Peter Paul Sinton-Hewitt

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

FRSA The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

(Born 1960) is the founder of

Parkrun Parkrun (stylised as parkrun) is a collection of events for walkers, runners and volunteers that take place every Saturday morning at more than 2,000 locations in 23 countries across six continents. Junior Parkrun (stylised as junior parkrun) ...

. He was appointed a

"for services to Grassroots Sport Participation" in 2014, and was selected as an Ashoka Fellow in 2016. In December 2019, he was awarded the

Albert Medal (Royal Society of Arts) The Albert Medal of the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) was instituted in 1864 as a memorial to Prince Albert, who had been President of the Society for 18 years. It was first awarded in 1864 for "distinguished merit in promoting Arts, Manufacture ...

for building a global participation movement and made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Early life

Born in

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

, Sinton-Hewitt grew up in South Africa. At age five he was made a ward of the state and then lived at boarding schools. He was educated at Potchefstroom High School and was a crew member supporting Bruce Fordyce in the

Comrades Marathon The Comrades Marathon is an ultramarathon of approximately which is run annually in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa between the cities of Durban and Pietermaritzburg. It is the world's largest and oldest ultramarathon race. The direc ...

. He moved to the United Kingdom where he was living when he had a breakdown in 1995. He has said that the personal challenges he has experienced, including bullying during childhood, and the way exercise and activity have helped him deal with them, were influential in motivating him in creating parkrun and its inclusive approach to sport.

Parkrun

Sinton-Hewitt started the Bushy Park Time Trial in 2004 whilst unemployed and unable to run due to an injured leg. It evolved into

– a free 5 kilometre timed running event that takes place every Saturday morning. The first event took place on 2 October 2004, with 13 entrants. In April 2010 a two-kilometre "Junior parkrun" format was added at Bushy Park for children aged 4 to 14 (held weekly on Sunday mornings). By summer 2018, each weekend roughly 220,000 to 280,000 people participate in about 1,500 Parkruns globally.

Other pursuits

In 2018, Sinton-Hewitt completed the Vitruvian Triathlon.

References

External links

Athlete history - Paul Sinton-Hewitt
Parkrun UK 1960 births Living people British philanthropists British male long-distance runners Ashoka Fellows Parkrun South African emigrants to the United Kingdom {{UK-bio-stub