London Marathon To Support Local ParkRuns

19 JAN2010

The London Marathon is to support the increasingly popular Parkrun events that take place around the UK on Saturday mornings which involve a FREE weekly 5km run organised by local volunteers.

The Parkrun Series events provide free, weekly, 5km timed runs around the country for runners of all abilities. Parkrun started in Bushy Park in southwest London five years ago with just 13 runners, and has grown to 23 weekly events around the UK, with nearly 3,000 runners a week and more than 50,000 registered runners. Every Parkrun has become a strong community event, organised by local volunteers.

The London Marathon is keen to support grassroots events around the whole of the UK, not just in London. "The London Marathon attracts runners from all over the UK and abroad, so we're keen to encourage running in all parts of the country", said London Marathon Race Director, Dave Bedford. "Our support of parkrun next year, along with the sponsors, will enable parkrun to set up a further 20 events in 2010, bringing free running to more communities - which can only be good for increasing participation in the sport and provides London Marathon runners with a regular weekly event."

"We're delighted to partner with The London Marathon, a world-renowned event, to bring more parkruns to runners around the UK", said parkrun founder Paul Sinton-Hewitt, "parkrun's growth is testament to the fantastic volunteers who organise events in local communities around the country. We're excited about working with the experienced management team of The London Marathon on parkrun's next stage of development."

Parkrun is sponsored in the UK by Nike UK, Lucozade Sport, and Sweatshop. There is also currently one event held in Copenhagen, Denmark, with more events and countries being planned.

Newcastle is the latest City to start up the FREE weekly 5km runs. Starting this Saturday January 9, 2010 at 9.30am just register before the Friday evening and turn up on the morning, easy! For more information on the Newcastle run and all the other Parkrun series events, visit the Official Parkrun website.