Greetings from Canada

I am Euan and I am the Country Manager for parkrun Canada.  I moved here almost five years ago and while I understand when moving country that culture shock and adjusting is part of the process, giving up parkrun was one of those things that was very hard to do!  Watching parkrun emerge in the USA made it even more difficult so I knew something had to be done.  Canada, like the US, has so many communities across the country that could reap the benefits that parkrun brings.  I argue even more so than most other countries as due to sheer size many of our communities are vastly spread out, and using parkrun as a link between them promotes a common bond.

So what are our plans for Canada?  We are here for every community that wants to work with us to have a parkrun in their area and there is vast opportunity for that.  We are really proud of our first three events (Nose Hill, Okanagan and Richmond Olympic) and were excited to see a fourth join the family this month (Saint-Paulin).  Several teams are currently working and putting together plans to launch parkruns later in the year, particularly once the snow melts.

And what does this mean for the USA?  Like for every country your parkrun barcode will scan everywhere, and being your closest neighbours we’d be more than happy to be host to your first international parkrun adventure!  Just make the trip over the border and visit your parkrun, you don’t need to let us know in advance.

So that’s it!  parkrun is amazingly simple which allows it to be super transportable.  I’m really proud to be working on bringing parkrun to Canada, and with my American counterparts bringing it to North America as a whole.  I look forward to meeting those of you who travel across the border, and I speak on behalf of Canadian parkrunners when we will come visit too!

Until then, happy parkrunning!