We recently asked all of our junior parkrun teams to help us carry out our third annual ‘snapshot survey’ to assist us in our understanding of participation.
We asked all of our volunteer teams to count the number of adults who were accompanying their children by walking, jogging and running at junior parkrun on one weekend in May.
We were delighted to discover that the number of adults participating has remained consistent each time we have carried out the survey, giving us real confidence in our claim that for every 100 junior parkrunners that cross the finish line, at least 40 adults will have also taken part alongside them!
We know that junior parkrun positively impacts upon lots more people than even our own weekly statistics show, so for the first time this year, we also asked our volunteers to count the number of ‘spectators/others’ who were in the park as a result of junior parkrun taking place.
From personal experience, I take my own three-year-old boy along every week to Ramsbottom junior parkrun, and while he’s not yet old enough to take part, he still takes delight in joining in with the warm-up, cheering on his nursery friends and playing in the park before, during and long after the event has occurred.
So whilst Max isn’t formally recognised in our weekly statistics, I know for a fact that junior parkrun is helping to make him healthier and happier; providing him with the perfect excuse to spend quality time in our local park every weekend and making physical activity a normal part of his weekly routine.
Our ‘spectator’ count revealed that the average number of spectators present at junior parkrun events was 40.
So to demonstrate these figures in real numbers, on the day that the survey took place, we recorded 16,016 junior walkers, joggers and runners and 3,947 volunteers… however we can confidently estimate that there were actually close to 35,000 people in their local park as a result of junior parkruns taking place.
A massive thank you to all of the volunteers who contributed to the survey!
Your nearest junior parkrun can be found here.
Interested in bringing junior parkrun to your community? Click here to find out more.
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