Since launching in April 2010 with a first event at Bushy Park, junior parkrun has become a key part of the parkrun mission. And the Sunday events are making a huge difference to people’s lives – young and old. A survey parkrun conducted recently shows that both children and adults benefit from junior parkrun. Plus, in recent months junior parkruns have welcomed Arsenal Football Club and members of Team GB to their events.
Gunnersaurus Alert.
30 June 2024 saw 50 junior parkrunners welcome Gunnersaurus and Arsenal in the Community (pictured right). The visit was aimed at creating more opportunities for children to lead healthier and happier lives, through junior parkrun and Arsenal’s health and wellbeing initiatives.
Junior Olympians?
Pictured left: Olympic Day celebrations were held at junior parkruns across the UK on 23 June to announce the new collaboration between junior parkrun and Team GB. At Mile End junior parkrun Olympians Beth Tweddle, Chelsie Giles and Professor Greg Whyte joined in to kick off the new initiative to promote a healthy lifestyle in young people, through engaging communities and encouraging children to stay active for life.
A Family Affair.
In 2015, Hayley Jones gave birth to her twin daughters, Sienna and Lyla. The twins were born prematurely at 28 weeks and, as a result, both had very serious health issues. Hayley and her husband Toby describe the period after their girls were born as “one of the most difficult and dark times of our lives”. Thankfully both Sienna and Lyla were able to leave hospital after a three month stay. Although in Sienna’s case, because she had suffered a brain bleed, there was a high risk that she would have a form of cerebral palsy.
But from a very difficult start in life, both Sienna and Lyla have made great progress including making parkrun an important part of their lives. And it is not just the children who have connected with parkrun. Toby says that he started running to cope with the stress of raising the twins, especially when they were constantly getting ill. Soon enough Hayley also started going to parkrun and before long was running too. Next Lyla decided that she would like to give junior parkrun a try and soon she had hit the 25 events milestone. Which only left Sienna. Due to the health issues she faced at birth, Sienna has some physical challenges. But Toby proposed that he would push her around their local parkrun in Newport. Sienna also took on various volunteering roles, including setting the walkers and runners o’ using the bell on her wheelchair.
Hayley (pictured above with Sienna) says that now parkrun has become an event for all the family. “So that Toby and I can both run,” explains Hayley, “my mum comes down to look after the children. And my mum lives on her own, so it’s a big thing for her to get out of the house. She’s made friends at parkrun and it gets her out, into the fresh air. It gives her a purpose at the weekend. So it’s something really positive for our whole family.” Sienna and Lyla did not have the easiest starts in life and Hayley and Toby were thrown into caring for two very ill children. But they are now thriving and that is in no small part thanks to parkrun and junior parkrun. There is no stopping the whole family now.
Fun facts: Junior parkrun recently reached new heights on a record weekend that saw 473 events with 28,924 finishes and 9,303 volunteers!
Great for Young and Old Alike.
A recent survey of junior parkruns has shown the huge positive impact these 2km events have. Not just on the young people taking part but on their parents and guardians, as well as the wider community. Over 1,800 people filled in the survey. The questions asked about how parkrun makes young people feel and what those who go along on a Sunday enjoy most about the weekly events.
It was exciting to see how much young people enjoy junior parkrun, with 74 percent of those who responded expressing they feel happy when they do junior parkrun and 65 percent saying that they feel proud of themselves.
Parents and guardians agreed that junior parkrun is great. 61 percent of the adults who responded to the survey said that the Sunday events improved children’s confidence and 42 percent reported that their “child is happier because of junior parkrun.”
To find out more about junior parkrun go to parkrun.com/about/join-us/junior-parkrun or click here to watch our most recent junior parkrun video.
