We’ve learnt a lot over the years, and here, we’re telling the story of what we once thought about volunteering, how that’s changed, and what it might look like in the future. Volunteering has always been one of the cornerstones and great success stories of parkrun. But the way that we view the involvement…
Achilles provides people who live with disabilities the opportunity to participate in mainstream local, national and international events and ensure social connection within the community. Suzanne Hardie, a Chapter Leader at Achilles, explains how they are building a strong relationship with parkrun. Achilles Tauranga is a group of athletes with physical, sensory or intellectual…
Earlier this week the USA celebrated Independence Day. It’s a day of national pride and celebration, so in our own spin we turn the spotlight on three American parkruns to highlight their unique differences, while at their heart having the same friendly and welcoming core. We start off in Florida, where we have Depot…
98-year-old Colin Thorne has become the oldest person in history to join the parkrun 100 Club. We asked Colin what parkrun means to him, and for his advice on living a long and fulfilling life. My first parkrun was on 21 January 2017, a week after my 93rd birthday. My time was 50:06 that…
Kirsty Robben recently volunteered at parkrun for the first time. She explains how volunteering helped her find her way back into parkrun following a bout of COVID-19, and how it provided her with a very different perspective of parkrun. I’ve been doing parkrun since 2019. We had just moved and I was looking to meet…
32-year-old Maddie Macfarlane from Lake Boga parkrun in Victoria lives with social anxiety. Maddie tells us about the strategies she uses to get herself to parkrun each week, and how parkrun has become an important coping mechanism for her mental health. My social anxiety presents as overthinking and worrying about what people might think…
Jane was living in Ukraine until her life was turned upside down in a single moment. After initially hiding in a bunker, she and her mother made the difficult journey to Italy and found a family to stay with. In the midst of unrest, Jane tells us how the kindness of the parkrun community…
Anne Hanley is delighted to be back at parkrun after her treatment and recovery from breast cancer. Here she tells us how that return to parkrun felt. I started parkrunning because it was a way to get back into some regular exercise and it was something my husband and I could enjoy together. We…
We’re celebrating ten years of parkrunning in New Zealand! On May 5, 2012, 89 people, including volunteers participated at the very first event on the Lower Hutt riverbank. Lian and Noel de Charmoy introduced parkrun to New Zealand after visiting their dear friend and parkrun founder Paul Sinton-Hewitt at Bushy Park in London. The…
On Saturday 4 June, we would love for parkrunners to come together and celebrate togetherness, gratitude, and all things community – the beating heart of parkrun. Of course, parkrun events are already a fantastic way of uniting people, but why not extend the togetherness with a delicious post-parkrun picnic? For Thank You Day…
