Global parkrun chief underlines multiple health benefits of running

parkrun has already done so much for the health of the nation that it’s hard to quantify its full impact in the UK.

But now it’s joining forces with Prime Minister Keir Starmer to help save the country’s National Health Service (NHS).

Starmer recently set out a 10 year plan for the NHS in England, aiming to move the service towards prevention and community care, as well as digitalising it.

Vital role

In response, interim parkrun Global CEO Elizabeth ‘Lil’ Duggan said in an open letter: “The Prime Minister’s stark message that the health system needs to ‘reform or die’ presents a challenge that the nation needs to rise to if we want to save the NHS.

“We at parkrun welcome the thrust of the plan and the government’s strategic approach. As a unique, proven and mass community public health intervention, parkrun can play a vital role in helping the government deliver on key elements of its plan, especially when it comes to prevention; helping people to lead healthier, more active and ultimately happier lives.

“We are already supporting early prevention and community-based healthcare through our RCGP ‘parkrun practice’ programme, which links GP practices with their local parkrun to inspire, educate and promote the benefits of physical activity.

“It allows GPs and healthcare professionals to socially prescribe parkrun giving patients greater responsibility for improving their personal health whilst reducing the reliance on the NHS and medical intervention.

“We already have a third (over 2,000) of GP Practices in the UK signed-up to the programme. Our aim is to have every practice signed-up.”

“Completely inactive”

parkrun has come a long way since its very first event in Bushy park, Teddington, where 13 intrepid runners got together on 2 October 2004.

Duggan says parkrun is now at the heart of “more than 1,200 communities across the UK” where hundreds of thousands of people of all ages come together to walk, run, volunteer or watch its free-for-all 5k and 2k (junior) events.

She said: “Nearly a quarter of those who take part in parkrun have a health condition and 11% of participants are living with a long-term health condition. Last year alone, over 45,000 people who registered for parkrun identified themselves as ‘completely inactive’.

“parkrun is a proven, mass and scalable public and community health movement. Low barrier to entry, with no special equipment or subscription required, and completely free to access, we can be a greater part of the solution.”

parkrun is also having a big economic impact on the UK. To mark its 20th anniversary last year, research by Sheffield Hallam University showed that every £1 spent on the event returned at least £16.70 in benefits to the UK economy – around three times that of other interventions designed to increase physical activity.

Duggan, who was appointed interim CEO of parkrun Global in April, said: “We’d love to work with the government and help them in their mission to transform our healthcare system and commitment to getting the NHS back on its feet by moving towards prevention born at the heart of communities.”