Parkrun

Parkrun (also written parkrun) is a set of 5-kilometre (3.1 mi) events for runners, walkers and volunteers. They take place every Saturday morning at more than 2,000 locations in 23 countries on five continents.

Parkrun was started by Paul Sinton-Hewitt on 2 October 2004 in Bushy Park, in London, England. At first it was called the Bushy Park Time Trial. It grew into a group of similar events called the UK Time Trials. In 2008 it was given the name Parkrun, and it began to spread to other countries. The first event outside the United Kingdom was in Zimbabwe in 2008. Denmark followed in 2009, then South Africa and Australia in 2011, and the United States in 2012.

In 2014, Sinton-Hewitt was made a CBE for his work supporting grass-roots sport. By October 2018, more than five million runners had signed up around the world. The number is now over ten million. The millionth Parkrun event took place on the weekend of 13 and 14 June 2026.

Events are held in many kinds of places, such as parks, stately homes, forests, rivers, lakes, reservoirs, beaches, promenades, prisons and nature reserves. Volunteers and runners who take part in a certain number of runs or events can buy a parkrun milestone T-shirt. Runners can visit and join any Parkrun except those on closed sites, such as prisons and military bases.

History

Paul Sinton-Hewitt started Parkrun on 2 October 2004 at Bushy Park, in London, England. He was born in Southern Rhodesia and went to Potchefstroom High School for Boys in South Africa, where he lived at the school. He became a club runner. In 2004, he was dealing with depression, and an injury stopped him from running. He started Parkrun so he could keep spending time with his running friends. The first event had 13 runners and three volunteers. The Bushy Parkrun was first called the Bushy Park Time Trial. Times were measured with a stopwatch and written down on paper, and washers were used as finishing tokens.

The second Time Trial was held at Wimbledon Common in 2007. This is where the idea of the same event held in different places began. The events were renamed Parkrun in 2008. That year, the first event outside the UK was held in Zimbabwe. By 2015, more than 80,000 people were taking part each week. That is more than twice the number who take part in the yearly London Marathon. In 2017, Parkrun Global Limited became a UK registered charity. Events stopped in March 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. They started again in England in July 2021. In 2022, because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Parkrun stopped supporting its events in Russia. In 2024, performance statistics were taken off the website. A petition on Change.org asked for this change to be undone. An event at a military base, Camp Bastion in Afghanistan, also closed in 2014.

Event outline

All Parkruns are 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) long and free to join. Anyone can take part, including walkers, parents with children, people with dogs, wheelchair users and people pushing prams. Events usually happen every week at the same time, place and route. Volunteers record each runner's place and time, and the results are posted on the Parkrun website. To have a time recorded, runners sign up once and bring a personal barcode to each event. They can also use a phone app or watch. Events are held in many places, from city parks and country parks to national parks, stately homes, promenades and nature reserves. The ground can be tarmacked paths or trails.

The Daily Telegraph reported that events are popular because they are free and happen every week. This helps people build a routine. It also linked a drop in gym use to the popularity of events like Parkrun and fitness tracking devices. Every event is run by volunteers, who take on jobs such as pacers. Steve Flowers at the University of Kent describes Parkrun as an example of "people's innovation." Junior Parkrun is a version for children aged 4–14. It is held on Sunday mornings over 2 kilometres. Milestone clubs and t-shirts mark runners reaching 25, 50, 100, 250, 500 and 1000 runs. Challenges, such as the Bee Gees-themed Stayin' Alive, are personal goals and are not officially recorded. Some challenges are listed in Google Chrome and Firefox extensions. Ciara Mageean holds the female record and Nick Griggs holds the male record. Both records were set at Victoria Park in Belfast. Fauja Singh set an age-graded record at Valentines in Ilford, London, the day before his 101st birthday. Parkrun is free for runners. It is run mainly by volunteers, with money coming from sponsors and grants.

Reception

A 2013 article in The Guardian noted how quickly Parkrun grew. It said this was mainly because it is simple and easy to join. Runners sign up online once, then go to any event and run. People of many different abilities are welcome, from fast club runners to walkers, and from children running with their parents to older people. Wheelchair users, people pushing buggies and people running with their dogs are also welcome. A 2013 study in the Journal of Public Health of more than 7,000 people found that many described themselves as non-runners, and that women, older adults and overweight people were well represented. A 2015 study by the University of Loughborough found that first-time runners often wanted to lose weight loss or improve their physical fitness. Runners who kept coming back wanted to beat their personal record time, reach milestones, enjoy being outdoors, make friends and meet people they knew.

Writing in The Independent in 2018, chief sports writer Jonathan Liew said that Parkrun is "one of the most important" sporting events in the world. He said it changes what people have long been told sport is about. He wrote that Parkrun offers "community, opportunity, the outdoors, the simple pleasure of sport and people."

In the mid-2020s, Parkrun was criticised several times for letting transgender women register as women. Critics said this was unfair, even though Parkrun is a fun run and not a sporting competition.

See also: Anti-transgender movement in the United Kingdom

A report by the right-wing think tank The Policy Exchange called for Parkrun to lose public funding unless it stopped trans women from registering as women. Campaigners Sharron Davies and Martina Navratilova also spoke out against the policy.

Community

Parkrun wants to help people be healthy and happy. Its mission statement is "a healthier and happier planet." In the UK, Parkrun has worked with the Royal College of General Practitioners to encourage people to be more active, to spend time with others, and to support one another. In Ireland, the TV show Operation Transformation has worked with Parkrun several times. It encouraged viewers to join local Parkruns, and some of these ran special Couch to 5K programmes to match the show.

Most events are run with help from local authorities, and sometimes they also pay for them. One disagreement happened at Little Stoke Parkrun. Parkrun does not start events that would cost the organisers or runners money. This event began in November 2012 with the council's permission. In April 2016, the parish council in Stoke Gifford, Bristol, voted to charge runners a fee to take part. Many people signed an online petition, and the Minister for Sport also supported the event. However, the council did not change its decision, so the event there was cancelled for good. In April 2017, the British Government suggested that, in the future, local councils in England would not be allowed to charge for Parkruns in a public park.

Events around the world

Parkrun has spread to many countries. In Australia, the first event was held at Main Beach on the Gold Coast on 2 April 2011. ABC News said Parkrun is open to everyone, from children to grandparents. It is one of the few sporting events a whole family can do together. In January 2024, the one millionth runner finished a Parkrun in Australia. As of October 2026, there are 552 parkrun locations there.

The first three German Parkruns started on 2 December 2017. They were Georgengarten in Hannover, Küchenholz in Leipzig, and Neckarau in Mannheim. Aachener Weiher Parkrun, in Cologne, is the first event on the alphabetical list of all events. In Ireland, the first run was at Malahide Castle, north of Dublin, on 10 November 2012. The most runners at one event in Ireland was at Anne's Parkrun in Dublin on 30 September 2023, with 911 runners. Parkrun came to Japan on 6 April 2019, at the Futako-Tamagawa event in Tokyo. There are now 24 events there each Saturday morning. The newest country to host Parkrun is Lithuania. Parkrun Vingis started in Vilnius on 21 September 2024 with 223 people taking part.

In New Zealand, the first event was at Lower Hutt on 5 May 2012. Cornwall Parkrun in Auckland started on 28 July 2012. As of 30 August 2026, there were 75 Parkrun events across the country. The first Polish Parkrun took place in Gdynia on 15 October 2011. Cieszyn Parkrun starts in Poland, crosses into the Czech Republic, and then returns to Poland. The most runners at one event in Poland was at Tczew Parkrun on 13 May 2023, with 1,774 runners. Parkrun in Russia began on 1 March 2014 at Kolomenskoe and Severnoe Tushino. All Parkrun events in Russia are currently cancelled because of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In South Africa, Parkrun was started and promoted by ultramarathon runner Bruce Fordyce. The first event took place at Delta Park in Johannesburg on 12 November 2011, with 26 people taking part. The world record for the most runners at one event was at North Beach, Durban, with 2,527 runners on 20 January 2018. The first US Parkrun was held in Livonia, Michigan on 2 June 2012. As of 30 August 2026, there are 102 active events in the United States.

Festive and special events

There are also festive and special events. These do not always happen on a Saturday. Each country picks its own special event days. Local Parkrun teams can choose whether to hold them, so they will not happen at every Parkrun location.

Where special events are held, there are usually Parkruns on Christmas Day, New Year's Day, and/or national holidays in that country.

List of Parkrun event countries

As of 30 August 2026, Parkrun is held in 29 of the 30 countries and territories listed below.

Parkrun events are paused in two countries. In France, they have been paused since July 2022 because of legal questions about medical certificates. In Russia, they have been paused since March 2022 because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Parkrun's chief executive, Russ Jefferys, said the war goes against the charity's goal of bringing health and happiness to people all over the world. He also said volunteers should not be placed in a situation where they have to explain their own views, because in some countries this could be unsafe for them.

List of Junior Parkrun event countries

The following table lists countries that host Junior Parkruns, as of 16 August 2025: