I HAVE volunteered for various organisations since university, but to be honest I thought my life was too busy to do it these days. When Donna Stewart (our event director for Thurso Parkrun, and a good friend of mine) touted the idea of Parkrun and me being a run director I was enthusiastic, but I honestly questioned whether or not we could make it work in Caithness.
I really shouldn’t have worried as we have built up an amazing core team of volunteers, two of whom have just agreed to become run directors, which means we now have six after starting out with just three. We also have five people who have gained their 25 volunteer T-shirts (recognising any volunteer who has volunteered on at least 25 different occasions), which is amazing.
I don’t think there has been a single week where we haven’t had a full volunteer rota by Thursday.
The best thing about Parkrun for me has been the non-running-club runners and volunteers. On our very first park run we had 76 people turn up to participate (as well as 12 volunteers on top of that), which we were shocked by.
The biggest shock was the fact that 40 of the participants were not affiliated with any running club at all.
Every week we have families, non-runners, club runners, tourists, and volunteers all turning up regardless of the weather conditions (and trust me when I say horizontal sleet has been on the menu), and our lowest number of participants so far has been 40, which is more than we expected at our first event.
We really have built up an amazing wee family of volunteers and regular runners and walkers over the year since we started. Next Saturday marks our first birthday and I believe Thurso Parkrun has had, and will continue to have, such a positive impact on the local community, both on physical wellbeing as well as mental health.
To be able to get up on a Saturday morning and be part of that social circle, whether volunteering, or running or walking, is so inclusive and we have a warm, welcoming Parkrun community. We have also used Parkrun to do a number of things for our community, including collecting items for Caithness Foodbank just before Christmas, collecting old but useable trainers for a local high school, as well as carrying out litter picks and clearing up the Parkrun area. I really can’t imagine life without it now.
See www.parkrun.org.uk to find details of your local Parkrun
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