Description
parkrun is a free, timed 5 km run held every Saturday morning in parks and run by volunteers. Runners register once online and get a personal barcode that works at every parkrun in the world; they can run, jog, walk or volunteer, and there is no time limit. It is an alternative to gym subscriptions and paid races.
Paul Sinton-Hewitt started it on 2 October 2004 in Bushy Park, London, with 13 runners. The organisation behind it, Parkrun Global Limited, has been a registered charity in England and Wales since 2017; in 2022 it reported £5.5 million in income, from sponsorship, grants and sales of clothing and wristbands. Today there are more than 2,000 locations in over 20 countries and more than ten million registered participants. Germany has had parkruns since December 2017. Children aged 4 to 14 have junior parkrun, a 2 km run on Sunday mornings, mostly in the UK and Ireland.
Wheelchair users, people pushing prams and walkers with dogs take part, and visually impaired runners can run with trained guides. In 2024 parkrun removed course records and other performance tables from its website to make the events less off-putting for newcomers, which some regular runners protested against. In France, all events have been suspended since 2022, because French rules on health checks for unlicensed runners made the free format unworkable; in May 2024 parkrun said the pause would last for the foreseeable future.
Strengths
- Free, with one registration for every parkrun in the world and no licence needed outside France.
- Walking is welcome and there is no time limit, which suits beginners and people returning to exercise.
- Run entirely by volunteers, so anyone can take part by marshalling or timekeeping instead of running.
Weaknesses
- No parkrun has taken place in France since 2022, and parkrun has given no date for a return.
- Only on Saturday mornings at a fixed time, so it doesn’t fit every working week.
- Most events are in the UK, Australia and South Africa, while many countries have only a few.
Who it is for
People living near a parkrun, in Germany, the UK or elsewhere, who want to run or walk 5 km with others every week for free.
Sources
- The parkrun websites refused automated reading in November 2026.
- Wikipedia: Parkrun
- The Running Channel: Parkrun suspended in France for foreseeable future (2024)
- Connexion: French admin stops parkruns in France