No parkruns as yet for enthusiasts

POLOKWANE – While all parkrun events are currently suspended due to Covid-19, it’s Chief Operating Officer, Tom Williams says their insight shows runners and walkers alike are keen to return.

Parkruns are free, weekly, community events that take place in cities across South Africa in which people from all walks of life partake in a 5km run/walk/jog.

Williams noted that they recently published their Covid-19 framework which outlines how parkrun will return in locations where there remains an underlying infection level as well as social distancing requirements in place as set by public health bodies.

Williams says a main concern is filling volunteer rosters due to the increased need for barcode scanning volunteers.

“For the past seven weeks, we have been conducting weekly surveys to assess the parkrun community’s intent to return. Each week we see an increase in the number of parkrunners who tell us they would return in all capacities, from walking, jogging, running and volunteering.”

Williams says they strongly believe that following a lengthy pause, there will be a huge desire from the community to fill all available volunteer positions. “There are over 500,000 different individuals who have volunteered worldwide at parkrun. On any given week around 6% are needed to ensure events can be delivered.”

He added that they will not leave event teams unsupported and that when ready to return, national communication channels will explain the requirements for additional volunteers and highlight ways in which parkrunners can contribute if they want to. “If individual events are having difficulties, then we will step in at a local level to support volunteer recruitment,” he said.

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