The UK was the birthplace of junior parkrun, with the first event taking place at Bushy Park in 2010. Paul Graham, who had developed a love for the 5k parkrun concept, came up with the idea for Bushy junior parkrun. He wanted to create an event specifically for children and young people. The second event, Forest of Dean junior parkrun, followed soon after, solidifying the success of the format.
As junior parkrun grew across the UK, the parkrun charity was awarded £1.19 million from the London Marathon Foundation (LMF) in 2023, spread over three years, dedicated to help support 300,000 young people at junior parkrun events.
Since the partnership with the London Marathon Foundation began, there have been over 180,000 new registrations, and junior parkrunners have completed a 2k course over 1.6 million times – that’s 3.2 million kilometres!
Source – Parkrun