SATURDAY mornings in Letterkenny will take a step closer to normality this weekend when the parkrun will return for the first time since the start of the pandemic.
The community-led 5k event celebrated its fourth anniversary in February 2020 just a month before our lives changed with the introduction of the first lockdown.
A year and a half later the volunteers that enable parkrun to take place every week are gearing up for its return, albeit with some changes in place to ensure all the Covid-19 guidelines are adhered to.
Speaking to the Donegal News Margaret O’Donnell, one of the Letterkenny parkrun co-ordinators, said they are looking forward to welcoming back their regulars as well as new walkers, joggers and runners on Saturday, September 11.
Parkrun Ireland have published a Covid-19 framework which they will be operating under. Before the pandemic parkrun participants physically brought their barcodes with them but now they will be asked to use an app which will eliminate the need for contact. Social distancing will be adhered to and those taking part will be asked to go straight home after the event.
“The social element will be the sense of taking part again,” said Margaret.
“We are looking forward to everyone coming back again and taking part in physical activity. It’s about having that routine on a Saturday morning. You know every Saturday at 9.30am there will be a parkrun. It’s free and it will always be free.”
Organising the event doesn’t happen by accident and it takes a team of volunteers. As they get back up and running Margaret has put out an appeal for more volunteers to come on board.
“Parkrun is very much a voluntary operation. We need lots of volunteers to make sure the parkrun happens every Saturday,” she said.
“We will provide training. We need nine to ten volunteers every single Saturday. You don’t have to come to parkrun to run, walk or jog, you can come and volunteer and there is a sense of camaraderie.”
Letterkenny parkrun usually has around 100 participants each week which is well within the limits of the government’s rule of 500 for outdoor events. Over the last four years the event has gradually grown in numbers and attracts visitors, or parkrun tourists as they are known, from across the globe including India, Germany and Italy and pre-Covid they had regular parkrun tourists from Belfast and London.
During lockdown parkrun encouraged people to run, walk or jog on their own at home but the return of weekly 5km event will be hugely beneficial for many people’s mental health. Margaret said each week you tend to meet the same people taking part and you feel part of a community.
“It is not a race, participating is what parkrun is really all about,” she said.
Letterkenny parkrun will return on Saturday, September 11 at 9.30am at St Conals Hospital Campus on the Kilmacrennan Road.
To become a volunteer you can email letterkenny@parkrun.com, let the organisers know which Saturday you can volunteer and also provide your name and parkrun number. For those who don’t have a parkrun number they can send out details on how to register.
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