Sporty Saturday: Parkrun

So, today is Sporty Saturday, where I will give exercise tips and even mention a few up coming events.

Photo credit to Parkrun.

Parkrun logo

This Saturday I will be talking about Parkrun. Parkrun is a timed 5k run, which takes places every Saturday morning. It is free and for all ages. I even took part in my local Parkrun this very morning.

There are over 370 Parkruns in several countries, which makes it easy to locate one near you. This can be done by looking through the events at www.parkrun.org.uk (these events are for in the UK only).

To sign up you must register online at www.parkrun.org.uk. Once registered you will receive a unique athlete number and barcode to print out for use when taking part. This barcode will be scanned at the end of every Parkrun along with your place number chip (you will be given this at the end of the Parkrun by the volunteers), so your time can be recorded.

To look up your time, search [name of Parkrun area] Parkrun. Click on the website of your Parkrun and then click on ‘results’, which is situated on the navigation bar. Scroll through the times to find yours or type your name into the search.

If you are not much of a runner you can volunteer at Parkrun and take on the role of a marshal or a bar code scanner. Parkrun relies on volunteers, so it would be useful to help out.

At Parkrun there are a variety of free t-shirts to collect: Juniors 10 runs, 50 runs, 100 runs and volunteers. These mark your Parkrun milestones.

One last thing, there is usually a photographer at Parkrun, so don’t forget to smile when running round. To check out the photos visit your Parkrun website and click on ‘photos’.

Photo taken by Karen Newton.

Anya and I racing at the finish