parkrun/ MS Trust takeover Letchworth

[Katy79]

Hello!

 

I'm one of the two parkrun "outreach" ambassadors for MS - and just wanted to let those interested know that we have started a new facebook group (and a Strava club) for parkrunners with MS - and people affected by MS who are interested in learning a little bit more about parkrun.

 

For info, parkrun is a free, weekly 5km timed event which takes place at over 1,600 locations in 20 countries. Every Saturday morning friends come together to organise, walk, jog or run their own local parkrun. Together, parkrunners have walked, jogged or ran over 100 million miles at these free-to-enter events. More than 5 million people have registered.

 

There are 570 events in the UK alone - and nearly 900 UK parkrunners have registered as having MS. These events take place in pleasant parkland surroundings and are run by volunteers. They have a really lovely community feel and are open to people of all abilities. These are events which can walk, jog or run at your own speed - or join in the community through volunteering.

 

As an outreach ambassador my role is to raise awareness of parkrun - and the fact that it is so inclusive - within the MS community. This is part of a government sponsored programme with parkrun called "PROVE" which has already been rolled out across various other conditions. The aim is to get more people with these conditions walking, jogging, running or volunteering at parkrun - and most importantly getting the health (physical, mental and emotional) benefits that delivers. Whilst the events are timed, they are a “run not a race” – there are no winners and no-one comes last (as a volunteer “tail walker” has the honour of being back marker, to make sure every one gets of the course safely and to offer encouragement to anyone who wants it at the back).

 

In addition - the fabulous people at the MS Trust want to help raise awareness of parkrun for people with MS and volunteers from the MS Trust are teaming up with parkrun to “takeover” Letchworth parkrun on 8 December 2018.  There should be a good number of parkrunners with MS, people from the MS Trust and people otherwise affected by MS (family and friends, HCPs) in attendance.  Whilst I know this type of event doesn't appeal to everybody, it is free and open to anyone that wants to participate - of all abilities  so I thought I would mention the event here (even though it is MS Trust not MS People (shh!)) in case anyone wants to pop along and say hello! 

 

For more info, there were a couple of pieces on parkrun in the MS Trusts latest Opendoor.  The most recent parkrun podcast (Free, Weekly, Timed - hosted by Vassos Alexander from BBC 2)  discusses parkrun for MS and there are a number of parkrun's newsletters which feature parkrunner with MS.  For anyone who follows Barts Blog ,  Prof G (a proud parkrunner) has also written a number of posts on parkrun

 

Apologies for not posting the links - I'm trying to avoid the spam filter!  If anyone wants any further information please just let me know - or look us up on FB "parkrun for people with multiple sclerosis"

 

 

K xxx

 

[Marina]

Here's the MS Trust's page about it:

 

Parkrunning with MS | MS Trust

WWW.MSTRUST.ORG.UK

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Parkrunning with MS

 

[Katy79]

Thank Marina!