Parkrun

 ( Official Website ) 

The Bushy Parkrun was originally known as the Bushy Park Time Trial. Its results were timed with a stopwatch and recorded on paper; washers, each one stamped with a finish number, were used as finishing tokens. Over the next two years, the event took place every week with the number of participants and volunteers growing, and with new technology introduced to streamline the processing of results. The second Time Trial was launched at Wimbledon Common in 2007; it was here that the model of having an identical structure at different locations began. That year saw a further six events established. They were initially known as UK Time Trials before the "parkrun" name was adopted. Five more locations were added in 2008, including the first Parkruns in Scotland and in Cardiff Parkrun.

The first event outside the UK was launched in Zimbabwe in 2008, though this event no longer operates. The longest-running Parkrun outside the UK was launched in Denmark in 2009. In 2010, there were 30 new events added including the first in Northern Ireland. In 2011 parkrun began in South Africa and Australia, both of which have seen significant growth in event numbers, and in 2012 Parkrun USA launched. Junior Parkrun started at Bushy Park in 2013. Sinton-Hewitt was appointed CBE in 2014 for his "services to grassroots sport".

By 2015, more than 80,000 people were gathering in parks across the world each week to run, jog and walk a Parkrun – more than twice the number who take part in the annual London Marathon. In 2016, 1.1 million different people completed a Parkrun and 142,000 people volunteered.

In 2017 "Parkrun Global Limited", the organisation which supports global Parkrun events, became a UK registered charity.

By 2018, approximately a quarter of a million runners took part weekly in 1,500 events, spread over 20 countries. Parkrun events were closed from March 2020 due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. They resumed in England on 24 July 2021.

Permanent event closures are rare. Zimbabwe was the first country to host a Parkrun outside the UK; the event started in 2007 but closed several years later. Parkrun Elliðaárdalur closed in 2012 due to operational difficulties in the winter, and Hillerød Parkrun in Denmark closed in 2013. Camp Shorabak Parkrun was hosted at a military base in Afghanistan, which shut in 2014. More frequently, Parkruns have formally closed at a location, but have relocated to a venue nearby and changed name, such as when changes to the layout of the adjacent car park by East Lindsey District Council cut the course in half, forcing the closure of the Parkrun.

In 2022, due to war invasion, Parkrun banned its website for users from Russia and ended support for all its events there. The local running Parkrun community separated from the international community and continued weekly events at the same venues under the local brand "5 вёрст" ("5 versts").

In 2022 Parkrun changed its rules to ban dogs running with owners where a waist-harness was used; participation was instead restricted to running with one dog on a short, hand-held lead. This was due to research that showed that where participants use waist harnesses, there was an "increased risk of serious incidents, particularly trips and falls, compared to when using handheld leads." A spokesperson said "More than 10% of incidents at Parkrun events involve dogs, and as such we have spent significant time considering the nature, frequency, and severity of dog-related incidents."

In 2024, statistics were removed from the Parkrun website, including course records, most first finishes, sub-17 minute men and sub-20 minute women, age grade records and category records. In a statement to the BBC, Parkrun stated that this was as a result of investigations by a global working group looking at how their events could be less "off-putting" to potential participants. Parkrun also stated "we spent many months now making detailed investigations and recommendations. What was clear is that there was a disconnect between the performance data displayed so prominently on the site, and our mission to create opportunities for as many people as possible to take part in parkrun events – especially those who are anxious about activities such as parkrun, but who potentially have an enormous amount to gain." A petition was created on Change.org that called for the changes to be reversed, on the basis that they provide "motivation and inspiration" to participants.

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 their finishing place and time. 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, finish time, whether a personal best time has been achieved, the total number of runs completed by an individual, their age grade result and their position in relation to other veteran or junior runners.

To have a time recorded, runners are asked to register on the Parkrun website, print out a personal ID that includes a barcode and bring it to each event. Alternatively, they can download the barcode or QR code to a phone app or fitness or smart watch. Registration needs to be done just once, with the barcode valid for any subsequent Parkrun in the world. Runners can still participate without registering, or if they forget to bring their personal barcode, but they will not have their time or participation recorded. If the runner does not have a barcode, their position on the finishers table will be recorded with the name "unknown" and no time. After passing the finish line, each runner is handed a "finish token" corresponding to their position. This is later scanned alongside their personal barcode, if they have one, to link their result with their Parkrun profile.

The Daily Telegraph reported that "what's clever is that it's not a race against everyone else but a timed run", and that trying to improve your personal best time is a great incentive even for slower runners. The paper further explained that the success of the events is down to them being free and weekly, because it allows people to get into a routine.

An article in The Daily Telegraph said that a drop in gym usage can be attributed to a backlash against gym membership fees combined with the popularity of events such as Parkrun and Activity tracker.

Commenting in The Independent in 2018, chief sports writer Jonathan Liew said: "parkrun is not simply one of the biggest sporting events in the world, but one of the most important, largely because it entirely upends what we have long been told sport is about." He discusses how sport has become ever more something the public pay to watch, packaged ever more expensively, with the sports people's lives tipping over into light entertainment, concluding: "parkrun offers something entirely different: community, opportunity, the outdoors, the simple pleasure of sport and people. In so doing, it has resurrected a vision of sport that has been in recession for a generation."