Introduction

In June 2018 I spotted a Facebook post about a new Park Run for Cork City. Or as I quickly learned parkrun was the preferred spelling. Being a keen runner and an infrequent but enthusiatic visitior to the Ballincollig parkrun I dashed off a quick email to say I was interested in helping with the set up of a new city centre parkrun and then raced off to browse some other news. (I had heard that President Trump tweeted something sensible and this I had to see but obviously not before I did something running related first). Oddly enough the parkrun has one thing in common with Trump and that is culture. Whilst Trump represents a by gone era of negativity and bullying clinging to it’s last dreggs of power, the parkrun is completely the opposite. The parkrun movement represents ‘Is Féidir Linn’ wrapped in a layer of positivity so strong no amount of twitter hate can penetrate it. If you’re a fan of Star Wars parkrun is the Jedi order and Trump is the Dark lord of the Sith.

parkrun culture part 1

I roped Julie in as well. We had no idea what we were getting involved with, parkrun is a worldwide physical activity movement but it has morphed into a way of life that oozes achievement at every level. Volunteer credits exist and they are rewarded with shirts, the number of runs you have completed matters and again milestone shirts are available, PBs are documented and if you are a member of VHI parkrun is tied into to your health insurance app and leads to rewards. Participating is considered a huge part of parkrun. The whole family can attend, dog walkers and buggies are welcome. If you attend parkrun for the first time you are lauded for your efforts. Are you visiting from another city great you’re a tourist come back again is the message. In fact we deliver a first timers briefing at the Glen River parkrun to welcome you. Before we move on are you 73 and fancy a craic at a 5km run? This is exactly what happened at the Glen River parkrun on Saturday July 20th 2019. The gentlemens son later spotted him in our google drive photos much to his surprise. As you do he then tweeted about it and this 73 year old became somewhat of a hero.. Everybody matters at parkrun. The growth of a parkrun is largely organic but what I have found is that the culture is under pinned with so much encouragement that people come to run and keep coming back for the encouragement.

When I am Run Director at Glen River if you so much as move a cone to help the parkrun I document a volunteer credit in the run report for you. I never let an opportunity to give encouragement pass me by at parkrun.

Me as Run Director talking to Lord Mayor John Sheehan and John Kissane parkrun Ambassador

parkrun culture part 2

The weekend before the Cork Marathon 2019 we had visitors from the UK who informed us that they had attended 91 seperate parkruns scattered across the world. Other stories re told by the parkrun visitors we have had so far at the Glen River parkrun.

tales of people who have travelled the world to complete the A to Z of Parkrun
journey’s retold of completing every parkrun in the south of Ireland
volunteered at 10, 15, 50 different parkruns.
we were overawed and perhaps shocked by those who took part in the parkrun inside an Irish prison. (It is run by the inmates and is part of a rehabilitation programme from what I have gathered)
we were completely taken aback by the insane story we heard on our first morning of the group who travelled from Belfast at 2 am to be at the first Glen River parkrun event. The first parkrun event is a badge to collect.

The conversation around a parkrun coffee table seldom drifts to PBs, it’s coloured with the adventures from parkruns near and far. ‘Frankfurt has a parkrun with about 24 people running it every week’ or ‘Tralee parkrun gets 200+ people a week, they have been at it for years their volunteers are everywhere it’s like they have an underground network’ or ‘Bring back Tramore Valley parkrun in Cork City because the route is fast and flat’.

I volunteer at the Glen River parkrun as often as I can nowadays. Me and Julie have been involved since it’s inception and so we feel a sense of responsibility to see this parkrun survive and thrive. Not that this imposes a reliance on us to be involved or the parkrun is finished far from it. The volunteer pool has grown. Julie and I have both been involved as Run Director but equally we have turned up and run with little volunteer involvement. The Local Election campaign meant we couldn’t commit as much of ourselves but the volunteer pool got so large we weren’t missed. The community took over and that’s what every parkrun needs. We even have a Strava club now so we’re real serious runners now as well. Check it out if you dare https://www.strava.com/clubs/492624.

Our other Social Media stuff is below if you are interested;

Like and share our Facebook page is here
Follow us on Instagram @glenriverparkrun
Drop us a Tweet @theglenparkrun
Our Website is here

Lately we even have regulars who know us by name. I confess that I am still trying to get to know everyones name. I have my Dale Carnegie hat on and I know how important someones name is. This leads me to an interesting point. Culturally the parkrun is different. People feel completely comfortable approaching me in a parkrun volunteer vest and asking a question or relaying a story. This is almost the exact opposite to how most social interactions awkwardly fumble along in almost any other setting. As a demonstration of the polar opposite how often do you ask a random stranger on a bus anything. At the parkrun awkward fumbling has left the building. On our first morning I was the Funnel Manager. We had never set up the funnel before. I dived right in with 6 others. We made our points when it came to various areas of concern. This moment is now in the top 10 most productive experiences of my life. Within 20 minutes we had it down to a tee. An hour later 142 people passed through it with no fuss at all. The 6 of us did our thing together, reorganised, redrew, rebuilt the funnel 3 different ways before we were happy that people would go through it pain free. Another example is how on almost a weekly basis someone drops us a Facebook message and tells us they are visiting from ….. and would like to visit the Glen River parkrun do the run and could they fill in with …… volunteer role. In parkrun culture the volunteers tend to jump a shark to help this person out. Do you have a lift? ‘No’ I’ll pick you up at …. and then another person would volunteer to drop the guest back to their hotel etc.

The Route

Our route is 3 loops. 1 small ring and then 2 large rings and yes the hill is so much fun we make sure you do it twice. You will probably run about a minute under you 5km PB on the flat but the route is quite scenic. Located in a Valley surrounded by trees with small ponds nothing could be better for your mental and physical health. We kick off at 9:30 am every Saturday morning from now until the end of time.