Parkrun is a global organisation which holds free 5k runs every week of the year. It is open to everyone, of any age and ability, and is run solely by volunteers.
At the first ever Parkrun event in Teddington in 2004, 13 people took part. Eight years on there are 385,894 runners across 11 countries, including Australia, Denmark, South Africa and the USA.
In April this year, Sheffield welcomed its third Parkrun at Graves Park, having already opened the Sheffield Hallam Parkrun at Endcliffe Park and the Conchord Parkrun in Shiregreen. On Saturday, the event held its 29th run. 
Dr Ollie Hart, GP at Sloan Medical Centre on Chesterfield Road, is Event Director for the Graves Park run. Ollie set the event up as a means of motivating people to have fun running and enjoy being active. ‘The ethos is that it’s a run, it’s not a race. It’s an opportunity for people to get together,’ he said. 
The idea sprung when Ollie’s medical centre began looking to do something proactive for the community. ‘Parkrun came at the top of our list’, he said. The concept fitted in with the centre’s aim to get people physically active. ‘If you look at all the evidence base of things that improve people’s health, being physically active is the number one,’ he said.


It costs £6,000 to set up a Parkrun event but the money pays for the equipment and the technology needed to monitor each event. For every event set up, the organisation's sponsors: Adidas, Lucozade Sport and Sweatshop provide half of the total amount, leaving only £3,000 for the event organisers to fundraise. For the Graves Parkrun, Sheffield City Council donated £1,500 to the event as part of their 'Be Active' scheme so Ollie was only left with the remaining £1,500 to fundraise through sponsored fun runs.  

Ollie advertised the idea around the practise and the response they received was very positive. It began with a sponsored fun run around Graves Park to raise the rest of the money they needed to set up a parkrun. 
Six months down the line, 603 runners have taken part in the Graves Parkrun with an average of 70 runners each week. ‘You have a cohort of 100 or 200 people and you get to know each other quite well and you can draw people in and people step out,’ Ollie said. 

Patrick McDermott, from Woodseats, and his son Connor are regular runners at Graves Park. Patrick has participated in 19 runs since the event opened and Connor is just behind him with 16. 'It does get you out of bed on a Saturday morning,' Patrick said, 'you get a bit of a buzz out of it.' 


Jo Eccles, receptionist at Sloan Medical Centre, said ‘It's a bit like a little family. A Saturday morning family.' Jo co-organises the event with Ollie and said she has lost count of how many Parkrun's she has done. Her initial aim was to run, but she has found herself volunteering most weeks. 'As long as it goes ahead and we've got people doing every job, I don't mind if I'm volunteering rather than running.' 


Parkrun is essentially run by the community, for the community. Every participant is required to volunteer at least three times a year and without this, the event would not be possible. 'You build this sense of camaraderie and that's a beautiful thing really,' said Ollie, 'it's the little things that make people think they're part of a big movement.' 



Parkrun is free to all, which many of the Graves Park runners stress is a major factor in attracting people to participate. James Whittington, from Norton, often takes his sister and partner around the course. 'With it being free, I've not lost anything', he said. 


Jo questions the success of Parkrun if it hadn't been free. ‘I think a lot of people wouldn’t have come across it if it wasn’t free, especially for non-runners. I don’t think you’d get people paying for something they’ve never done before’ Jo said.  Many initiatives across the country have tried to improve physical activity uptake by providing a free service.

Birmingham City Council, in partnership with the NHS, offers all Birmingham residents who pay council tax free gym sessions through its Be Active scheme. 'The increase in participation through this scheme has been drastic', said Ollie. 

'For the wealthy middle class, it's not so much of a barrier but actually for the people who are hard-up, who often wouldn't normally exercise, I think it's a barrier for them,' he said, 'it's a barrier for the people you want to reach.'

As a GP, Ollie fully understands the importance of making fitness initiatives as easily accessible as possible. ‘A 30 minute dose of moderate to heavy exercise like doing [Parkrun] is enough to hit the maximum benefit you can get so actually if people come along to ParkRun once a week, they are going to get their physical activity benefit’ he said. 

Brian Welch, from Norton Lees, managed to lose 3 and a half stone in weight over 18 months. When Brian retired from teaching, he suffered high blood pressure, but it dropped significantly when he started running with Parkrun. 'It's a measure of how much you've improved your fitness' he said. Brian has participated in 30 runs so far.

'You want to beat your time and you do feel really disappointed when you don't and actually when you do beat you best time you get a Personal Best and you feel brilliant that you do,' Patrick McDermott said.   

'For me as a GP, it's like here’s a dose of something that’s going to change your life’, 
said Ollie.

Sheffield is due to welcome a third Parkrun event in Hillsborough at the end of the year to attract people from the North of the city. 
by Laura Thompson