Saturday 26 June saw the welcome return of 5k events across Northern Ireland. We caught up with parkrunners, volunteers and event teams to hear all about the special weekend. The Saturday morning buzz was well and truly back across Northern Ireland this weekend as 29 5km events welcomed more than 4,000 walkers, joggers and runners,…
It was April 2015. 24-year-old Yvonne Tse had spent a year trying to get fit via a couch-to-5km program but to no avail, so she reluctantly joined her friend Olivia at parkrun. Yvonne explains how she caught the parkrun bug during the final kilometre of her very first parkrun. I was very reluctant to…
We took another big step forward last Saturday as 5k events returned in Denmark, the ninth country to see events restart post-COVID, plus we welcomed back junior parkrun events in Scotland. In total nearly 60,000 people took part in 775 events around the world last weekend, including nearly 2,500 for the very first time….
I’m Alita and I am 32, and prior to parkrun I would complain at having to do a 100-metre warm-up at my local Boot Camp! That was November 2018 and I was on a health and fitness journey. I had lost almost 30kg. One morning whilst out of my morning coffee beach walk we…
With the restart of 72 events in Poland, last weekend saw the most parkrun events take place globally since the pandemic began last March. Nearly 66,000 individuals participated at one of 768 events across eight countries. Every event that restarts represents a huge step forward and should give all of us great reassurance and…
“It feels like my body is packing up on me.” That’s how I described it to my parents one Sunday morning in August 2015. This was after a few months of feeling strange, and regularly not being able to sleep due to a pounding head and feeling flushed. I took my blood pressure on…
Helen Young started parkrunning three years ago after looking for local volunteering opportunities. Seeing how friendly and inclusive it was, she eventually took on the 5k course herself, and now she has set off to virtually run the perimeter of Sierra Leone in 5k chunks. My first parkrun was about three years ago. I…
Last weekend we saw 700 events take place across seven countries, with more than 62,000 participants enjoying the magic of free, community-led, outdoor, social physical activity opportunities. It is so encouraging to see these events welcomed back by local communities, and to see our COVID-19 Framework in action and working well. This COVID-specific framework…
While this is a challenging time for us all, it is wonderful to hear that Malena Mahat, from Presint 18, parkrun, has completed a total of 192 (not)parkruns! Malena describes the benefits for her, “My body and legs feel strong, and running helps maintain my body weight. I feel happy, with no stress. I…
It was fabulous to see 25 events return across South Africa last weekend, the seventh country to welcome back free, weekly, community events since lockdown began last March. Unfortunately a temporary lockdown in Victoria, Australia meant that 97 events were cancelled there, but in total 663 events did take place around the world, with…
