Join others for a weekly parkrun
If you’ve ever been out for a stroll or a jog, or walked your dog around Anderson Park early on a Saturday morning, you’d be forgiven for wondering why there were so many people walking or running around the park.
Every Saturday, just before 8am, 50 to 90 people converge on Anderson Park to take part in the global phenomenon that is parkrun. There are parkrun events each Saturday in countries all around the world. It is always run over 5km and open to all runners, joggers or walkers — including dog walkers.
There are now 25 parkrun events throughout New Zealand, says Anderson parkrun Event Director, Trish Cummins.
Participants can walk or run at whatever speed they choose over the measured course. Anderson parkrun’s course follows the pathway around the perimeter of the park for two laps, with a shorter lap to finish. All participants are timed and a full results list is distributed by email after the event.
“It doesn’t matter what parkrunners wear — what matters is taking part because parkrun is all about inclusiveness and wellbeing. We want as many people as possible to feel part of a real local community brought together by our events, and belonging to one global parkrun family,” Trish says.
All events are overseen by a core group of volunteers and all parkrunners are encouraged to volunteer when they can, to help with tasks such as timekeeping.
The parkrun format is simple: register once (www.parkrun.co.nz/anderson), print your barcode, turn up and take part whenever you want. The same barcode can be used at any parkrun anywhere in the world.
“One of the greatest things about parkrun is that at every event there is bound to be someone from another part of New Zealand or another country — parkrun tourism has grown out of the popularity of worldwide parkrun. At Anderson parkrun, we also hold extra events on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. We have already had enquiries from people in Australia who are planning their Christmas holiday around parkruns.”