parkrun started back in 2004 when 13 runners got together on a blustery day in Bushy Park, Teddington, UK. We’re now an international family of six million registered participants (and counting).
Held in pleasant parkland on weekend mornings, our free volunteer led events are organised every week all over the world.
Our runs are open to all. Anybody and everybody, of all ages and running abilities can take part in our runs – you can run, jog or walk the course.
We love to see Olympians at our events (and we've had a few), but we are most proud of those participants whose first steps in running were at one of our events.
You can read all about the history of parkrun on the parkrun.com website.
Our free weekly timed 2 km runs for juniors and 5km runs all over the world. They are provided through local communities.
All of our events are run by teams of dedicated volunteers from the local community. Each country is managed by a 'Country Manager' and their team.
How long are your runs?
The Saturday parkrun events are 5km (just over 3 miles) - we measure them all as accurately as possible with professional surveyors' wheels.
We believe that 5km is the distance that appeals to the widest number of participants; it's a perfect goal for those just starting out in running, while also being the perfect way for more experienced runners to keep tabs on their training.
It can be run socially, as a club training session, more competitively, or as part of a longer distance session.
5km is also a manageable distance for our teams of volunteers to organise on a weekly basis.
In the UK and Ireland we also offer a weekly 2km run for Juniors (aged from 4 - 14). These events are called junior parkruns.