Last Thursday, ten years to the day since he founded Parkrun, Paul Sinton-Hewitt received a CBE for services to grassroots sports participation.
The event which began as a time trial in Bushy Park with just 13 runners, has now spread to over 45,000 events in 9 different countries with upwards of 760,000 people registered- a phenomenal achievement!
On Saturday, I headed to Roundshaw Downs parkrun, a 10minute bus-ride from my flat, to be part of the celebrations…
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| Roundshaw Downs parkrun |
In case you’re not familiar with Parkrun:
- These free weekly timed 5km runs take place every Saturday at 9am. Click to find your nearest parkrun here.
- To take part simply register on the parkrun website. Once registered, you can turn up at any parkrun anywhere in the world whenever you want!
- Just print out your personal barcode and get ready to run!
- At the finish line your time will be recorded and you will be given a finish position token. Take this to one of the volunteer “scanners” and present your personal barcode and token. This will match the recorded time to your personal details.
If you become a dedicated parkrunner, there are 50, 100 and 250 tshirts to collect (and 10 run tshirts for Junior members)- I’ve got a little way to go yet! 🙂
I love the community feel of parkrun, getting people involved in running with a free volunteer-led event. There’s always such a mix of people taking part, from young kids, adults with pushchairs, dogs, and impressive OAPs who can run faster than me!
Roundshaw Downs was a lovely route- two laps of a green, undulating, muddy course! I will definitely be back, and am looking forward to trying some new ones too- any suggestions?
Have you been to a parkrun?
Beki x
Miss Wheezy 
I love parkrun, and always make sure I go to my home one in Cardiff when visiting my parents. We've not long moved to Greenwich, and I've just realised that there are none really that close to us which is a shame, could probably incorporate one into a longer run at some point I suppose.
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I love parkrun! I was going to go on Saturday, but I needed to run 10 miles, and did think about having parkrun as part of that, but in the end it was not logistically possible. There is a new one near me starting at the weekend so I shall be going to that for a bit of parkrun tourism.
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Ah shame there's none in Greenwich- you'd think Greenwich Park would be perfect! I hope you can still continue to run one sometimes 🙂
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Incorporating a parkrun into a long run is a great idea, although you're right, it does require a bit more planning! It's great that there's new ones starting up all the time- I hope it continues to grow 🙂
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