Chapter 1: What is the significance of Parkrun in the running community?
Hello, this is Joe. This ep is from our back catalogue. And what it is, it's an old surprise guest ep. And what we've done is we've cut out the start, which is about 10 minutes of us sounding nervous, one of us sounding nervous as we...
uh don't know who the guest is and we're just putting it out um in case you've missed it so it's like uh it's just a guest step now so if we sound a bit surprised or in awe or flustered or whatever it might be because uh well it will be because uh it was a surprise guest when we first put it out i hope that makes sense uh cheers bye
joe yes this is paul sinton hewitt the founder of the park run hey joe are you how are you wow i know wow i'm on 260 something can i look up how many i'm on no i'll tell you how many you've done 263 runs and you volunteered 27 times, and you nearly were the first millionth registrant at Parkrun. You were 9-1-1-2-0-7. Oh! What?
Oh, my God! Oh, I'm in heaven! Oh, my God! I love Parkrun!
Hi, Paul.
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Chapter 2: How did Paul Sinton-Hewitt come up with the idea for Parkrun?
Thanks for coming along. Yeah, thanks, Paul. Hi, David. Nice to meet you. Oh, what a joy.
Can I tell you what I think I know?
Because we all talk about this all the time. Yeah. First one was in Bushy. That's right. Three of you set it up.
All Oz is. Is that correct? No. So I was the only founder.
Chapter 3: What challenges did Parkrun face in its early years?
Oh, really? I'm the lone founder. But I did have three friends that I talked to on an occasional basis in those first few years. And they're very special friends. But definitely it was my idea. I did all the work. I imagined that I would only ever be the only person to be a volunteer at Park Run. But on that first day... Another four people pitched up who asked me if they could help.
So there were five volunteers on day one. This is amazing. Yeah, it was amazing.
I think about this, this thing I think about all the time. This is so weird. Literally thought about it this morning.
Chapter 4: How has Parkrun evolved since its inception?
The decision to make it 5K is so perfect. Yeah. Because it's... hard but doable yeah what was the decision for five was that what it like oh that's a challenge for everyone but you know get most people doing it or what was so when i was i started wishy park parkrun when i was 42 years old
When I was 24 and living in South Africa, I was a novice runner, a novice road runner. And as part of my road running, I would set these targets, 10K, 15K, half marathon, and ultimately the marathon. And we in South Africa at the time, there used to be these things called times trials.
And in Johannesburg, where I lived, there was probably four or five different clubs who had run a time trial during the week, Saturday, Thursday, Tuesday. And you could choose between the 5K distance or the 8K distance. And I used to choose the 5K distance because it was my home club that used to do it. But the principle was you didn't have to tell anybody that you were coming.
You knew that it was always going to be there on that particular day. You pitched up, you took part, and when you finished, you handed in your name. And then the following week...
the local the national newspaper would produce the results of the second or the last page of the newspaper oh really on saturday and it would have my clubs it would have the other three clubs and we would compare and contrast but that was a very specific thing that as a runner an aspiring athlete i think you used it as a benchmark to see how you were doing on your progress now when i set up bushy
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Chapter 5: What are the health benefits associated with participating in Parkrun?
I obviously, I didn't know that it would become parkrun. I didn't have an aspiration for it to become parkrun. I only wanted to create this little self-serving event that would take place every single week at the same time, the same place over 5k. I wanted it to be short enough that I could be in and out the park within an hour.
yep i was worried i was worried that i was going to impact on other park users and i was worried that if i tried to do anything more than that the officials would shut me down the club runners would think that i'm stepping on their territory that sort of thing so so there were a range of things going through my mind at the time but it was very much about I need to do something.
I want it to be really simple, easy to do. I didn't want it to take too much time. I want it to be over with before you got your day done. Those were the thoughts.
Sorry, I was just suddenly thinking, if anybody doesn't know the part run... I'm just thinking about anyone who hasn't done the part run.
Yeah, that's what I was about to say. Well, I was going to explain it. Probably not the right person to explain it.
Out of the three of us...
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Chapter 6: How does Parkrun foster community and social connections?
Do you think it should be me? Yeah. Paul, do you want to just explain what Parkrun, like I've wanged on about it a lot on here. I don't know if David or Petra told you, but maybe some people don't. So do you mind quickly summing up what it is?
So for me, Parkrun is about being outdoors, being active and being social. Those are the three foundation pillars that we stand on. We offer in parks all around the world, 22 countries, but in the United Kingdom, there are about 1,000 5K Saturday morning events. They all start at the same time. 1,000?
Yeah, all at 9, all around the world.
Got that wrong, first bit. Who does it at 9.30? Scotland's 9.30 because they started in the winter and it was still dark at 9 o'clock in the morning. And then, for instance, Australia starts at 7.30 because it gets too hot.
Chapter 7: What are some memorable experiences shared by Parkrun participants?
There are territorial differences, but in the United Kingdom, in England, Scotland, England, Wales, I think Ireland is also 9.30, but we're 9 o'clock England and Wales. And You know, at nine o'clock, approximately 300,000 people are setting off on their 5k journey every single Saturday. And the thing is what's key is that, uh, you sign up once. You don't ever tell us that you're coming.
So it's your decision to come or not. There is no pressure placed on you to take part. And if you do decide to come, you can walk, you can run, you can jog, or you can volunteer. Those are the four things. And we treat each one of those disciplines equally. The person who comes first,
right at the end of the run is treated as much of a hero as the person at the front of the run yeah and um and and it's a fun event there's uh we've tried to stress over the years that we're not a race we're a run um however if if it's your thing to race then we invite you and we encourage you to race if it's your thing to walk we invite you and encourage you to walk so we want everybody
to get the best they possibly can out of it. But as a company and charity, we are not a race and therefore what we present to the public needs to be in support of that.
What's mad, saying that, is have you ever been to the Brighton Park Run?
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Chapter 8: How does volunteering at Parkrun impact personal well-being?
I have, many times.
Oh, have you? Yeah. Because we've got about five now. Yeah. I don't know why I'm proud of that. Nothing to do with you. Yeah, exactly.
Ooh, Bev and Dean's a bugger, just saying that. You've got more than five in Brighton. So I was in East Brighton two weeks ago.
Oh, yeah, East Brighton one. Yeah, that's the newest one. Is it sixth then? It's Preston Park. That was the front, Hove Park, Bevondene, East and Preston Park. Six, yes.
Six. And there, I mean, as you branch away from Brighton on the coastline, there are a lot more.
Lansing, Lansing, Worthing, yeah. So my point was, like, what you said about the ethos and everything is so true of Brighton, but everywhere, because when I'm away...
i try and uh i try and do one wherever i go and this the the vibe of each one is so similar yeah it's the same type of people same as in like same the way people are so friendly and it's inclusive and it's i was trying to explain to you also david when you did it i was like no one's no one's judging you or anything no i mean this national no no one's sort of going what's he up to
it's just come along you can be as you say the slowest or the fastest and it really doesn't matter and it's a bit it's a weirdly it's a bit home for me now yeah when i can do like i'm going i'm going oh i can't say where i'm going but um and i'm it's a new one i get excited about like a new one i'm going to do i've got the app yeah i'm slightly obsessed with the app This is really embarrassing.
What's on the app, like your runs and times?
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