One of my daughters
works for an organization which has as one its aims, to improve the health of
the community. I talked to her about
this and I said, “No need to reinvent the wheel. Just copy what parkrun does. What
they do is just about perfect.”
Well what
does parkrun do?
They
organize 5km runs around the world every Saturday morning at 9:00 a.m. The
closest parkrun will be somewhere near you. A parkrun encourages people to get
out there and go for a 5km run. It improves the health and fitness of those
that run.
Parkruns are
also a social exercise. Either because
you meet someone you already know or you gradually get to know the other
runners. A parkrun will strengthen the community in which it is held.
Parkruns
are as competitive as you want them to be. There is no emphasis on coming first
or winning. People are applauded for 50/100/200 runs, not for coming first. You
can make the race as competitive as you want.
You can compare your time against other similar people in the past or
people elsewhere in the world. You can
see where you rank. You can give yourself all sorts of goals. You can just run
and chat. You can take your dog or baby in a pram with you.
Another
thing parkruns do is use the latest most up to date technology appropriately. Shortly after every run my time and photo has
been up there in the clouds. It is incredibly good use of the latest technology
without worshiping the technology or letting the technology take over. The aim
is still to enjoy your run; to have a bit of exercise; to meet a few friends. Not
to get maximum number of hits.
Parkrun
tourism is another side. At our local parkrun we always see visitors from
elsewhere. And I have just gone from
Hobart and visited two park runs in England. A fantastic way for us tourists to
spend our time. Doing what the locals do. Experiencing a new course. Meeting
some great people.
Parkruns
are free. No entry cost. Which means there is no cost or hassle involved in
collecting a small entry fee from each participant. However there are some
costs and chores involved. One solution seems to be, get sponsors to pay for
things, in exchange for giving them the right to advertise to you via email.
The other solution seems to be to get volunteers to help manage and run the
event. This also seems to work. Most people I have spoken to assume that their
time to help manage and run the event will come.
Parkruns do
not discriminate. Every run I have seen has contained people of all different
ages, sex, race, religion and orientation. I have not seen many activities
where a 60 year old male can compete alongside a 10 year old female. I normally
take the role of the 60 year old male.
I finish my
spiel to Melissa. She has patiently listened to my sermon. I am a true
believer. What will happen from here? Will the YMCA of Hobart learn from parkruns when they introduce new
programs? Do they need to?
