parkrun

parkrun in England

parkrun in South Africa

parkrun in Moscow

Parkrun is a weekly, worldwide 5-km run that takes place every Saturday morning at over 1,600 locations with more than 200,000 participants and around 30,000 volunteers. In the German-speaking region there are currently (as of 2019) 26 locations in Germany. All runs are free for the participants and are organized by volunteers.

history

The first run took place on October 2, 2004 under the name Bushy Time Trial in London's Bushy Park with 13 participants. The founder and experienced runner Paul Sinton-Hewitt suffered from a running injury and had just lost his job, but did not want to lose contact with his running friends and therefore organized a run with timekeeping followed by breakfast. Over time the number of participants grew and in January 2007 the second location Wimbledon Common started. International expansion in Zimbabwe also began in 2007 , with other countries and locations following. In 2017, Germany became the 19th of currently 21 countries in which park runs take place. The first locations on December 2, 2017 were the Georgengarten in Hanover , the Küchenholz in Leipzig and the Neckarau in Mannheim .

concept

All park runs are 5 km runs with a timekeeping feature, which sets them apart from most other running meetings. Participation is free of charge, participation and the community experience are in the foreground. The runs take place weekly, so that you can draw a distinction from the usual fun runs . The organization is in the hands of volunteers who are recruited from among the participants in the locations. Participants of any age, any form of fitness, with dogs or strollers, in wheelchairs or with children are allowed. Walking or walking is expressly desired, the helper role of the "final accompaniment" ensures that nobody is last. Breakfast together is an optional part of the run at many locations. For this purpose, nearby cafes, bakeries or restaurants are usually visited.

Regular participation as a runner or helper is rewarded with admission to so-called milestone clubs. At the moment there are clubs for participants from Germany for 25 volunteer missions as well as 50, 100, 250 and 500 runs.

A special feature is the timekeeping and time allocation system: in Germany, this is done exclusively via smartphone app . While the timekeeper records the position and finish time, the participants at the finish receive a barcode with the coded position. This is then alternately scanned by a helper together with the personal barcode that you receive when you register for parkrun, so that the allocation of the participants to the target time is guaranteed. The results will be via e-mail sent and are WWW available.

distribution

As of November 19, 2019

Country / territory	Locations	First location	since
United Kingdom	677	London	0Oct 2, 2004
Australia	377	Gold coast	0Apr 2, 2011
South Africa	218	Johannesburg	Nov 12, 2011
Ireland	93	Dublin	Nov 10, 2012
Russia	72	Moscow	01st Mar 2014
Poland	71	Gdynia	Oct 15, 2011
United States	41	Livonia	0June 2, 2012
Canada	37	Kelowna	Aug 20, 2016
New Zealand	29	Lower Hutt	0May 5, 2012
Germany	26th	Hanover , Leipzig & Mannheim	0Dec 2, 2017
Italy	16	Palermo	May 23, 2015
Sweden	9	Stockholm	27 Aug 2016
France	8th	Cubnezais	0May 6, 2015
Denmark	8th	Copenhagen	May 16, 2009
Norway	5	Oslo	26 Aug 2017
Japan	8th	Tokyo	0Apr 6, 2019
Singapore	3	Singapore	June 21, 2014
Finland	3	Tampere	Oct 14, 2017
Namibia	4th	Swakopmund	08 Apr 2017
Malaysia	2	Kuala Lumpur	Apr 14, 2018
Swaziland	1	Mbabane	0May 6, 2017
jersey	1	Saint Brélade	26 Sep 2015
guernsey	1	L'Ancresse	0Apr 9, 2016
Isle of Man	1	Douglas	Oct 21, 2017
Falkland Islands	1	Stanley	Oct. 26, 2019

Former locations were Afghanistan (in a camp of the British armed forces), Iceland and Zimbabwe .

financing

Parkrun is backed by the British parkrun Global Ltd, a non-profit organization that is financed through sponsorships , donations and the sale of merchandising items. While in many countries, interested parties who want to set up a new location have to raise start-up capital for materials and services, in Germany, as a relatively new location, this is not yet necessary, the costs are borne by the British parent company.

Web links

Commons : Parkrun  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official homepage parkrun Global
• Official homepage of parkrun Germany
• Parkrun on runnersworld.com
• Parkrun on Spiegel.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ parkrun Attendance and Milestone Stats for November 16, 2019 and November 17, 2019. Retrieved November 17, 2019 (UK English). 
2. ↑ events | parkrun Germany. Retrieved November 17, 2019 (American English). 
3. ↑ run-with-me.de | Just another WordPress site. Accessed December 4, 2019 (German). 
4. ^ Nazia Parveen North of England correspondent: Parkrun at 15: bigger, more global - and slower than ever . In: The Guardian . October 4, 2019, ISSN  0261-3077 ( theguardian.com [accessed November 17, 2019]).
5. ↑ results | Wimbledon Common parkrun. Retrieved November 17, 2019 (American English). 
6. ↑ Come on, go with us! In: parkrun DE Blog. October 15, 2019, accessed November 17, 2019 . 
7. ↑ Charity details. Retrieved November 17, 2019 .