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Thursday 24 November 2011

parkrun growth 2011 and 2012

I understand from the latest "the parkrun show" podcast and today's parkrun newsletter that only one more new parkrun will start during the remainder of this year. That being the new Ally Pally parkrun, Alexandra Palace in London starting on Saturday (surprise!) 3rd December. Apparently that makes 54 new parkruns started this year, taking the total to a whopping 107!

I also believe the reasoning is that it is not the most convenient time of year to start a parkrun, the uptake may not be great and the scheduling of the yearly anniversaries alongside everything else that we all have to fit in at this time of the year would not be ideal. Someone at parkrun has obviously given this due consideration and come up with this very sensible conclusion. I'm sure the parkrun team don't mind stepping off the pedal for a couple of weeks at this time of year either. I think we would all agree they deserve to.

If I remember rightly there was something written in a parkrun newsletter around this time last year which stated an intention to double the number of parkruns over the course of 2011. So a massive "well done" to the parkrun team for beating that target. Week on week (apart from the coming few) we get closer to the utopia of having a parkrun nearby wherever you find yourself each weekend. I think we all owe the parkrun team a big thank you for that prospect.

Another target I recall was for 2012. Again this is a vague memory, but there was some mention of a target of 212 parkruns (in theory again doubling the 2011 target of 106), by the end of the 2012. This target sounds tough. I for one would love to read an update article as to how those at parkrun think this is likely to go over the coming year. Waht is the plan and is there a list of those coming at the start of 2012. Maybe that could be a topic for a parkrun newsletter or the parkrun show podcast in the coming weeks. It sounds like the parkrun team will be very busy facilitating that kind of growth. Lets hope it all goes well.

1 comment:

  1. Its a big ask to double again this year. But, lets do the best we can. I am one of the 5 goals people for example:- 1=The best in every way, 5=finishing still alive . . and graded steps between so that every event/project has a least 1 achievement. My 5th positions are Sheffield to have a 500 day & 'parkrun to have a 18,000 day. Both are do'able before the end of May.

    ReplyDelete

I would love to hear what you think.