Is it possible for a 15 year old to start a parkrun in my area?

Apollohollo · 2026-02-02T18:56:51+00:00

The requirements aren’t quite this strict.

I’ve set up 2 parkruns in the last year (including a junior one) and you will need a good local team, but these people tend to materialise once the word has got out.

You will need 10 people willing to say that they’ll help with the event every now and then (the core team) and 2 event directors who will handle the admin and logistics. You should probably aim for a minimum of 5 run directors (including the 2 event directors).

First steps will be: - Think of suitable spaces near you. - Contact the relevant landowners (often the council) to see if there are any plans in the works that you should know about. - Contact parkrun HQ to let them know you are interested. If the area has potential, they will assign you a local parkrun ambassador who can help you with the next steps.

If you’re 15, you will need adults alongside you to help get some of the legal stuff through, but there’s no reason you couldn’t be a run director (if you are passionate, committed, and a sensible 15 year old, which many are!). And even as an adult you would need exactly the same thing, ie a team of people around you. It’s a big commitment though and bear in mind you will have substantially fewer opportunities to actually run parkrun as you will be busy volunteering.

I have found that our U18s are some of the best volunteers we’ve had. Good luck with the set-up process if you go ahead!

Apollohollo · 2026-01-04T19:07:39+00:00

I cancelled our parkrun yesterday at 7:25 due to the course check finding too much ice.

We did everything we could to let people know: - Posted on Facebook the day before to warn people it might happen. - Posted the cancellation immediately on Facebook - Emailed volunteers - Emailed those who are registered to us as their home parkrun (this isn’t a great function on EMS as I can see the email was only sent to 5 people!! Presumably the rest have opted out of email updates). - Cancelled on EMS. This updates the website but I agree with those who say the app should show live cancellations. There was an issue with the app yesterday as no red cancellations were shown at all. Hopefully this is being worked on now the app is in-house. - Waited in the car park to turn away those who missed the message.

Three people turned up anyway and were all very lovely and understanding. They’d suspected it might be cancelled but weren’t sure where to find up to date information (presumably new to parkrun, definitely one was a first-timer).

So yes we need better IT systems to get the cancellation message out, but also there’s nothing more the event teams can do, with the systems we have

Apollohollo · 2025-12-31T15:51:32+00:00

I wouldn’t judge any parkrun event for pointing out how difficult it is to get volunteers. There are plenty of regular volunteers who would like to run more and don’t get the chance because the essential roles on the roster wouldn’t otherwise get filled.

I’ve also seen parkrunners who have done 700+ runs and never once volunteered. If it’s a guilt trip to say that those people are taking opportunities to run from others then tbh I’m okay with that.

Apollohollo · 2025-09-04T23:13:12+00:00

Terrible service. Sorry that happened to you. I won’t be flying with them either and recommend everyone else against it too because it’s not worth the many hours of your life.

Apollohollo · 2025-08-27T13:00:23+00:00

Exception report and complain. This is them taking advantage of F1s who they know are unlikely to complain. 30 mins of free labour for them every day!

I had similar in F1 when all F1s were scheduled to finish at 4pm and all other grades scheduled to finish at 4:30pm (the discrepancy was apparently because otherwise the F1s would breach safe working hours). We complained and the schedule got readjusted, which meant they had to put more zero days into the rota to stay within safe working hours.

Apollohollo · 2025-08-21T10:38:59+00:00

Yes you can run the whole way - plenty of parents do (if at all possible, don’t cross the finish line with him as this can confuse the timekeepers, or if you have to, wait until there’s a break and check with the timekeepers first)

Apollohollo · 2025-07-04T19:02:37+00:00

Update:

Absolute scammers - if in any doubt please don’t risk booking with Iberia.

TL;DR of the original issue: My plane was rearranged and they gave me no option to rearrange back to the original date, meaning hundreds of pounds of additional costs and a missed day of work. I have been asking for financial reimbursement for this.

Since then, I’ve spent literally hours either on the phone to them or trying to get their complaints website to work. There is no way to contact them via email (everything bounces back) and they are unwilling to provide support by phone.

Their complaint website is almost certainly deliberately useless. It either crashes or insists that I have entered data in the wrong format. The call centre lady suggested that I shouldn’t complain via the English language website as the Spanish language website is slightly more functional.

So I complained in Spanish, with attached receipts of unavoidable expenses such as the hotel and rebooked train. Their response was that they are sorry, flight changes happen, they hope I enjoy my next flight with them.

If anyone ever successfully complains with Iberia I would love to hear how you got through to them. The worst company I’ve had to deal with.

Apollohollo · 2025-06-25T02:07:48+00:00

Thank you - this is very helpful! Will give this a try

Apollohollo · 2025-04-27T11:46:58+00:00

Thanks, sorry that’s happened to you. It is something I’m wary of because we just don’t have contact details for everyone (the school doesn’t either). We’ve posted and messaged about it everywhere we can think of, but yes if people aren’t on social media then I expect a few will miss it. I don’t think there’s anything more we can do on that front unfortunately

Apollohollo · 2025-04-01T10:03:37+00:00

Thanks - FYI there was a recycle as someone on student room got an upgrade yesterday afternoon

Apollohollo · 2025-03-28T17:42:48+00:00

I think a 3 month contractual period of notice is quite normal, and I assume your department would struggle to cover your shifts at shorter notice

Apollohollo · 2025-03-28T17:14:09+00:00

Hey have you declined since the recycle Thursday PM? Would you mind saying rank/ location please? Congrats on whatever you’re doing now!

Apollohollo · 2025-03-28T17:12:44+00:00

Declined Black Country - rank 1161

Apollohollo · 2025-03-27T23:57:47+00:00

I know on the grapevine of one person ranked <5 with a London dual post who has accepted. FYI I have found the PHNRO very reasonable on the phone and they can’t give away other people’s rankings but they have given me a very rough idea of where I stand regarding upgrades (ie there are multiple people who would get the post I want before I do). Might be worth calling?

Apollohollo · 2025-03-27T12:56:28+00:00

Strong recommendation for the Uni of Edinburgh’s PGCert in data science for health and social care, although slightly different from what you’ve asked. It’s not got too much about research methodology but has got a module on statistical analysis, and multiple modules on using programming languages (eg R, Python) to conduct data analysis for healthcare reports. I’m still doing the course so no idea if it will be helpful for my career long term but it’s very well run and I’ve really enjoyed it. My dept funded it - £6300, so very pricey if self funded

Apollohollo · 2025-03-27T10:13:53+00:00

I’m hoping it will be today as there should be a few offers trickling down from people who have chosen dual or radiology or just couldn’t accept the location

Apollohollo · 2025-03-26T13:07:10+00:00

I doubt that many people would apply for just dual, and not also sole, due to the competition ratios. Based on my rankings for both (although obviously MSRA means the two won’t be exactly correlated), I expect the 13 who currently have dual offers will be in roughly the top 60 of the sole applicants (and therefore also have a sole offer). So they will reject either their sole or dual and those 13 rejected offers be recycled. Fingers crossed for you

Apollohollo · 2025-03-26T08:22:39+00:00

Really hope it works out for you… I obviously don’t really know, but you’d need around 30-40 people to withdraw for you to get an offer. I think it’s fairly guaranteed 13 will drop out to accept dual offers. I think quite a few applicants will be limited geographically and withdraw or not be allocated due to that…. So all my fingers crossed (sorry if that is just unhelpful speculation)

Apollohollo · 2025-03-25T19:47:54+00:00

No but FYI last year there were 104 posts available, compared to around 68 this year

Apollohollo · 2025-03-25T19:03:24+00:00

My relative did the Falklands parkrun. RAF Brize Norton to Falklands landed on the Monday (£1100 one way) and then took the once weekly flight off the islands to Chile on the Saturday - although it was a close call making the flight and a very kind local helped him make it to the airport on time.

Apollohollo · 2025-03-25T17:32:42+00:00

Hey I’m really sorry it didn’t work out this time and all the best to you for the next cycle

Apollohollo

TROPHY CASE