Parkrun: Much More than Just a Run in the Park

by Debra Bourne

parkrun – a stunningly simple concept. Every Saturday morning, tens of thousands of people, all ages and sizes, gather at their local park to run, jog or walk five kilometres.

parkrun is about taking part, no matter how fast you go or how long it takes you to finish. parkrun is open to all, from Olympians to octogenarians. And parkrun is always free, just turn up where you want, when you want.

parkrun is also spectacularly successful. From humble beginnings – thirteen runners at Bushy Park in 2004 – it has evolved into a global phenomenon. parkrun now has more than 450 locations across ten different countries and over one million registered runners. And it continues to grow.

Join Debra Bourne, Event Director at Lloyd parkrun, as she charts the rise of parkrun and finds out how and why this simple idea became the biggest and friendliest running community the world has ever seen. But don’t forget your barcode!

Genres: Nonfiction, Health

Kindle Edition

First published December 1, 2014

Reviews

[Tim Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you love parkrun you will love this book - if you don't love parkrun, read this book, that will teach you to love parkrun, then you will love this book. It's a great read, lots of insights and interest - really well put together.

parkrun has many stories, more than anyone could cram into one book, but Debra Bourne makes a fine start.

[Naomi Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really lovely book covering the history, characters and practicalities of Parkrun. Amazing to learn the path of a small time trial to a global event and brand (could be seen as a business book too!) and hear of so many people who never would’ve tried running going out every week.

[Louise Burgess Cox · Rating 5 out of 5]

A comprehensive book about all aspects of parkrun. Debra starts with the idea of the time trial at Bushy in 2003, the first parkrun. The development of this global phenomenon is charted up to publication in 2014. We learn about the early challenges as each of the early adopter parkruns are described. There are sections on processing results, families, research, health benefits, volunteers and even how to set up your own parkrun. As a recent convert to this fabulous weekly free timed 5K, I loved this book. Well done Debra!

[Russio · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book about a very worthy and interesting subject: the unstoppable rise of the Parkrun movement (for some reason written parkrun all the way through). Like some of my Parkruns, this starts very well, diverges into constant repetition for a while, then finishes strongly.

Some of the strengths are (some of the) personal testimonies, some interesting webpages that I had not been aware were on the main site, the findings of SparkLE and the provision of training plans for runners to improve their times.

A decent job; I will keep my copy to dip into.

[Dane Cobain · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this book as a Christmas present for my dad, who’s also a big fan of parkrun, and I thought that I should probably pick it up and read it first. You know, to make sure that it’s a good book. Don’t worry though, he doesn’t follow me on social media and probably won’t see this review. Probably.

If you haven’t heard of parkrun before then you’ve obviously not asked me about my weekend plans of late. It’s essentially a free, weekly 5K run that takes place in parks all over the country (and the world), and it’s one of those things where once you go to one of them, you’re likely to become addicted. I’ve been every Saturday this year except for the first one, when my local parkrun was cancelled due to bad weather.

Debra Bourne’s books aims to chart the history of parkrun from its inception in Bushy Park to the present day, and that brings us to my only problem with it. I can’t vouch for the latest edition, and I don’t even know if there is one, but the copy that I read only took us up to 2014 or so. That made it feel as though it only covered half the story.

Parkrun has continued to grow in the years since, surviving COVID-19 and coming out kicking, and there have been all sorts of interesting (and controversial) developments. Bourne dedicated a chunk of the book to talking about how important the statistics are to runners, and they’ve since been taken away by parkrun, ostensibly because they stop people from taking part. It would also have been nice to have read about the politics that have stopped parkrun from continuing in France.

But while there are little quibbles and things that I would have liked to have seen, I can’t exactly blame Bourne. On top of that, I was mostly interested in reading about the early days, and she had those nicely covered with quotes from the people involved. So all in all, not bad.

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book included lots of interesting facts and anecdotes about parkrun across the world which made me appreciate even more how special this phenomenon really is. Some of the statistics were clearly out of date - the book is now seven years old - and owing to this it was a shame that my home run wasn't included, but it provided a light treat for bedtime reading and I'd recommend.

[Hilary · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quite dull. It's a series of personal stories about how parkrun started. Ok, but they are all short and there are so many that after a while I started skipping. Parkrun is obviously wonderful but it was all a bit self-congratulatory

[Jackie Bradman · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you know, you know 💚🏃🏻‍♀️
I’m probably too far along my #parkrun journey to get true enjoyment from this book (just not enough about Richmond 😉) but this would be perfect for someone new to parkrun who needs all the info to fuel their obsession!
Be aware that this book is now 7 years old.

[Nik · Rating 4 out of 5]

One for the serious parkrun geeks!

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I dipped in and out of this over the period of a few months. Brilliant book, with everything you ever wanted to know about parkrun.

[Chris Parkinson-Best · Rating 5 out of 5]

A five star read for anyone passionate about parkrun.

[Carl Barnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspirational read, being an avid parkrunner myself, makes me want to do more & get more involved in this wonderful thing! Definitely much more than just a run in the park!

[Dawn Marks]

Superb book. So inspriational especially if you are a parkrun fan.

[Lew · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book about running, more specifically about parkrun, will always get a 5 stars from me!

[Holly · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are a parkrun nut like me, this is the book for you! Full of great facts, anecdotes and the history of parkrun.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed it but I do go to parkrun every week I can. Even so one chapter was a bit dull.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting book into the inner workings on parkrun. Would have given it 5 stars but the excessive praise by parkrunners kind of got boring by the end.

[Bernard]

Enjoyed this - not a great literary work but a good read and clearly carefully researched. Lots of interesting tit bits of information

[Lynne · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're a parkrun enthusiast, like me, this book is full of interesting facts and anecdotes

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

For park run addicts. A history of the first 1o years of parkrun, including some overseas information. Note it may be worth waiting for later edition or newer book and this have changed since this book was published.