Volunteering legend is honoured by sporting great at his local parkrun

The parkrun movement has transformed running in the UK and globally and its foundations are all based around volunteers – and one of those was rightly lauded at his local event last weekend.

Tony Kingham has marshalled a staggering 500 times at the weekly 5km event for runners and walkers, encouraging all participants at Lister Park parkrun in Bradford.

He’s become such a local legend that his marshall point has been renamed ‘Tony’s Hill’ and it’s just a stone’s throw away from Bradford Grammar School, where he taught two-time Olympic triathlon champion Alistair Brownlee among many others.

And on Saturday Brownlee paid a special visit to Lister Park to surprise his former teacher and cheer on the runners.

Brownlee changed the course of Olympic-distance triathlon with those golds at London in 2012 and Rio in 2016, his sporting dreams having been formed ever since hearing London had been awarded the Games when he was a schoolboy at Bradford Grammar.

Getting active

Kingham was in position again at Lister Park on Saturday but this time it was Brownlee and over 600 runners who were there to acclaim his parkrun volunteering feat.

Kingham is also a coach at athletics club Bingley Harriers, where he helped both Alistair and Jonny Brownlee – Jonny still runs for them and represented them at the Yorkshire Cross Country Championships earlier this year.

And speaking to the BBC, Kingham explained why the parkrun is so important in terms of encouraging young people to get active in a friendly environment.

He said: “It’s not just running but anything really that keeps them active.

“They all sit around so much at home looking at iPads, it’s great for them to get out and get a chance to get some fresh air.

“And they all enjoy it. That’s the great thing about it.”

Inspiring others

Alistair Brownlee, who retired from competitive triathlon late last year, echoed those sentiments.

He was quoted as saying: “It’s so important to have someone like Tony inspiring young people, and now more than ever.”

“We’ve got so many challenges in society keeping people active, keeping people healthy, keeping communities going.

“Things like local sport clubs like Bingley Harriers, things like parkrun, are a bedrock of sport and health, but also society and community.”

Many Bingley Harriers – including lots of youngsters – were in attendance to underline the support.

And both Alistair and Jonny have devoted much time and energy helping kids – nearly 70,000 at the last count – get a first taste of triathlon through the Brownlee Foundation, which they founded following London 2012.

They have recently launched a new Leeds Triathlon, which takes place for the first time this August, and all profits will be donated to the Brownlee Foundation to support its mission to provide those free mini-triathlons for primary school children across the country.