This coming Saturday, 4th August, in Orangefield park the 8th Belfast parkrun will launch, and there is already talk of two more in pipeline which will be up and running in this calendar year.That’s an incredible level of parkrun activity in a city our size and it is a testament to enduring allure of the weekly, free, timed 5k run which is managed entirely by volunteers.

Last Saturday, as usual, I was at the sports pavilion at the Dub where the Queen’s parkrun is based. On that occasion I was one of the volunteers, without whom the event just would not take place. We hosted 142 runners at Queen’s, elsewhere there were 139 at Colin Glen, 62 in Falls Park, 344 in Ormeau, 190 in Stormont, 252 in Victoria and 189 in Waterworks. That’s a total of more than 1,300 park runners across Belfast, at the height of the summer holiday season, and throughout the North there are now 27 in total including one within the grounds of Maghaberry Prison. 

All of this is a long way from a group of 13 runners gathered in Bushy Park in London in 2004 to run together. That became a weekly occurrence and so the weekly, free, timed 5k event was born and has by this stage gone truly global. 

All of the positive things you have probably heard about parkrun are true. Everyone is welcome without exception, there are absolutely no value judgements on the speed of any runner and the whole atmosphere surrounding the event is relentlessly and infectiously positive. At the head of the pack each week are the more serious runners who use the parkrun as a weekly barometer of their training and progress. While these runners are likely chasing the elusive ‘PB’ (personal best) somewhere below 20 mins, everyone has a goal – it might be their own PB or it might simply be to finish the 5k run no matter the time it takes. And here is the great thing about parkrun; after the speedsters at the front have finished, they will stay to encourage and applaud the other athletes, right until all the runners, walkers, buggy and wheelchair pushers are all over the line. Parkrun is good for the heart in more ways than one. 

Do your parents or grandparents recall with nostalgia the era when kitchen doors were left open for neighbours, people looked out for each other, there was a sense of community that is sometimes longed for? Parkrun has captured that spirit and rolls it out every Saturday morning at a park near you. At Queen’s we can’t run our event safely without a minimum of 10 volunteers and we make a weekly appeal for high vis heroes. Not once have we failed to get the numbers needed and believe me, there is a buzz in volunteering too, it is gratifying to know that in volunteering you are playing a part in making the event happen. It is actually hard to describe; maybe its just being part of something bigger than a collection of individuals. Or maybe its the craic and the cake that we have each week when the running is over! 

If you have ever thought ‘I’d love to try a parkrun but…’ whatever the ‘but’ is, forget it. It won’t happen, it doesn’t apply and reasons not to get involved don’t exist. Believe me, and believe the well over 1,300 runners and more than 100 volunteers who took part in last Saturday’s Belfast parkrun’s, if you turn up at a venue next Saturday at 9.30am and put your hand up when the Run Director asks ‘Are there any first timers here?’ you won’t regret it and you will most likely be back the Saturday after that, chasing your PB, catching up with friends and rapidly becoming part of the parkrun community. 

Time to lace up.