Why parkrun is brilliant

When I was thinking about what I should write about first in my blogs, I thought about what may have had most effect on my life recently. 

In general, or at least since 2010, that has been losing more than 30kg of weight and a good part of the motivation for maintaining that weight loss has been running. I am of the belief that you can only really lose weight by limiting your intake - exercise is good but it can't compensate if you are still eating too much sugar and fat.However the motivation for maintaining weight loss can be harder and having taken up running I have found that the need to be fit to improve times and to feel better during and after running I also need to keep the weight off. 

I therefore began running regularly and also took part in events - first 5K, then 10K then 10 miles and so on. In May 2013 someone I know on facebook posted about something called parkrun at Graves Park that took place every Saturday. On closer inspection I discovered that it was free (I like that), that it was 5K, that events took place all over the country and that one had also started at nearby Rother Valley. I registered straightaway on the website and records show that my first parkrun took place at Rother Valley on 25th May 2013 where I finished 35th out of 78 runners in a time of 24 minutes 22 seconds. Immediately this felt different to other events I had taken part in - it was hard to put my finger on it at first but I now know that it's what can only be described as the "parkrun vibe". It could be one of those feelings that does not have a single word in English to describe it but you only know it when you feel it. Perhaps the word exists in another language but it's a combination of friendliness, fun, comradeship and community spirit.

For me the hook was instant - I wanted to go back and do it again, and again and again. I'd also noticed that it was volunteer led - this was a double edged sword for me as I'd spent a long time as a volunteer and committee member at two other sports and had discovered that I ended up being overwhelmed by it as I can't do things halfheartedly. However this seemed to be different - less bureaucratic and very team and community driven. I instantly liked the people who were involved and so I decided to go to a volunteer meeting and help out when I could.

By 2013 parkrun was already a phenomenon but since then it's escalated into something that I don't think anyone could have foreseen and that has transcended the essentially simple fact that you turn up, run 5 kilometers, get a time, have coffee and cake and go home. Since my first run over two years ago I have to date completed 117 parkruns at 30 different venues in the UK and Australia and also volunteered over 50 times including being Run Director at two different parkruns. These are just numbers that don't really do justice to what parkrun means to me and many thousands of others. The joy of these community events is from the people you meet, support, socialise with, commiserate with and end up being friends with. I have found with running in general that the people you meet are typically supportive and empathetic but parkrun takes that to another level. Volunteering can often give you a greater buzz than running, which I'd never expected.

My excursions to other parkruns have only confirmed any positive feelings I already had about the concept and how it has developed. Wherever you go you can feel the same life affirming spirit that I felt at Rother Valley in those early weeks. If you really want to get a view on what parkrun is about, go to the website www.parkrun.org.uk, find the news page, pick any newsletter and scroll down to the "news from the field" section. In there you will find some beautiful and moving stories from the world of parkrun. From my experiences at Rother Valley I can call on one story that you may have subsequently picked up on after it appeared on local news and Breakfast TV. 

One Saturday a young lad called Bailey Matthews arrived at Rother Valley with his dad to do the run. Bailey is 8 years old and was unlike any runner we had welcomed at our event as he has cerebral palsy. He does the event partly with a walking aid and partly unaided. Of course he took longer than anyone else but many people stayed on to cheer him through the finish line. Our tail runner on the day ( the tail runner is a volunteering role that always goes around in last place), has said that this was his best parkrun and a truly humbling experience. If you haven't seen the video of Bailey completing a triathlon last year, seek it out. Since then he has gained national recognition at the Sports Personality of the Year awards and on BBC Breakfast.

This is just a sample of the stories from parkrun - runners who have survived illness, who are fighting illness, people who have passed away and have their memories honoured at parkrun and, recently, a couple who met at parkrun and have subsequently married. All this, and an excuse to eat cake. 

Anyway, enough of the sentimentality. What else has parkrun achieved? Well, in pure numbers it has succeeded where many government initiatives have failed in getting the Great British Public off their backsides and exercising. All without a single penny of direct Westminster funding, although I know that many councils have contributed to the startup costs of events. In true politician style, the latest occupants of the Culture and Sport department in London have noticed this and want in on the action. I would urge the parkrun organisers to sup with these devils using a very long spoon - their track record once they start interfering is, to say the least, patchy. So, could other sports learn from the success? Can they achieve the same level of casual participation using the model of free access, volunteer led, friendly and fun events that can be an end in themselves or point people to clubs where more serious participation and competition can be found? I think that's hard to say. Running in a park is essentially cheap, it doesn't require coaching, much in the way of organisation and can cope with numbers from 1 to 1000 showing up without much change in process. Other sports are technically complex, have contact elements, require costly courts/pitches/halls and cannot manage easily with small or large numbers of participants. Nonetheless, if you are involved with other sports you would be advised to have a good look at parkrun and in particular what makes people rock up in significant numbers to an open space in February, in the rain, to do some exercise.