Stanley Park junior parkrun in Liverpool welcomed its 500th different junior parkrunner recently. Event Director and volunteer Outreach Ambassador Dave Dando tells us more about Liverpool’s first junior parkrun. I grew up around Stanley Park in the 1950s and would play there every day after school and every weekend, I moved away from Liverpool for…
Picture the scene: it’s Sunday 1 April 2010, nine intrepid youngsters are lining up for a photo in Bushy Park, blissfully unaware that they are about to make history as the pioneers of junior parkrun. Fast forward eight years to 1 April 2018: it’s Easter Sunday, April Fool’s Day and the eighth anniversary of…
Most adults can decide for themselves if they want to attend parkrun for the first time, but for children it can be somewhat different. Steven Park, Event Director at Redcar junior parkrun, has implemented a scheme that encourages nervous first-timers to take part while providing junior parkrunners with the opportunity to help others. A…
Hi there, I’m Nik Robinson and I’m parkrun UK’s volunteer Duke of Edinburgh (DofE) Lead, and my home run is Aberdeen parkrun. The DofE is a great scheme that promotes the development of young people, through undertaking a skill, a recreational activity and volunteering as well as going on an expedition! The time to…
Last weekend, over 180 parkrun Ambassadors, staff and volunteers came together at the parkrun Annual Conference and we used this opportunity to introduce a brand new volunteer role: parkrun STARs. STARs is an acronym for Story-Tellers, Advocates and Role Models and summarises perfectly what the role is all about. STARs will be helping us…
Hi, I’m Helen Hood, Head of Event Delivery at parkrun UK, and last weekend I joined a sea of apricot in the parkrun wave of the Westminster Mile. In the Hood household it’s an annual highlight and the fourth year we’ve taken part as a family, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. …
Hi, I’m Clare Fowler and I am Safeguarding Lead at parkrun UK. In my role as Safeguarding Lead, I hear too many reports of pushy parents who have become preoccupied with their children getting a PB, so I was absolutely delighted when this popped in to my inbox: I want to tell you all…
Hi, I’m Jo Sinton-Hewitt, and I am Event Support Manager at parkrun UK and Run Director at Moormead junior parkrun. I had the absolute pleasure of spending last weekend in Belfast as part of our series of regional tours around the UK. We visit a different region usually once every two months and invite all of…
It’s a free 2K for 4-14 year olds; we all know that junior parkrun is more than just a run, jog or walk in the park for 4-14 year olds, don’t we?! Despite the fact that we reported another amazing record turnout at junior parkrun last weekend (15,999 juniors crossed a finish line on…
parkrun came to Nottingham six years ago. As a competitive club athlete and coach, I thought this was great – a free 5k race every week. I turned out regularly, chasing first finisher positions, PBs and age group records. I understood the parkrun ethos, but I have to admit I was a reluctant volunteer –…
