parkrun goes boom!
1,090 off and running at Albert Melbourne
In late 2016 I wrote a blog episode called âThe parkrun phenomenonâ. You can find it at https://hutz224.tumblr.com/post/152552256442/the-parkrun-phenomenon.
Seven years have passed since then. Despite parkrun being paused in much of the world during Covid, the event has flourished locally and internationally and become more popular year on year. It truly is a phenomenon. The figures do not lie. Consider these extraordinary statistics for parkrun around the world during the 2022-23 financial year*:
8.5 million registered parkrunners
2,200 different parkrun venues in 22 countries
(In 2016, by way of comparison and to illustrate the explosion of parkrun in recent years, there were 1.85 million registered parkrunners across 855 venues in 14 countries).
11.5 million people with a finishing time in a parkrun, with a weekly high of approximately 300,000 finishers.
1.5 million people in volunteer roles.
What of Australia? There is no doubt that our country has been one of the most enthusiastic adopters of parkrun. When I wrote my 2016 blog, there were already 189 different parkrun venues nationwide. There are now 481, with more starting up all the time, or so it seems. Two weeks ago, Australia recorded more than 30,000 finishers in a single Saturday. I expect that this figure was easily surpassed last week, given that Victoria alone had an estimated 15,000 finishers, led by the largest ever parkrun field in Australia of 1,090 (plus 37 volunteers) at Albert Park, as well as 602 finishers at Parkville, 504 at Gardiners Creek, 488 at Karkarook and 460 at Maribyrnong.
parkrun Australia is trumpeting the fact that it will record its one millionth finisher this coming weekend. Will this one millionth runner/walker be identified and showered with gifts and prizes, and feature on news bulletins around the country? Of course not, but itâs a nice thought.
So when you hear claims by the leading football, cricket, golf and swimming bodies that their sport is the largest participation sport in Australia, I beg to differ. Even though a healthy percentage of parkrunners are really park walkers, in my opinion the figures speak for themselves. Running is THE biggest participation sport in this country all year round by a very long way (perhaps by the length of the straight?), and the statistics reveal what we already knew â there is currently a massive local running boom.
Of course all this raises many questions. Why is parkrun so popular? Which came first â parkrun or the running boom? Why does Australiaâs largest participation sport remain so under-reported? Why donât more parkrunners get involved in club athletics? How much has parkrun contributed to the huge popularity of local and international marathons?
What cannot be denied is that thousands of Australians get tremendous enjoyment from parkruns every Saturday morning. Who would have thought that a simple five kilometre run in Bushy Park, UK, in 2004, contested by just 13 runners, would spawn such a life-affirming community event across the world?
Next blog: the parkrun record breakers.
*Figures from the parkrun Annual Report 2022-23 at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zauAMyw9-0mm7rlKSL7omLNd7UiWInOe/view?usp=sharing














