Parkrun celebrates 20th birthday where it all began in Scotland

Leyton says it was the simplicity of the event that grabbed his attention: “I was visiting some friends down in in London and joined them at the Bushy Park event. I was really impressed by how simple it was as an idea”.

“A free weekly 5k run was always the strap line and it explains it so well. It's a great opportunity to enjoy exercise in a lovely location, and it's been great to see so many other parks in Glasgow and Scotland take it up”.

“One of the reasons the event starts at half past nine rather than nine is because the Burrell café doesn’t open until ten. We wanted people to hang around for a coffee and scone after to build a community”.

Leyton is delighted with the growth of the event, he said: “At our first run in December 2008 we had 44 runners, and since then there has been over 325,000 participants, which is amazing.”

“Seeing how parkrun has become part of people's Saturday mornings and created a legacy is really special for me."

Pollok parkrun is now one of 72 events taking place each weekend across Scotland (and 2,500 events across the world), which event director Brian Willett says wouldn’t be possible without their army of over 13,500 volunteers: “Parkrun is completely free. It can’t exist without the volunteers.

Confidence

"We have some volunteers who have taken part in parkrun for decades, and yet have never run it. They come purely for the community and social aspect.

“We have lots of Duke of Edinburgh kids that volunteers with us. We give them increasing responsibilities, and it really builds their confidence”.

Duke of Edinburgh volunteer Cameron (14) said: “It wakes me up on a Saturday, and it’s really nice to come down and socialise with everyone."

John Redshaw (67) has volunteered with parkrun 90 times. He said: “I stopped running in early 2019 for medical reasons and, whilst this was a bit disappointing, it was more than made up for by volunteering.

"It’s a great bunch of folk and an excellent coffee and chat in the café afterwards whilst sorting out the running tokens."

In the UK, the average finish time for parkrun is the slowest it’s ever been, which Willett says is a testimony to the range of participants: “We always say it’s a run, not a race, and there have been 320,000 unique participants in parkrun in Scotland, which is about six per cent of the population. It’s quite a major sporting event now”.

One of these unique participants is Annette McKirdy (65) who was reunited with a school friend after 50 years at parkrun. She now regularly attends, both running and volunteering.

Annette said: “I kept finished at the same time as this lady, and soon realised it was my school friend Catherine Mullaney. It had been 50 years. We started going for a coffee after, and now there’s about seven of us that come every week."

One of the seven, Bridget Cox (58) said parkrun has been amazing for her wellbeing: “Parkrun gets me out and keeps me fit. We now meet on a Thursday too; it has changed how I lead my life for the better”.

Parkrun now takes place from the Shetland Isles in the far north to the Scottish Borders, and Annette and her friends often challenge themselves to run as many courses as possible: “We’ve been trying to do all the alphabet. We’re just missing I, N, Y and Z! We’ve done a parkrun in Italy too, which was fantastic”.

Alan Stewart (57) was involved in a life changing road accident in August 2000 and joined parkrun as part of his recovery. He now volunteers regularly, including 43 out of 53 parkruns last year.

Alan said: “Parkrun has changed my life. It’s helped me get my fitness back an introduced me to a great community.

“Happy birthday to all the parkrunners in Scotland, the UK, and around the world”.

You can find your nearest event to run, walk, jog or volunteer at www.parkrun.org.uk