Izzy has anxiety and often finds going out and about on her own scary and difficult. She has been a parkrunner since 2014 and finds her local parkrun community offers her a safe space where she feels comfortable and not judged. My first parkrun was in 2014. My mum had been a few times and…
If volunteering for the first time at parkrun is one of your New Year’s resolutions but you’re not sure what to expect, read these five tips for volunteering to see why we love it so much! 1. Bring someone with you From our volunteering research, we know that some people who are volunteering…
Have you ever wondered what a parkrun looks like over in Japan? You’re in the right place! We recently talked to Ikeya Kenjiro, the event director at Kashiwanoha parkrun about how it changed his Saturday mornings, and why he loves volunteering at parkrun. I first heard about parkrun in April 2019 when a flyer was delivered…
Almost everyone has had the same thought at some point. I’m too old, young, shy, anxious, unfit… When a friend suggested to Christie Farrow that she might like to take part in parkrun her reaction was “I’m too slow”. Sport wasn’t part of Christie’s life growing up. It was something she enjoyed, but…
695,890 people across the world know how wonderful it can be to volunteer at parkrun. Getting some fresh air and vitamin D, meeting new people, being with family and friends, getting active, problem solving, team building, and gaining life skills are just a few examples of why volunteering comes with incredible physical and mental health benefits….
Beck was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer just a week after completing a half-marathon. For her, attending parkrun makes a huge difference to her outlook and mental health, and it gives her an all important hour in the week to forget that she has cancer. As someone who has never smoked, she wants…
It might have taken six years from first registering with parkrun to taking part in her first event, but Meighan Walker says that she has finally found ‘her’ community. Meighan is well aware of the contradiction. She’s a sociable person but an antisocial runner – preferring to jog only in the shadows of early…
Kirsty Robben (fourth from right) 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 to Napier from Wellington…
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…
