Parkrun offers free, five-kilometre runs every Saturday, bringing communities together in cities worldwide, including right here in Whitby and Pickering, Ontario.
The Pickering Parkrun takes place at Duffins Trail with roughly 25 to 45 people regularly participating. However, the run takes a break in Pickering for the first three months of the year due to weather.
“We have a course that goes basically all the way up Duffins Trail, it starts in Pickering Village and goes up to the top near Riverside Golf Course,” said Andrew Kay, the organizer of Pickering’s Parkrun.
Whitby’s Parkrun often sees more participants and the route takes runners down the Waterfront Trail. Roughly 80 t0 100 runners attend the Whitby event each week.
Parkrun began in England in 2004, where just 13 runners participated. For many years, these runs were exclusive to the U.K. However, Parkrun has since seen expansion into 23 countries. The U.K. sees up to 1,500 runners come out for the event these days. “It’s turned into a global organization,” said Kay. ”There’s runs all over the world.”
If you have an interest in participating in Parkrun, you can acquire a bar code by signing up on the website. This bar code will allow Parkrun to record your progress and gives you access to previous weeks in order to track your results week to week. You must have a bar code in order to participate.
As the weather gets colder many outdoor activities shut down, however Parkrun provides a nearly year-round opportunity to stay active. Parkrun Pickering, and Parkrun Whitby will announce if runs have to be cancelled due to weather, but they are optimistic they will run in the cold. So get out there and enjoy the beautiful fall season outdoors.