All around the world, we’ve seen over 28,000 unique volunteers in the parkwalker role and they’ve parkwalked over 52,000 times! We speak to one of the parkwalkers, Cathy Hannon, about why she chooses to volunteer in her favourite role every Saturday morning. Cathy’s chronic condition means that parkwalking is the best option for her, she relishes the…
On the first day our parkwalker role was introduced, Shuhei Sumitani joined for his first parkrun. Since that parkrun in October, Shuhei has found confidence in the parkwalker role. Event Director Mariko writes how Shuhei has become a part of the wonderful parkrun community. When I met Shuhei, I was at the parkrun…
Going to parkrun was non-negotiable for Tess, but over time she fell out of love and “felt like a burden”. After hearing about the parkwalk initiative she returned to parkrun, feeling welcome and accepted within the community. I got involved relatively early on with parkrun – I was even on the start line of…
October has sadly come to an end, but what a month it’s been as we’ve celebrated parkwalk at parkrun! Over the last five weekends we’ve welcomed an incredible 10,000 brand new walkers to parkrun, as well as inspiring 8,000 existing parkrunners to join in the parkwalk fun. That means throughout October there have been…
Dr Hussain Al-Zubaidi is a primary care physician, a TV doctor and a triathlete! He shares his top five ways walking helps your mental health. There are about 500 ways in which walking is good for your mental health, so this will be difficult, but here are my top five. These are why each Saturday…
The uplifting magic of #parkwalk has spread across the world, from the beautiful parks in South Africa to the north of Scandinavia and everywhere in between. Let’s take a #parkwalk tour across continents and have a look at what parkwalk means to parkrunners across the globe. Sweden I love tail walking for the…
Whether you’re finding your feet, not sure how to get started, craving some me time or are keen to introduce someone new to parkrun, here are five reasons why we love walking at parkrun to get you ready for #parkwalk! Catch-up with friends We know that life is expensive right now, so why…
To celebrate our 18th birthday, we’re taking a look back through the first 18 years of parkrunning! The beginning On Saturday 2 October 2004, 13 runners and five volunteers turned up to Bushy Park in Teddington, London, for a free, timed, 5k run, known then as the Bushy Park Time Trial. Paul…
As part of the parkwalk campaign this October, we are introducing a brand new volunteer role – the parkwalker! It has been created to demonstrate that walking at parkrun is both encouraged and valued. Why “parkwalker”? Inclusivity and participation, rather than speed, has been a key principle of parkrun since day one….
This October marks 18 years since parkrun’s founder, Paul Sinton-Hewitt, shouted “Go!” at the very first parkrun event. We’d like to make this 18th anniversary one to remember by dedicating the whole month of October to something extra special… parkwalk at parkrun! Paul’s vision was that parkrun would be open to everyone, no…
