Get Running participants invited to ‘graduate’ at a parkrun 5k event

The Irish Times is delighted to announce a partnership with parkrun which will see all of our Get Running participants invited to "graduate" at one of the 5km runs organised by parkrun.

Established in a London park in 2004, over the past decade parkrun has become a global phenomenon with runs now held in Ireland, the US, New Zealand, Australia, Poland, South Africa, Denmark and Britain every Saturday.

Held at 9.30am every Saturday in the same location, parkrun provides free professionally timed events which are organised entirely by volunteers. parkrun is not about personal best times or being a winner by beating others. The events are about community rather than competition and as such they are a perfect match for our beginners’ Get Running programme.

Since the first Irish parkrun was held in Malahide in November 2012, the concept has taken off and, according to Matt Shields, parkrun Irish co-ordinator, Ireland is now the fastest growing country for the concept.

There are currently nine parkrun locations – Ardgillan, Griffeen, Malahide, Marlay and St Anne’s in Dublin, Castle Demense and Clonakilty in Cork, and Castlebar and Westport in Mayo.

Get Running participants interested in the graduation run on March 15th should register online for parkrun at parkrun.ie.

As parkrun is an entirely volunteer-run initiative we are asking any supporters who might be travelling to the event with a runner to consider volunteering to help out on the day. This can also be done by registering at parkrun.ie.

John Collins