Last weekend, 2,387 people took part in one of four parkruns in Stoke-on-Trent celebrating the city’s centenary.
Saturday’s Trentham Gardens parkrun and Longton junior parkrun, held on Sunday, were the second biggest parkruns of their type in the country on their respective days.
The record-breaking weekend saw all participants and the 140 volunteers who helped to make the events happen receive a special centenary medal to commemorate their involvement thanks to Stoke-on-Trent City Council.
Here, Liz Tideswell, Regional Parkrun Ambassador for Staffordshire and part of the team at Hanley parkrun, reflects on the weekend’s activities, and the benefits parkruns bring.
“It was an incredible weekend across the city’s parkruns and collaborating with the city council on the centenary parkruns has been a brilliant opportunity to share parkrun with more people in Stoke-on-Trent and to help our parkrun teams to be more connected with other things going on in the city.
For those who don’t know, parkruns are free, timed 5k events taking place at various venues across the city, county and country every Saturday morning at 9am. Junior 2k events for four to 14-year-olds are staged on Sunday mornings at 9am.
All parkrun events are inclusive and people are invited to walk, jog or run with the promise that there is no time limit and no one finishes last thanks to volunteer tail walkers.
We expected the centenary events to boost numbers, but with the unpredictable weather, we just weren’t sure.
Hanley parkrun gets an average of 200 people each week, but we had 530 on Saturday. Trentham attracted 1,454 compared to its usual 700 to 900 people.
Although the numbers at the 5k events were incredible, I was more amazed by the turnout for our junior events. We had 130 children taking part in their very first parkrun, nearly 450 juniors taking part plus volunteers and adults in attendance.
We didn’t collaborate on the centenary parkruns just to get large turnouts – it was about parkrun being part of the centenary celebrations and about promoting being active and volunteering in your local community. We wanted people to see that parkrun is for everyone – whether visiting Stoke-on-Trent or living here – and that taking part by walking, running, volunteering or supporting brings health and well-being benefits.
I hope those who attended a parkrun for the first time, or who don’t come regularly, will feel encouraged to be back at parkrun this weekend, either in Stoke-on-Trent or one of the other events locally.
I really hope we will see an increase at our junior parkruns and I’d also love to hear from anyone who would like to bring a new parkrun to their community. We have 11 5k events in Staffordshire and six junior 2k events, with more being planned. I’m always happy to talk to groups about setting up a new event – that would be a fantastic legacy of the centenary parkruns.”
- To find your nearest parkrun, or discover the ones in Staffordshire and beyond, visit this link.
- Hanley parkrun is cancelled this week due to a Pride event, while Trentham and The Wammy parkrun, near Newcastle-under-Lyme, have Pride-themed events.
- All parkrun events are run by volunteers so please get in touch with your local one if you can help.
- Anyone interested in setting up a new parkrun in Staffordshire should email Liz via liz.tideswell@parkrun.com
