The parkrun phenomenon is taking over Kent with record numbers of participants taking part on a weekly basis.

London 2012 was seen as a milestone for sport in the UK, as Lord Coe called upon its sporting community to “inspire a generation”

Since those heady days 18 months ago, much has been written about participation in the various disciplines. Without a doubt, some of those sports have yet to deliver on the targets laid down by UK Sport.

But in terms of growth and participation levels, one project that began as a humble 5km time trial around a park in South West London has now become a worldwide passion for over 70,000 runners in 9 countries every Saturday morning.

This is parkrun and there are currently 255 events around the UK. With the arrival of Royal Tunbridge Wells parkrun this weekend (26th April 2014), there are now 10 events at various locations around the county.

And while the “parkrun family” continues to grow, the secret of its success is very much in its simplicity. A small central management team provide the overall infrastructure to sustain the event after providing initial support. Once established, each event is managed and organised by a team of dedicated and enthusiastic volunteers, who assume a number of key roles and who are supported by a network of area parkrun “ambassadors”.

Picture: “Three – two –one- go!” Great Lines parkrun, Tonbridge parkrun, Whitstable parkrun, Maidstone parkrun.

For the runner, the concept is just as simple. From the outset, the man who conceived parkrun in October 2004, Paul Sinton-Hewitt, was adamant that it would be “free to all”, with low barriers for participation. Its origins were very low key; just 13 friends in a park in Teddington. 5 years later it had grown to 20 events and almost 3,000 runners. So far in 2014 alone, attendances have increased by 30,000.

The organisers of parkrun are keen to focus on the fact that “it’s a run, not a race”. Inclusivity is further emphasised by the fact that parkrun is always spelled as “all one word, all lower case”.

The focus is on running for enjoyment and creating community events. For some this may mean a fast run around the park in search of a new personal best or as part of a training schedule for organised road races; for others it provides an opportunity for families and friends to run together or it may be the stepping stone to a level of fitness never achieved before.

A simple registration process enables each runner to print off their own unique barcode. This barcode enables a runner to run at any event on any given Saturday.

There is no administration required at the start and as each runner finishes, they are handed a finish token which is scanned together with the runner’s barcode. The results are downloaded to the central website and each runner can view their running statistics within hours. Sponsorship and donations makes it a free event for all.

So what about Kent? Kent’s parkrun Ambassador is Jacky MacDonald.

The Event Director of Kent’s trailblazing parkrun at Whitstable, she still shows the same enthusiasm for the concept as she did for the two and a half years when the event on the Tankerton slopes was Kent’s only event. Working closely with Lucy Tomlinson (the Run Activator at Kent Count Council’s Sport and Physical Activity Service), she has been able to support local runners and local authorities in their desire to set up events in their localities.

Each event is as different as the next. Runners can enjoy the coastal courses at Margate and Whitstable, as well as the country parks of Pegwell Bay and Shorne Woods (near Gravesend). There are the municipal parks of Great Lines in Gillingham and Victoria Park in Ashford as well as the run along the River Medway towpath in Maidstone.

The recent additions of Tonbridge (Hayesden Park) and Canterbury (University of Kent) to the event list and the launch of the latest event at Dunloran Park mean that more of the county’s runners have a parkrun in their vicinity. There are provisional plans to create events at further locations.

How does one gauge the success of parkrun? Here’s a small quote from the parkrun website:-

“Since parkrun started we have aimed to reduce all barriers to running, and make participation in our events as simple as possible. We love running and want as many people as possible to join us, regardless of age, gender, race, religion or ability. Our events are organised for, and by, local communities drawn from every conceivable background, and united by a love of running.”

This Saturday over 1300 runners rose early on a Saturday morning, laced up a pair of running shoes and completed a parkrun in Kent. It’s not necessarily about numbers, but talk to anyone who runs at parkrun and you hear the same words again and again: “Fun, community, loved it, thank you!”

That surely is the secret of its success.

Parkrun is a FREE 5km run, it’s you against the clock. They are run every Saturday at 9am (weather and course conditions permitting). Once registered, you can run in any of the events organised by parkrun on any Saturday – just turn up.

For more information and details of local events near you, visit http://www.parkrun.org.uk/events/events/

Photo acknowledgements: Michaela James, Tim Carr, Judith Hall, Anthony Lester, Tony Giles.