A running ‘religion’ that is based on inspiration rather than perspiration

NOBODY has missed parkrun more than Paul SintonHewitt. He is the founder of the Saturday morning phenomenon, which he started in London’s Bushy Park in 2004 with just 13 runners. Since then, Sinton-Hewitt has seen parkrun attract seven million participants at 2,200 venues in 22 countries across five continents. But when the coronavirus pandemic forced the free, weekly 5km events to be suspended worldwide last March, he feared this remarkable success story may have reached its final chapter. ‘As the founder, it’s my legacy that could have come to a grinding halt if we were not able to restart,’ the 60-year-old tells Sportsmail. ‘I definitely felt the loss and feared it might just fade away and become a footnote in history. For me, that’s a big deal. ‘I was worried landowners would decide they didn’t want the risk of having us back and that this thing that is so good could just go and it would leave a massive gap. But I’m now happy to say that it looks like we will start again. I am looking forward to meeting all the people I’ve missed.’ After 13 long months without any events in the UK, parkrun returns this Sunday in England with the junior 2k version. Then, to the joy of thousands of runners, walkers and volunteers across England, the main 5k event is set to restart on June 5, although runners in Scotland are still waiting on a return date. ‘I suspect we’ll come back even stronger,’ says Sinton-Hewitt. ‘It will take a few months before we are back to our numbers that we were at before we stopped. But I think there’ll be a whole new range of people attracted. ‘Because of this whole isolation and lockdown, people are realising that running is actually quite a good activity for your mental and physical health.’ Overall in the UK there are 716 adult parkrun events and 325 junior ones, which together attracted an average of 200,000 participants a week before the pandemic. Olympic champions Sir Mo Farah and Dame Kelly Holmes have been known to take part, as have Good Morning Britain presenter Susanna Reid, BBC newsreader Sophie Raworth and snooker star Ronnie O’Sullivan. Participants can claim milestone T-shirts — such as for their 100th run — and merchandise now makes up 20 per cent of the organisation’s income stream. The National Lottery have invested £3million and Sport England have pledged to help create new events across England. But parkrun is not-forprofit and its mission is to ‘make the world healthier and happier’. ‘I’m immensely proud,’ adds SintonHewitt. ‘I look at the people who get involved all around the world and it’s a bit like religion, except we are not telling anybody what to believe. ‘People understand it for what it is — that it’s healthy, it’s good and it’s wholesome.’