A monumental milestone was achieved in the UK this morning - parkrun celebrated its one millionth event! And GoodGymer Graham was part of the party as Run Director at Avery Hill parkrun.

Graham reflects on the role of volunteers:

This awesome achievement has been reached by a significant contribution, rain or shine, from volunteers, sometimes referred to as parkrun hi-viz-heroes.

There are numerous roles you can play each week, including timekeeping, marshalling, handling out finish tokens and scanning barcodes so each and every runner/walker will receive their finishing position and time after the event.

Who are these volunteers?

At Bexley parkrun, we have young persons doing their Duke of Edinburgh Awards, runners willing to give up a run and non-runners who simply like to be part of the parkrun family and use volunteering to achieve this.

There are “milestone” t-shirts to be earned for volunteering 25, 50, 100, 250 and 500 times. Obviously, if you are a GoodGymer, you can earn two credits - parkrun and GG - in one morning 🌟🌟!

If you fancy joining in for a fun experience, register with parkrun to get your parkrun ID, and then look for volunteering opportunities - your offer will always be appreciated. A full list of roles and responsibilities can be found on the website.

Volunteering is not restricted to Saturday mornings as a number of junior events take place on Sundays.

Go on, take a look and see you soon.

I was RD again at this morning’s Avery Hill parkrun which saw 510 finishes including a number of first timers and tourists from other events.

Some nice comments afterwards as to how participants enjoyed the run and Danson Park ❤️.