about enhancing my GL running shirt.
I have run the shirt at 32 parkruns (including Lucca in Italy) and covered 180k. It has been seen by over 11,500 runners and a large number of Parkrun volunteers.
I was lucky enough to meet the parkrun founder, Paul, at the University of Northampton parkrun in early February this year.
Parkrun remains free to take part in however you would like – volunteering, walking, running, jogging or just watching.
