Episode Details

Send us Fan Mail

Brief Summary of Episode

Today we are going to be talking about events for runners.  More specifically the birth of Park Run.

Parkrun (stylised as parkrun) is a collection of 5-kilometre (3.1 mi) events for walkers, runners and volunteers that take place every Saturday morning at more than 2,000 locations in 22 countries across six continents.

How it all started.

Parkrun was founded by Paul Sinton-Hewitt on 2 October 2004 at Bushy Park in London, England. The event was originally called the Bushy Park Time Trial.

It grew into a network of similar events called the UK Time Trials, before adopting the name Parkrun in 2008 and expanding into other countries.

The first event outside of the United Kingdom was launched in Zimbabwe in 2007, followed by Denmark in 2009, South Africa and Australia in 2011 and the United States in 2012.

Sinton-Hewitt received a CBE for his services to grassroots sport in 2014. By October 2018 over 5 million runners were registered worldwide.

Paul Sinton-Hewitt

Sinton-Hewitt was born in Zimbabwe and went to Potchefstroom High School for Boys as a boarder in South Africa.

He became a club runner with a personal best time in the marathon of 2 hours and 36 minutes.   That is pretty fast!!!

In 2004, Sinton-Hewitt was suffering from depression and unable to run due to an injury.   Plus, he was unemployed and had just lost his job.

So he founded Park Run as he wanted to spend more time with his friends.

His philosophy :

Circumstance:

Bushy Park and more.

How was it funded.

Volunteering

Motivation

How to participate.

All Parkruns are 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) in length and are free to enter.[18] Anyone can take part, from pensioners to parents with their children, people with their dogs, wheelchair users, people pushing prams, club runners or casual runners, although not all courses are suitable for all participants.[19] Beginner runners, older adults and overweight people are common.

They usually take place at the same time, at the same place, on the same course, once per week. There is no formal procedure before the run with participants asked to arrive shortly before the start time and wait near the starting line.

A run director will make announcements giving safety instructions and community news before beginning the run.

Participants run or walk the course and are directed by marshals along the correct route to the finish line.

As each runner enters the finish funnel, a volunteer records the finishing place number and time. The information recorded by the timers is later uploaded onto a computer, which allows runners to be matched with their times.

The results are uploaded to the Parkrun website which also generates a number of statistics. The results available are finishing position for both male and female runners,