parkrun is for everyone. From Olympians to beginners and everyone in between. But that said, how many Olympians have done parkrun, how often and what are their PBs.
Well here is a list of just some of the Olympians that have run at parkrun. I have concentrated on runners and I am sure that there must be many ex-Olympians from other sports that have since run at parkrun. So I doubt this is anything like an exhaustive list:
Andrew (Andy) Baddeley, 1500m runner, (9th place 2008), 4 runs, parkrun PB = 13:48
Craig Mottram, 5000m runner, (Olympics 2000, 2004 8th), 1 run, parkrun PB = 14:00
Jonathan Brownlee, Triathlete (Olympic Bronze 2012), 1 run, parkrun PB = 14:43
Anthony Whiteman, 800, and 1500m (Olympics 1996, 2000), 1 run, parkrun PB = 14:52
Mo Farah, 5000m and 10000m runner (Olympic Champion in both 2012), 1 run, parkrun PB = 15:06
Alastair Brownlee, Triathlete (Olympic Champion 2012),1 run, parkrun PB = 15:36
Lisa Dobriskey, 800m and 15000m runner, (Olympics 2008, 2012), 3 runs, parkrun PB = 16:15
Helen Jenkins, Triathlete (Olympics 2008 21st, 2012 5th) 2 runs, parkrun PB = 16:20
Liz Yelling, Marathon, (Olympics 2004 25th, 2008 26th), 21 runs, parkrun PB = 16:29
Hayley Haining, Marathon (Olympic reserve 2008), 1 run, parkrun PB = 16:49
Iwan Thomas, 400m runner (5th place 1996), 20 runs, parkrun PB = 19:18
David Moorcroft, middle distance runner (Olympics 1976,1980, 1984), 2 runs, parkrun PB = 20:14
If you know of any more Olympians that have run at parkrun, then please look up their times and add them in a comment.
Happy parkrunning whether you are an Olympian, beginner or anywhere in between.
Saturday, 26 January 2013
Friday, 25 January 2013
parkrun events to be "Born in the USA"
In the UK we are blessed with parkrun events in most corners of the country. I can't put my finger on the precise number, but if my memory serves me correctly, it must be in the region of 170 events.
In Australia there are also a significant number. It's 18 and counting if I remember rightly.
However, over in the USA at present it is just the one parkrun event. Livonia parkrun currently stands alone as the only active parkrun event in the USA. But there is great news for parkrun in the USA as recent announcements and new parkrun event facebook pages are popping up all over the place.
I believe that the current intentions are for new parkrun events to start in each of these locations at some point during 2013:
Atlanta
Chicago
Houston
Orlando - great for many parkrunners for their holidays!
Walnut Creek (I don't know where this is)
I have also read that several more are possible this year and that a total of over 45 US cities have shown interest in starting a parkrun. So the signs are good and parkrun USA could soon show a similar growth pattern to parkrun in the UK and Australia. I think it is fair to say that jumping from 1 event to 46 in one year would be tough going. But from 1 to 6 sounds reasonable. Then next year from 6 to who knows where once the process of starting a new event becomes established.
A couple weeks ago I wrote about the amazing growth of parkrun and how one day everywhere in the world could have one (a bit of a stretch I admit) and that if the USA took to parkrun then we would soon be talking about hundreds of thousands of parkrunners each week rather than tens of thousands. Just maybe this is the start of that growth in the USA.
Knowing the size of many US cities I think it would be safe to say that each city could evetually house a number of parkrun events (given suitable venues) and that each event could become huge one day.
So if you are lucky enough to have friends living in the USA and near to one of these new parkrun locations, then why not tell them about parkrun and help parkrun USA grow into the huge family that it is no doubt destined to one day become.
I think that this is a subject we will have to revisit again sometime in the future.
In Australia there are also a significant number. It's 18 and counting if I remember rightly.
However, over in the USA at present it is just the one parkrun event. Livonia parkrun currently stands alone as the only active parkrun event in the USA. But there is great news for parkrun in the USA as recent announcements and new parkrun event facebook pages are popping up all over the place.
I believe that the current intentions are for new parkrun events to start in each of these locations at some point during 2013:
Atlanta
Chicago
Houston
Orlando - great for many parkrunners for their holidays!
Walnut Creek (I don't know where this is)
I have also read that several more are possible this year and that a total of over 45 US cities have shown interest in starting a parkrun. So the signs are good and parkrun USA could soon show a similar growth pattern to parkrun in the UK and Australia. I think it is fair to say that jumping from 1 event to 46 in one year would be tough going. But from 1 to 6 sounds reasonable. Then next year from 6 to who knows where once the process of starting a new event becomes established.
A couple weeks ago I wrote about the amazing growth of parkrun and how one day everywhere in the world could have one (a bit of a stretch I admit) and that if the USA took to parkrun then we would soon be talking about hundreds of thousands of parkrunners each week rather than tens of thousands. Just maybe this is the start of that growth in the USA.
Knowing the size of many US cities I think it would be safe to say that each city could evetually house a number of parkrun events (given suitable venues) and that each event could become huge one day.
So if you are lucky enough to have friends living in the USA and near to one of these new parkrun locations, then why not tell them about parkrun and help parkrun USA grow into the huge family that it is no doubt destined to one day become.
I think that this is a subject we will have to revisit again sometime in the future.
parkrun registration stats this week
There is still a little time for new registrations this week, but at the time of writing and compared to the figures in my post this time last week....
Totalling up new registrations across parkrun globally, shows that parkrun has attracted a further 3,749 registrations this week, 1,817 less than at the same time last week.
This takes the total number of global parkrun registrations (according to my official source page on the parkrun website) up to 429,813 (up from 426,064). That is a growth in total registrations of nearly 0.9% in a week.
As far as I am aware, there are 2 new parkruns starting this weekend:
Walthamstow parkrun and Temple Newsam parkrun
Malahide parkrun is no longer top of the charts in the number of new registrations category this week, dropping to second place. Newy parkrun in Australia is the fastest growing parkrun event by registration this week. Newy parkrun has added another 125 new registrants so far!
7 different parkrun events have added 50 or more new registrants this week!
The parkrun events showing (the most) notable growth in registrations this week are:
No great surprises in the "largest parkrun in the world" category this week, where it is still the same top 5:
It looks as though Wimbledon Common parkrun is only about 2 weeks away from becoming the 5th parkrun with over 10,000 registered runners.
And at the other end of the spectrum, but just as worthy of a mention we have:
Another new parkrun event in the pipeline there with Hillsborough parkrun showing up in the new registrations page for the first time.
Totalling up new registrations across parkrun globally, shows that parkrun has attracted a further 3,749 registrations this week, 1,817 less than at the same time last week.
This takes the total number of global parkrun registrations (according to my official source page on the parkrun website) up to 429,813 (up from 426,064). That is a growth in total registrations of nearly 0.9% in a week.
As far as I am aware, there are 2 new parkruns starting this weekend:
Walthamstow parkrun and Temple Newsam parkrun
Malahide parkrun is no longer top of the charts in the number of new registrations category this week, dropping to second place. Newy parkrun in Australia is the fastest growing parkrun event by registration this week. Newy parkrun has added another 125 new registrants so far!
7 different parkrun events have added 50 or more new registrants this week!
The parkrun events showing (the most) notable growth in registrations this week are:
| Event | Total | This week |
| Newy parkrun | 2522 | 125 |
| Malahide parkrun | 2325 | 119 |
| Nahoon Point parkrun | 2212 | 93 |
| South Bank parkrun | 752 | 77 |
| Carlisle parkrun | 289 | 64 |
| New Farm parkrun | 4486 | 59 |
| Glasgow parkrun | 12697 | 53 |
No great surprises in the "largest parkrun in the world" category this week, where it is still the same top 5:
| Event | Total | This week |
| Bushy parkrun | 21382 | 25 |
| Glasgow parkrun | 12697 | 53 |
| Leeds parkrun | 11470 | 29 |
| Brighton & Hove parkrun | 10279 | 24 |
| Wimbledon Common parkrun | 9937 | 33 |
It looks as though Wimbledon Common parkrun is only about 2 weeks away from becoming the 5th parkrun with over 10,000 registered runners.
And at the other end of the spectrum, but just as worthy of a mention we have:
| Event | Total |
| Hillsborough parkrun | 19 |
| Walthamstow parkrun | 27 |
| Telford parkrun | 30 |
| Wolverhampton parkrun | 46 |
| Temple Newsam parkrun | 72 |
Another new parkrun event in the pipeline there with Hillsborough parkrun showing up in the new registrations page for the first time.
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