Matthew Akpan’s superpower, Asperger’s Syndrome, has seen him become an esteemed parkrunner and complete some brilliant challenges for charity in memory of his father. I’ve been running since the age of 13 years old, when I started at the running club in Beeston, Leeds in 2002. Since my first parkrun in 2008, I’ve completed…
Leah Swallow is 21 and the thing she loves most about parkrun? It’s the same wherever you go. As someone who is severe to profoundly deaf, it was this familiarity that gave her the confidence to try a nearby parkrun when she moved away to uni. With her studies all now online due to the pandemic,…
Woodhouse Moor parkrunner Pritti Mehta is Head of Programmes, Transformation and Delivery, in the People Directorate at NHS England. Here she tells us why parkrun is so important for her own health and happiness, and how it could make a difference to yours. We each have a vital role to play in our…
Theresa Wraith parkruns as a way to manage her health and happiness following a second brain tumour diagnosis in 2016. Now, Saturday mornings have become a time for the whole family to get together. Here’s her story. I was initially diagnosed with a second brain tumour in 2016. After the surgery, I felt…
Kate Henshall never saw herself as a runner and always thought it was something other people did. Now a regular parkrunner, she tells us why she feels so differently and how parkrun has fitted into the rhythm of her week. My niece had started running a few years before me, and suggested it…
Mental Health Nurse Jane Ryan registered for parkrun and then spent 18 months plucking up the courage to go. Now a regular at Woodhouse Moor parkrun in Leeds, she has a message for all the other women out there thinking about their first parkrun. I registered myself for parkrun but then didn’t have…
Curtis Ledger wants everyone to know that weight is not a barrier to participating at parkrun. After tail walking with his daughter at Bodington junior parkrun, a chance set of circumstances started him on his journey to taking part in 5k events. Having just completed his 50th parkrun at Woodhouse Moor in Leeds, he tells…
Dr Ai Lyn Tan and Dr Michael Mansfield, were the driving forces behind a recent link-up between two Leeds-based parkruns, and Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. We asked the parkrunning doctors to tell us more about the day, and the impact on their fellow healthcare professionals… When the topic of parkrun suddenly appeared in…
Woodhouse Moor parkrun in Leeds was the first parkrun to launch outside of London. Anne Akers is the Event Director at Woodhouse Moor, and she tells us more about one of the oldest parkruns in the world… It was someone at the local climbing wall who mentioned parkrun, I’d never heard of it, but…
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…
