HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

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) is a spin-off event that provides a event for children aged 4–14 on a Sunday morning. Parkrun events are free to enter and are delivered by volunteers, supported by a small group of staff at its headquarters. Parkrun was founded by
Paul Sinton-Hewitt Peter Paul Sinton-Hewitt CBE FRSA (Born 1960) is the founder of Parkrun. He was appointed a CBE "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 ...
on 2 October 2004 at Bushy Park in London, England. The event was originally called the Bushy Park Time Trial. It grew into a network of similar events called the UK Time Trials, before adopting the name Parkrun in 2008 and expanding into other countries. The first event outside of the United Kingdom was launched in Zimbabwe in 2007, followed by Denmark in 2009, South Africa and Australia in 2011 and the United States in 2012. Sinton-Hewitt received a CBE for his services to grassroots sport in 2014. By October 2018 over 5 million runners were registered worldwide. Events take place at a range of general locations including parks, stately homes, forests, rivers, lakes, reservoirs, beaches, promenades, prisons and nature reserves. A Parkrun milestone T-shirt is offered to volunteers and runners who have participated in a number of runs. Runners can travel to and complete any Parkrun, those that travel are termed "tourists" and can complete challenges. The male record holder is
Andrew Baddeley Andrew James Baddeley (born 20 June 1982) on The Wirral, Merseyside is an English middle-distance runner. Career He finished sixth in the 1500 metres final at the 2006 European Athletics Championships in Gothenburg. He also competed at the 20 ...
with a time of 13 minutes and 48 seconds. The female record holder is
Melissa Courtney-Bryant Melissa Courtney-Bryant (born 30 August 1993)Melissa Courtney
IAAF. Retrieved ...
with a time of 15 minutes and 31 seconds.


History

Parkrun was founded by
Paul Sinton-Hewitt Peter Paul Sinton-Hewitt CBE FRSA (Born 1960) is the founder of Parkrun. He was appointed a CBE "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 ...
on 2 October 2004 at Bushy Park in London, England. Sinton-Hewitt was 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 ...
and went to
Potchefstroom High School for Boys Potchefstroom High School for Boys is a public English medium high school for boys situated in Potchefstroom in the North West province of South Africa. It is one of the oldest schools in South Africa. Historical perspective School history W ...
as a boarder in South Africa. He became a club runner with a personal best time in the marathon of 2 hours and 36 minutes. In 2004, Sinton-Hewitt was suffering from depression and unable to run due to an injury. He founded Parkrun because he wanted to continue to spend time with his running friends. In a
BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC's ...
interview he said that the idea for Parkrun came from his time in South Africa 20 years earlier where he had experienced competitive races that took place on the same course at the same time each week. The first event had 13 runners, three volunteers and was managed by Sinton-Hewitt. The
Bushy Parkrun Bushy Parkrun (stylised Bushy parkrun) is a running event that takes place every Saturday morning at 9am in Bushy Park, Teddington, London. It was the very first Parkrun, founded by Paul Sinton-Hewitt in October 2004 under its original name Bu ...
was originally known as the Bushy Park Time Trial, and its results were timed with a stopwatch, recorded on paper while washers stamped with a finish number were used as finishing tokens. Over the next two years the event took place every week with the number of participants and volunteers growing, and new technology introduced to streamline the processing of results. The second Time Trial was launched at
Wimbledon Common Wimbledon Common is a large open space in Wimbledon, southwest London. There are three named areas: Wimbledon Common, Putney Heath, and Putney Lower Common, which together are managed under the name Wimbledon and Putney Commons totalling 46 ...
in 2007; it was here that the model of having an identical structure at different locations began. That year saw a further six events established. They were initially known as the UK Time Trials before the "parkrun" name was adopted. There were five more locations added in 2008 including the first in
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...
and the first in
Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
. The first event outside the UK was launched 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 ...
in 2007, though this event no longer operates. The longest-running Parkrun outside the UK was launched in
Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...
in 2009. In 2010, there were 30 new events added including the first in
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...
. In 2011 parkrun began in
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...
and
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...
, both of which have seen significant growth in event numbers, and in 2012 Parkrun USA launched. Junior Parkrun started at Bushy Park in 2013. Sinton-Hewitt received a CBE in 2014 for his "services to grassroots sport". A 2013 article in ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...
'' noted the rapid growth of Parkrun and suggested this was mainly due to its simplicity and accessibility: runners register online once, turn up at any event, and run. Inclusivity is also a factor, as participants have a wide range of running abilities, from fast club runners to those walking, a wide range of ages from children running with their parents to the elderly; also allowed are wheelchair users, those pushing buggies and people running with their dog. The ''
Journal of Public Health The ''Journal of Public Health'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed public health journal. It was originally established in 1892 as the ''Journal of State Medicine'' by the Royal Institute of Public Health and has undergone several renames during its hi ...
'' reported in a 2013 study upon 7,308 Parkrun participants that the events were attractive to people who described themselves as non-runners; with women, older adults and overweight people well represented. It added that participation problems have been minimized, with no upper age limit, no special equipment and no cost. And that while some participants ran before a Parkrun, some are new to exercise, and Parkrun offered the opportunity and support to become active on a continuous weekly basis. A 2015 qualitative study by the University of Loughborough found that runners attending a Parkrun for the first time were typically motivated for weight loss or an improvement in their physical fitness. On the other hand, there were a range of different motivations for runners to continue regularly taking part, with runners wanting; to beat their personal record time; to reach a certain number of runs and join a milestone club; to enjoy being outdoors at the park; to make new friends through volunteering or to meet existing friends or family for the run. In 2015, more than 80,000 people were gathering in parks across the world each week to run, jog and walk a Parkrun – more than twice the number who take part in the annual London Marathon. In 2016, 1.1 million different people completed a Parkrun and 142,000 gave their time to volunteer. In 2018, on an average Saturday around a quarter of a million runners took part in 1,500 events spread over 20 countries. In 2017 the organisation which supports global Parkrun events "Parkrun Global Limited" became a UK registered charity. Writing in ''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...
'' on 4 September 2018, Jonathan Liew, their Chief Sports Writer, said "parkrun is not simply one of the biggest sporting events in the world, but one of the most important, largely because it entirely upends what we have long been told sport is about." He discusses how sport has become ever more something the public pay to watch, packaged ever more expensively, with the sports people lives tipping over into
light entertainment Light entertainment encompasses a broad range of television and radio programming that includes comedies, variety shows, game shows, quiz shows and the like. In Great Britain In the early days of the BBC virtually all broadcast entertainment w ...
, concluding with the comment "parkrun offers something entirely different: community, opportunity, the outdoors, the simple pleasure of sport and people. In so doing, it has resurrected a vision of sport that has been in recession for a generation." At the beginning of March 2020, Parkrun events were closed due to the global
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
. Events resumed in England on 24 July 2021.


Event outline


Participating in a Parkrun

All Parkruns are in length and are free to enter. Anyone can take part, from pensioners to parents with their children, people with their dogs, wheelchair users, people pushing prams, club runners or casual runners, although not all courses are suitable for all participants. Beginner runners, older adults and overweight people are common. They usually take place at the same time, at the same place, on the same course, once per week. There is no formal procedure before the run with participants asked to arrive shortly before the start time and wait near the starting line. A run director will make announcements giving safety instructions and community news before beginning the run. Participants run or walk the course and are directed by marshals along the correct route to the finish line. As each runner enters the finish funnel, a volunteer records the finishing place number and time. The information recorded by the timers is later uploaded onto a computer, which allows runners to be matched with their times. The results are uploaded to the Parkrun website which also generates a number of statistics. The results available are finishing position for both male and female runners, the time taken to complete the run, whether or not a personal best time has been achieved, the total number of runs completed by an individual, their
age grade In sociology and anthropology, an age grade or age class is a form of social organization based on age, within a series of such categories, through which individuals pass over the course of their lives. This is in contrast to an age set, to whi ...
result and their position in relation to other veteran or junior runners. To have a time recorded, runners are asked to register on the Parkrun website, print out a personal I.D. that includes a barcode and bring it to each event. This needs to be done just once, with the barcode valid for any subsequent Parkrun in the world. Runners can still participate without registering or if they forget to bring their personal barcode, but they will not have their time recorded. If the runner does not have a barcode, their position on the finishers table will be recorded with the name "unknown" and no time. After passing the finish line, each runner is handed a "finish token" corresponding to their position. This is later scanned alongside their personal barcode, if they have one, to link their result with their Parkrun profile. Occasionally, a runner may leave the finish funnel without receiving a finish token. This is known as "funnel ducking", and can lead to subsequent finish times becoming mismatched. This issue can usually be rectified by having a volunteer join the funnel in place of the ducker, to take a token on their behalf, or by removing their time entirely. Similar issues can arise if someone joins the funnel from the side without having their time recorded, or if a runner refuses to take a finish token. ''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...
'' reported that "what's clever is that it’s not a race against everyone else but a timed run", and that trying to improve your personal best time is a great incentive even for slower runners. The paper further explained that the success of the events is down to them being free and weekly because it allows people to get into a routine. An article in ''The Daily Telegraph'' said that a drop in gym usage can be attributed to a backlash against gym membership fees combined with the popularity of events such as Parkrun and fitness tracking devices.


General locations

Events take place in a range of general locations (that need not actually be a park), including
city parks An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a municipal park (North America) or a public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park in cities and other incorporated places that offer recreation and green space to re ...
, country parks,
national parks A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individua ...
, stately homes, castles, forests, rivers, lakes, reservoirs, beaches,
promenade An esplanade or promenade is a long, open, level area, usually next to a river or large body of water, where people may walk. The historical definition of ''esplanade'' was a large, open, level area outside fortress or city walls to provide cl ...
s, prisons, racecourses and nature reserves. The runs have different degrees of difficulty, with hilly runs harder to complete than those that are flat. The running surface varies with many city park Parkruns being run on
tarmac Tarmac may refer to: Engineered surfaces * Tarmacadam, a mainly historical tar-based material for macadamising road surfaces, patented in 1902 * Asphalt concrete, a macadamising material using asphalt instead of tar which has largely superseded tar ...
footpaths, closed roads, grass or a mixture of all three, while forest and country park Parkruns are more likely to be on
trails A trail, also known as a path or track, is an unpaved lane or small road usually passing through a natural area. In the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, a path or footpath is the preferred term for a pedestrian or hiking trail. ...
. The weather affects the difficulty of the course with trail runs more liable to be affected by mud or leaves than runs on tarmac paths. Runs that take place in hotter countries often start early in the morning to avoid excess heat. Permanent event closures are rare.
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 ...
was the first country to host a Parkrun outside the UK, the event started in 2007 but closed several years later. Parkrun Elliðaárdalur closed in 2012 due to operational difficulties in the winter, and Hillerød Parkrun in Denmark closed in 2013. Camp Bastion Parkrun was hosted at a military base in
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...
, which shut in 2014. Skegness briefly hosted 12 Parkruns (December 2019 – 14 March 2020) before it was shut down during the coronavirus pandemic. Changes to the layout of the adjacent car park by
East Lindsey District Council East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sunrise, Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from ...
cut the course in half, cancelling the event.
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
Parkrun (formerly held in Milton Country Park) did not restart following closure during the coronavirus pandemic. More frequently, Parkruns have formally closed at a location, but have relocated to a venue nearby and changed name.


Volunteers

Each Parkrun event is run entirely by
volunteers Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Others serve ...
. To assist the volunteers, Parkrun HQ provides the necessary equipment and there are several different volunteer roles at each Parkrun event. Every event has a 'volunteer' page, with the same basic information about how to get involved as a volunteer, as well as crediting those who have made the effort in the most recent week. The Parkrun website credits those who volunteer each week as "the heart" of Parkrun, and integral to its not-for-profit status. It also provides a useful range of responses to commonly asked questions about volunteering, with information on each of the different roles, in its FAQ section. At the outset of Parkrun, the central organisation sought to simplify the volunteering process to allow new events to be set up with a low number of volunteers, this simplification now allows new volunteers to assist with minimal training. Each event has a core team who has received permission from Parkrun HQ and the location owner to stage the event. The individual roles are typically filled by different volunteers each week and include the following; a run director who manages the event making announcements and starting the run; a timer who records the time taken, marshals who direct runners to the correct route, barcode scanners who scan finishing tokens, event setup and close down volunteers, tail walkers, pacers and result processors. According to Steve Flowers at the
University of Kent , motto_lang = , mottoeng = Literal translation: 'Whom to serve is to reign'(Book of Common Prayer translation: 'whose service is perfect freedom')Graham Martin, ''From Vision to Reality: the Making of the University of Kent at Canterbury'' ...
’s business school, parkrun is an example, along with Wikipedia, of what he calls "people’s innovation", which ''The Guardian'' explains as being "driven by users rather than producers, by volunteers rather than professionals".


Junior Parkrun

Junior Parkrun events are mostly weekly, free, 2 km running events for runners aged four to fourteen. Parents are allowed to run with their children but are not eligible for a placed finish. Dogs can be brought to the event but are not allowed to run with their owners. Juniors who have completed 11, 21 or 50 junior runs are awarded a coloured wristband. Events take place on Sunday morning. When launched, Junior Parkrun was run monthly, on first Sunday of every month. The wish is for all events to convert to running weekly at some point. As of 25 August 2022 remaining monthly events include Bushy and Savill Garden.


Milestone clubs

The number of runs by each participant at all events is recorded and available on the Parkrun website. When a runner reaches 50 runs they join a "milestone club" called the "50 Club" and they can claim a red Parkrun T-shirt. When a runner reaches 100 runs they join the "100 Club" and can claim a black T-shirt. Likewise the "250 Club" offers a green T-shirt and the "500 Club" a blue T-shirt. People under the age of 18 can claim a white T-shirt when they complete 10 runs and there is a purple T-shirt for people who volunteer 25 times. The milestone and volunteer T-shirts were free until September 2021, at which point they became chargeable. At this time, a 25 (purple) milestone T-shirt was added and more volunteer T-shirts were introduced, to align with the milestone T-shirts; 50 (red), 100 (black), 250 (green) and 500 (blue).


Parkrun tourism and challenges

Parkrun tourists travel especially to seek out new runs. Runners, when they sign up on the Parkrun website, are asked to pick a "Home Parkrun", usually the one they live closest to and are likely to frequent most. Parkrun tourism is broadly defined as anyone travelling to a run that is not their home Parkrun. Tourism can involve running in a neighbouring park, town, region or even country with some runners travelling to a different run every week. Parkrun challenges involve completing a number of different runs in a particular way which are personally meaningful but not officially recorded. These include "Londone" which is completing all of the Parkruns in
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
. The "alphabeteer" is running a Parkrun beginning with each letter of the alphabet and challenges such as "Stayin' Alive" which is completing three runs beginning with B and three beginning with G. A Google Chrome and Firefox extension details further challenges such as "Groundhog Day" which is running the same time at the same Parkrun location in two consecutive weeks and "Regionnaire" which is to complete all of the Parkruns in any region.


Individual running records

* Female world record holder:
Samantha Harrison Samantha (Sam) Harrison (born 29 August 1991) is a New Zealand field hockey player. She has competed for the New Zealand women's national field hockey team (''the Black Sticks Women''), including for the team at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and ...
on 3 December 2022 with a time of 15:37 at Long Eaton, Derbyshire, England. * Male world record holder:
Andrew Baddeley Andrew James Baddeley (born 20 June 1982) on The Wirral, Merseyside is an English middle-distance runner. Career He finished sixth in the 1500 metres final at the 2006 European Athletics Championships in Gothenburg. He also competed at the 20 ...
set a time of 13:48 at Bushy Parkrun on 11 August 2012. * Age-graded record holder:
Fauja Singh Fauja Singh ( pa, ਫੌਜਾ ਸਿੰਘ) is a British Sikh and retired marathon runner of Punjabi Indian descent. He has beaten a number of world records in multiple age brackets, but none of his times have been ratified as records. His ...
set 179.04% at Valentines Parkrun on 31 March 2012 (the day before his 101st birthday) with a time of 38:34. * Global record holder for highest number of runs: Darren Wood with 811 runs (as of 11 July 2022). * Global record holder for the highest number of different events: Paul Freyne with 571 different Parkrun locations (as of 11 July 2022).


Funding

Parkrun events are free of charge to participants and run principally by volunteers. The majority of Parkrun's income comes from sponsorship and grants, with some commercial income from apparel, wristbands, and accessories. Donations form less than 15% of the charity's income.


List of Parkrun event countries

Parkrun is held in the 26 of the 28 different countries and territories listed below as of 6 December 2022. France and Russia's parkruns are currently suspended.


List of junior Parkrun event countries

This is a list of countries which host junior Parkrun as of 28 August 2022.


Events around the world


Australia

The first Australian Parkrun event was held at Main Beach, on the Gold Coast, on 2 April 2011.
ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast '' ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include morning news-talk show '' Good Morning America'', '' ...
remarking on Parkrun Australia said "there are competitive runners aiming to win but there are just as many people running for the fun of it. If people want to race each other, that's fine, they can, but if you want to walk that is fine too. Everyone is welcome, from kids to grandparents, it's one of the few sporting events that a family can do together." The two biggest Parkruns in Australia are
South Bank The South Bank is an entertainment and commercial district in central London, next to the River Thames opposite the City of Westminster. It forms a narrow strip of riverside land within the London Borough of Lambeth (where it adjoins Alber ...
in Brisbane, Queensland and
Albert Park Lake Albert Park is a large public park in the City of Port Phillip, an inner suburban LGA of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Located south of the Melbourne central business district, the park encompasses of parkland around the long Albert Park ...
in Melbourne, Victoria, the two having alternating attendance records over the years with South Bank holding the current record of 1,010 participants set on Christmas Day, 25 December 2019.


Germany

The first three parkruns in Germany were Georgengarten parkrun in
Hannover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...
, Küchenholz parkrun in
Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...
and Neckarau parkrun in
Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's ...
, when they all hosted their first event on 2 December 2017. When Aachener Weiher parkrun started in
Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...
, it became the first parkrun in the alphabetical list of all parkruns.


Ireland

The first run in Ireland was at
Malahide Castle Malahide Castle ( ga, Caisleán Mhullach Íde), parts of which date to the 12th century, lies close to the village of Malahide, nine miles (14 km) north of central Dublin in Ireland. It has over of remaining parkland estate, forming th ...
on 10 November 2012. The rollout of Parkruns in Ireland was assisted by funding from the government's Department of Health with the aim of empowering local communities and encouraging individuals and families to lead active lives. The record attendance was at Marlay Parkrun on 21 January 2017 when there were 795 runners.


Japan

Parkrun was introduced for the first time to
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...
on 6 April 2019, by the
Futako-Tamagawa is located in Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan, on the north-east bank of the Tama River. The area surrounding the station is commonly called Futako-Tamagawa, and often refers to the Tamagawa and Seta districts of Setagaya, but there is no precise defini ...
Parkrun event,
Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...
. There are now 24 events held every Saturday morning in Japan.


New Zealand

The first event was at Lower Hutt on 5 May 2012


Poland

The first Polish Parkrun took place in Gdynia on 15 Oct 2011. Poland has the first Parkrun to cross the border of another country. Cieszyn Parkrun starts in
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
but crosses into the
Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
before returning to Poland. The record attendance was at Poznan Parkrun on 27 Dec 2015 when there were 1111 runners.


List of Parkruns in Poland


Russia

Parkrun in Russia began simultaneously at Kolomenskoe Parkrun and Severnoe Tushino Parkrun on 1 March 2014. Parkrun Yakutsk Dohsun takes place in Yakutsk, which has an average daily temperature of . All Parkrun events in Russia are currently suspended due to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.


South Africa

Parkrun South Africa was started and promoted by ultramarathoner
Bruce Fordyce Bruce Noel Stevenson Fordyce (born 3 December 1955 in Hong Kong) is a South African marathon and ultramarathon athlete. He is best known for having won the South African Comrades Marathon a record nine times, of which eight wins were consecuti ...
. The first Parkrun took place at Delta Park in Johannesburg on 12 November 2011 and had 26 participants. It is now one of the larger Parkruns regularly drawing up to 1200 runners and attracting tourists as the first one in the nation. The world record attendance was at North Beach,
Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...
, which saw 2527 runners on 20 January 2018.


United States

The first event was at Livonia on 2 June 2012. There are 55 active events with 5 of these clustered in the Washington DC Area.


Festive and special events

There are festive and special events which do not necessarily occur on a Saturday. Each country chooses its own special event days, which are held optionally by local Parkrun teams.


Community


Health initiatives

Parkrun endeavours to promote health and wellbeing through a number of initiatives. Its mission statement is "a healthier and happier planet". In the UK Parkrun has partnered with the Royal College of General Practitioners in order to promote healthy living through increased physical activity, socialisation and mutual support.


Relations with local authorities

Most events are run with the support and sometimes the sponsorship of local authorities. A notable conflict occurred at Little Stoke Parkrun. Parkrun does not set up events where charges would apply to the organisers or runners. Little Stoke Parkrun had begun with the council's permission in November 2012. In April 2016 the responsible parish council in Stoke Gifford, Bristol, England, voted to charge runners a fee to participate. Despite an online petition and support from the Minister for Sport, the council would not change its decision, so the Parkrun was permanently cancelled. In April 2017 the British Government proposed that in future local councils in England would not be allowed to charge for Parkruns in a public park.


Podcasts

Parkrun has produced podcasts to help widen engagement, publicise events and communicate developments within the Parkrun community. Between 2011 and 2015 ''The parkrun Show'', hosted by Danny Norman and Nicola Forwood, charted the development and expansion of parkrun from its beginnings and profiled new events. It styled itself as "A digestible audio roundup of the goings on of everything that caught our eye from the weekend in parkrunworld". In 2018, the ''Free Weekly Timed'' official Parkrun
podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosin ...
debuted. Originally it was co-hosted by
Vassos Alexander Born Vassos Alexander Georgiadis is a British sports reporter, presenter, author and endurance runner. He is currently the sports presenter of ''The Chris Evans Breakfast Show'' on Virgin Radio. Alexander hosts the Parkrun podcast, he is a moti ...
and Louise Ayling. In late 2019 Louise Ayling left the show and was replaced by Helen Williams. The podcast is broadcast weekly and gives Parkrun community news, features and entertainment.


See also

*
List of Parkruns in the United Kingdom This is a list of Parkruns in the United Kingdom and the Channel Islands. Parkrun is the name given to the collection of 5K runs that take place every Saturday morning at different locations throughout the country, including every region of Eng ...
*
List of Parkruns in the United States of America This is a list of parkruns in the United States of America, based on the currenparkrun USA events page Parkrun is the name given to the collection of 5K runs that take place every Saturday morning in 57 different locations throughout the country ...
*
List of Parkruns in France A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to: People * List (surname) Organizations * List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America * SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...
* Outdoor fitness


Notes


References


Further reading

*


External links

* {{Official website, http://www.parkrun.com/ 2004 establishments in England 5K runs Athletics competitions in England Organisations based in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames Recurring sporting events established in 2004 Road running competitions Running events Parkrun Sports events cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic Trail running competitions