Next Sunday (13 November 2016) sees the launch of a weekly ‘Junior’ parkrun – for children and young people – in Cross Flatts Park, Beeston. This follows on the heels of the well-established and popular all-age Cross Flatts parkrun, launched in 2013.
Originally founded in 2004, parkrun set out to offer people – of any ability – the opportunity to join a free, timed, five kilometre run (or jog, or walk), in a park near their home, at 9am on a Saturday. The idea has gathered huge momentum, and there are now over 850 runs in 14 countries, across 5 continents; there are over 2 million registered runners, 1 million of whom have volunteered (the runs are coordinated and stewarded entirely by volunteers).
Cross Flatts is one of five parkruns in Leeds alone, typically attracts over 100 participants of all ages and abilities each week, and is often praised as a particularly friendly and community-minded initiative.
A recent spin-off has been the formation of ‘Junior’ parkruns across the UK and beyond: two kilometre runs for 4 to 14 year olds, to run unaccompanied. (Anyone aged four or above is welcome at an open-age parkrun event, but under 11s must be supervised.)
Cross Flatts Park in Beeston is the latest Junior parkrun to launch, with youngsters invited to come along, with zero commitment, to the top end of the park (just off Beeston Road, above the Watsonia pavilion) any Sunday throughout the year, at 9am – starting this coming weekend (Sunday 13 November 2016). As with the open-age events, all runners are urged to register online beforehand (again, all for free). For full info including registration, click here, or visit the Cross Flatts parkrun FB page for all the latest updates.
Mark Hodgkinson, Beeston resident and co-founder of both Cross Flatts parkrun and Junior parkrun, commented:
“It’s been brilliant being part of parkrun over the past three years, and to see more and more people taking part. So it’s exciting to see the junior run starting up next week, and hopefully it will have a similar impact.”
