Parkrun’s popularity rises as milestone reached

Blenheim’s parkrunners celebrated a notable milestone on Saturday morning, completing the 400th edition of the athletic pursuit that came to Marlborough eight years ago and has become an institution worldwide.

Parkrun initially started 20 years ago in the UK and has spread to many countries around the world. It is now in 56 locations around New Zealand, with new ones added on a regular basis.

The Blenheim Parkrun, a free, weekly, timed 5km run, started on July 9, 2016, under the watch of inaugural event director Phil Muir from New Zealand Home Loans, plus seven volunteers.

Twenty-seven people lined up for the first event, after which numbers grew steadily to regularly averaging around 80+ each week. Ninety-five people participated in Saturday’s event, adding to the 3500 people who have taken part so far.

Parkrun celebrates regular milestones of 25, 50, 100, 250, 500 and 1000, for both volunteers and participants, with five local participants reaching their 250th milestone. Bill Hunter, John Dickason and Allister Leach have each passed 300 with Bill and Allister doing most of their Parkruns in Blenheim. Julie Hunter has volunteered 135 times and participated on 111 occasions, bringing up a notable double.

The previous week, current co-event director Carey Dickason and regular run director Robyn Richards celebrated milestones, bringing up their 400th and 300th respective appearances at Parkrun, either participating or volunteering.

A feature of the Parkrun concept is the ability of runners from all over the world to seamlessly combine with local participants in a timed run, with an emphasis on meeting new people and enjoying a taste of the local community. Underlining this point was the fact the fastest male and female runners on Saturday hailed from England and Scotland respectively.

After each Parkrun, all participants, including volunteers, receive an email detailing how many Blenheim events they have completed, total events completed, their time, where they came overall, their age-grade performance and a lot more information about their parkrun journey.

Carey says, “the Parkrun is not just about running, we also have a number of regular walkers and others who will do a mix of both.

“Anyone is welcome to participate in this free event, we just ask that they register on the Parkrun website (www.parkrun.co.nz) prior to the event.

“Participants only need to register once, they will be provided with a personal barcode which they take with them, either a printed copy, or saved to their phone.  The personal barcode can be used all over the world for those who like to travel, in fact, quite a few plan their holidays around Parkrun venues.”

The Blenheim Parkrun starts at 8am every Saturday morning, with a race briefing at the start and a coffee and catch up at the finish.

“We also have a Parkrun at 8am on Christmas Day and New Year's Day,” says Carey. It is a great way to kick off Christmas morning and kick start the New Year.”.

The Parkrun begins on the Taylor Riverbank, under the Alfred St bridge.