According to the stellar stats compiler, Elliot Line, this week there were 2,027 parkrun events, up from 1,625 the previous week. There were 278,000 parkrunners, up from 207,000 and 43,000 volunteers up from 30,000. We can see with Storm Bert gone, parkrunners and volunteers were back out in force.
With so many events it means that increasingly there are parkruns wherever you might find yourself which my fellow walker, Tu perfectly illustrated today. Tu spoke about recently visiting family in both New Zealand and then Japan. She now boasts 4 different country flags to her name from attending Puarenga parkrun and Shingashigawa Ukima parkruns respectively.
Tu shared that although she’s been to different events, the attendances have been usually under 100 and therefore it was quite an experience seeing 630 participants here overseen by our 33 volunteer team. This included our friend Gemma who is recovering from an injury (not running-related). This is the great thing about parkrun you can participate even when you’re not able to run or walk 🙂
Alongside the familiar parkrun milestone clubs for volunteering which are the v25 Club, v50 Club, v100 Club and the v250 Club the 5k app also tracks your progress to various volunteering challenges. These include;
Volunteer Ratio - maintaining a volunteer ratio of 10% or more
Volunteer Tourist - volunteering at 10 different parkrun locations
Volunteer of All Trades - volunteering in 10 different roles
Parkrun Obsessive (Gold) - volunteering 50 plus parkruns in 1 calendar year.
I believe these challenges can provide a great motivation for people who might not want or be able to run but still want a sense of a challenge or/and a goal to work towards.
I’ve realised I’m on 44 volunteering stints for the year, the Gold is in sight!
According to research published by the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO), 'Time Well Spent', found that ‘enjoyment’ was ranked as the highest-rated benefit of volunteering. I can certainly testify to that 🙂
If you know in advance that you’d like to volunteer you can email your local event. Make sure you include your full name and your parkrun ID which can be found on your barcode.
You can turn up on the day and talk to the Run Director. You can also sign up to receive volunteering emails on your parkrun profile and some events have WhatsApp groups you can join too.
Stay well, happy running and happy volunteering
Inspiring read