Carmarthenshire is set to host its first junior Parkrun in Carmarthen Park this weekend. It will be the 500th Parkrun and 100th junior run in the UK and has been made possible through a partnership between parkrun Wales, Carmarthen Council and Welsh Athletics’ new social running programme Run Wales.
As a social activity, running is going through an unprecedented growth period across Wales.
James Williams, Head of Operations for Welsh Athletics said, “as the governing body for all forms of athletics and running in Wales, we have a strategic aim of increasing the number of social runners in Wales. With a dedicated social running programme we are actively working towards that aim.
The most recent Sport Wales active adults survey continues to prove that Welsh Athletics’ social running programme – Run Wales, is on track with its aims of getting 400,000 adults running across Wales. Central to our aims is providing as many opportunities across Wales for individuals to reach their own personal goal. Working in conjunction with partners like parkrun is key to achieving this.”
Sioned Jones, Run Wales National Programme Manager said, “we are delighted to announce that Run Wales funded Carmarthen Junior parkrun. parkrun is fundamental in providing the opportunity for everyone in Wales to run and to run more often. Run Wales recognises the importance of parkrun in local communities and by funding more parkrun events in Wales we are working towards our goal of creating an inclusive Wales for all runners.”
This 100th junior parkrun takes place in a town that has produced so many talented junior athletes over the years. Just a few months ago Dewi Griffiths competed for Great Britain in the World Half Marathon Championships in Cardiff, and it was with Carmarthen Harriers that his international journey started. Hopefully new opportunities such as junior parkruns will help create future running champions in Wales.
The Carmarthen junior 2k parkrun for 4-14 year olds will be held every Sunday from 9am, starting on Sunday May 22.
To take part children need to register on the parkrun website where they will be issued with a bar code to scan at the start and end of each event. They’ll also be able to check their progress and timings on the website’s results page.
The UK average junior running time is 12 mins 32secs with over 50k runners taking park at 86 locations.