The Neighbourhood Small Grants program was able to provide the weekly Ambleside Parkrun with a new tent and flags. Their first run with the new tent and flags was on Saturday, August 8th where they had one of their largest turnouts, 117 participants and 10 volunteers!Â
The weekly Saturday run uses the gazebo to protect both volunteers and gear against the elements. It also acts as a start and finish point, a first aid area for summer heat, as well as keeping the race “timekeepers” dry.Â
The flags are used to motivate runners. The goal of the weekly run is for people to attend consistently to optimize the health and social benefits. Being photographed with the flag after your milestone run, is going to make these milestones more visible, and keep people coming back.
The objective of this event is to celebrate diversity and encourages people in the community to commit to consistently take part in the event. The focus is especially on the “couch to 5km” group and encouraging older participants to get out and meet each other!
Some Statistics!
Fastest participant: 17 minutes
Tailwalkers: 1 hour and 2 minutes (Tailwalkers are a volunteer position, so no one can ever come last!)
49 female runners and 65 male runners (3 runners that did not state their gender)
Oldest runners: 80-84 years
Youngest runners: under 10 years
60-85 Age Range: 24 participants
40-60 Age Range: 42 participants
20-40 Age Range: 31 participants
10-20 Age Range: 11 participants
Want to participate?
The Ambleside Parkrun happens every Saturday starting at 9am from behind the Ferry Building in Ambleside.
Bruce (pictured on the left) has volunteered almost 40 times for the Ambleside Parkrun! Thanks to him and the other volunteers the Parkrun is able to happen every Saturday with the organization and setup entirely done by volunteers. Additionally, runners are asked to volunteer every 10th run to support the continuation of the Parkrun (as seen below).
