parkrun is the name given to a collection of 5 km running events that take place every week in several different countries. They are free to take part in and require runners to register on-line for a unique athlete number and to print their own identification barcode before taking part.[1][2][3] parkrun juniors is a spin off event which provides a 2 km race for juniors, once per month. Bushy parkrun was the first to be held; it started in October 2004.
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Founded by Paul Sinton-Hewitt in 2004, the idea of parkrun grew from the initial Bushy parkrun event (originally called Bushy Park Time Trial) into a small collection of events called the UK Time Trials and then into parkrun. Sinton-Hewitt was presented the Runners World 'Heroes of Running' award[4] for philanthropy for his work with parkrun in 2009.
Each parkrun event is run entirely by volunteers who give their time freely to set up each event, time the runners, process the results and clear away afterwards. To assist the volunteers, parkrun HQ provides the volunteers with computer equipment, timing devices, barcode readers, signs and the web hosting of the results.
parkrun is sponsored by:
parkrun is supported by:
parkrun is also receiving a grant covering 2011-2012 from the London Mayor - Sports Participation Fund.
Previous sponsors and supports have been: [5]
As of 19 September 2011, combined statistics for all events:[6]
parkrun makes extensive use of electronic timing and barcode technology to generate the results of each event. When registering with parkrun, runners print out a personal barcode which encodes their unique athlete number. As runners cross the finish line, their time is recorded electronically using a stopwatch that can export data to a computer. The runner is also handed a tag which tells them their finish position. Runners then take the tag to a race official who scans the runner's personal barcode and scans a barcode on their finish tag. This allows a computer system to record the finish time and unique athlete number for each runner.
The finish times and athlete numbers are uploaded to a server which automatically generates the results tables and statistics on the parkrun web site. The use of the unique runner number allows the web site to collate historical data including personal bests, overall performance, total number of runs and to calculate the number of points earned.
The first event was held in Bushy park in 2004. By October 2011 there were 100 parkrun events taking place with events in Afghanistan, Australia, Denmark, England, Iceland, Northern Ireland, Poland, Scotland, South Africa and Wales.[7]
The 2 km juniors events, held once per month. By October 2011 there were two juniors events, one at Bushy Park and one in the Forest of Dean.