Paul Sinton-Hewitt

And then the software needed to cater for two sets of results coming in for two separate events.

Once I got over that, I knew that I could do three.

And if I could do three, I could do 10.

And if I could do 10, I could do...

So we went from one in 2004,

to seven in 2007, 15 in 2008, 35 in 2009.

And so the progression was sort of, we were doubling or trebling every year from there on.

But I would say that we still have a lot of resistance.

Clubs didn't really understand us, didn't really... What running clubs?

Well...

in my mind at the time it was a complex situation people have understood it now people realize that parkrun is the nursery school of running um or activity in in this world people use parkrun to be get fit to go and play football or cricket or whatever and it's a real springboard for you know spreading out health and well-being

In those days, it was perceived a running event or a race.

And as a result, clubs naturally felt that we were taking away their domain.

They needed to jump through all sorts of hoops to make sure their events were properly measured, that they had the right set of health and safety.

They had all those things.

Whereas we didn't do that.

And so the distinction had to come that we were not a race.

We were just a social event focused on health and well-being.

And until that got into people's minds, there was always going to be that little bit of a fight between us.

But we got over that.