Junior parkrun seeks volunteers in Oldham

All parkrun events are run by teams of volunteers and volunteering can have a huge positive impact on those who offer their services

Parkrun is a widely known fixture of Saturday mornings across the UK and beyond.

Over 1,700 volunteer-led events take place globally each week and this free event has been described as one the of most important public health initiatives of our time.

But did you know that on Sunday mornings the youth version, junior parkrun, happens in 350+ communities (almost exclusively in the UK)?

The 2km run, walk or jog is for children aged 4-14 and has just reached a milestone 10 year anniversary.

Alexandra Junior parkrun was a weekly Sunday 9am fixture in Oldham until the pandemic.

A total of 1,056 different children took part over the 165 Sundays that the event took place, crossing the finish line nearly 7,000 times.

Sadly, Alexandra juniors has not restarted since the lockdown pause because of a lack of volunteers to direct the event at Alexandra Park in Glodwick.

All parkrun events are run by teams of volunteers and volunteering can have a huge positive impact on those who offer their services.

The benefits have been researched by parkrun and the Advanced Wellbeing Centre (AWRC) at Sheffield Hallam University and found that 84% of respondents reported an improvement to their happiness because of volunteering at parkrun.

A new core team of volunteers, including Event Directors and run directors, are now being sought to get Alexandra parkrun back up and running.

No special skills are required, but organisation skills and confidence talking to people are useful.

If you don’t have those skills already you’ll certainly learn them on the job!

Full training is given and whilst there is a commitment to help and attend regularly there is no requirement to be there every week.

If anyone is interested in getting more information on joining the team, simply email: michelle.flower@parkrun.com

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