parkrun Arrives In York

11 JAN2012

Yorkshire adds its 11th parkrun event with the arrival of York parkrun on Saturday, January 14. The new event will be staged at York racecourse and run on a flat course - one and two-third laps of tarmac surface on the Knavesmire site.

Organisers have held a successful trial run and are looking forward to a healthy turnout on Saturday. One of the organising team Helen Durrant told northernrunningguide.com: "It's a nice flat course and I think that will encourage runners from other parts of Yorkshire to turn up for the first run. In the longer term we've been pleased with the level of local interest and have high hopes of creating a new dimension to running in the York area."

Helen and Mandy Dobson have spearheaded a team of supporters including local running stalwart Mike Raynes and RunYorks' Richard Smith, and the pair have been delighted with the level of support they've received from the local running community.

Helen continued: "One issue is that we have still to resolve the dilemma of a venue for post-race coffee and cake although we expect to celebrate our inaugural race with a spread of goodies including Viv's renown flapjacks."

parkrun events are 5K timed runs. They are free, start at 9.00am (please arrive in good time) and are open to runners and joggers of all abilities. You must however register in advance which you can do at the parkrun website.

North Yorkshire is enjoying a parkrun boom at the start of 2012 with news that Harrogate is set to stage a parkrun event too. Watch northernrunningguide.com for more news on this and other parkrun events.