October 2: On This Day in World History … briefly
Sinton-Hewitt started the Bushy Park Time Trial in 2004 whilst unemployed and unable to run due to an injured leg. It has evolved into 'parkrun' worldwide.
2004: Parkrun kicks off in London
Parkrun (stylised as parkrun) is a collection of 5 kilometre (3.1 miles) running events that take place every Saturday morning at over 1 400 locations in 22 countries across five continents. Parkrun events are free to enter and are run by volunteers, supported by a small group of staff at its headquarters.
Parkrun was founded by Paul Sinton-Hewitt on October 2, 2004 at Bushy Park in London, England. Born in Zimbabwe, he grew up in South Africa. At age five he was made a ward of the state and then lived at boarding schools. He was educated at Potchefstroom High School for Boys and was a crew member supporting Bruce Fordyce in the Comrades Marathon. He moved to the United Kingdom where he was living when he had a breakdown in 1995.The event was originally called the Bushy Park Time Trial. It grew into a network of similar events called the UK Time Trials, before adopting the name parkrun in 2008 and expanding into other countries. The first event outside of the United Kingdom was launched in Zimbabwe in 2007, followed by Denmark in 2009, South Africa and Australia in 2011 and the USA in 2012. Sinton-Hewitt received a CBE in 2014 for his services to grassroots sport. By October 2018 over 5 million runners were registered worldwide. Parkrun is funded mainly through sponsorship, with local organisers only needing to raise money when they launch an event.
Events take place at a range of general locations including city parks, country parks, national parks, stately homes, castles, forests, rivers, lakes, reservoirs, canal towpaths, beaches, promenades, prisons, racecourses and nature reserves. Runners who have completed the ‘milestones’ of 50, 100, 250 or 500 separate runs are rewarded with a free t-shirt. Juniors also receive a t-shirt for completing 10 runs. Runners can travel to and complete any parkrun. Those that travel are termed ‘tourists’ and can complete unofficial challenges such as ‘Londone’ which involves running every event in London. The male world record holder is Andrew Baddeley who set a time of 13 minutes and 48 seconds at Bushy parkrun on August 11, 2012. The female world record holder is Charlotte Arter who set a time of 15 minutes and 50 seconds at Cardiff parkrun on January 5, 2019.
And proudly, the South Coast has its own parkrun from St Michael’s beach to Uvongo and back at 8am every Saturday morning.
Most notable historic snippets or facts extracted from the book ‘On This Day’ first published in 1992 by Octopus Publishing Group Ltd, London, as well as additional supplementary information extracted from Wikipedia.
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