'It's much more than just a run – it's a real way of life'

From humble beginnings in a London park to thousands of destinations worldwide, parkrun has attracted millions of loyal joggers to its weekly 5km events. Helen Coffey charts the 20-year success story of running’s most inclusive club

- Helen Coffey

It’s a cool, crisp day – cloudy yet bright enough that the path ahead beckons invitingly. As I stretch, my breath leaving foggy echoes hanging in the air, I look around in wonder to see hundreds of others doing the same. Some are bouncing from foot to foot in anticipation, some are stripping off layers in preparation, some are chatting while setting smartwatches beepbeep-beeping to record their progress. Volunteers in hi-vis stamp their feet to keep warm, smiling and waving at familiar faces in the crowd. It’s 9am on a Saturday morning, and that can only mean one thing to the dedicated, loyal pack that surrounds me: it’s parkrun time.

Little could the event’s founder, Paul Sinton-Hewitt, have envisaged that such a spectacle would be taking place at locations all over the country when he organised the first ever parkrun 20 years ago. Thirteen locals showed up for a casual 5km jog in Bushy Park, west London on that first Saturday morning, 2 October 2004. Two decades later, more than 10 million registered parkrunners have participated, with around 300,000 people taking part in more than 2,500 events across 23 countries every single week. The event has even had a mention on EastEnders, the real sign that something has become woven into the very fabric of British cultural life.

“You have to remember that there was no vision or plan to make it a movement,” says Sinton-Hewitt. “It was only ever supposed to be one event, and it was probably very, very selfish. I needed this.”

The driving force behind the initial idea was turmoil in his own life: difficult relationship issues and a complex work situation had collided to create a “downward spiral”. Historically, SintonHewitt knew that running was one of the most powerfully effective tools, in terms of both problem-solving and getting his mental health back on track. But more than that, he was longing for connection.