Jan 21, 2025 Parkrun: A Global Well-Being Movement
Just over 20 years ago, on Saturday, October 2, 2004, thirteen people participated in a free, timed 5 km run at Bushy Park in West London. This event marked the launch of the Parkrun charity, which has since grown to an annual budget of around £10 million and attracts approximately 200,000 participants—walking, running, and volunteering—at nearly 2,500 locations across the UK each week. Additionally, an estimated one-third of British general practitioner medical practices have partnered with Parkrun and actively encouraged their staff and patients to attend local Parkrun events.
Parkrun has developed into a global activity at over 2,000 locations across 22 countries. The first event outside the UK was launched in Zimbabwe in 2007, followed by Denmark in 2009, South Africa and Australia in 2011, and the United States in 2012. Over ten million people are registered worldwide and participate in local Parkrun events. Parkrun activities were suspended for fifteen months from March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic but resumed in England on July 24, 2021.
The Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre at Sheffield Hallam University in the UK has studied the impact of Parkrun on participants’ well-being. A survey involving nearly 50,000 Parkrun participants found that the median completion time for the 5 km course is just under 30 minutes. However, there is a significant number of slower runners and walkers. Approximately half of the participants were female, but 80.3% of the walkers were women. Walkers were likelier to have chronic health issues, such as arthritis or high blood pressure. Research indicates that the health benefits of Parkrun are similar across all participant categories, from fast runners to walkers.
Researchers at Sheffield Hallam University recently reported that the total value of Parkrun for the 400,167 participants in the UK in 2019, assuming half a year of benefit, was a change in self-reported life satisfaction worth £667.4 million. This value was calculated by surveying the life satisfaction of 548 newly registered Parkrun participants at two points: at baseline, they averaged a score of 7.489 on a 10-point scale, and after six months, their average score was 7.746. A change of one point on the life satisfaction scale is defined as one WELLBY (well-being adjusted life year), with an estimated monetary value of around £13,000.
To provide context for the data presented, the UK Office of National Statistics collects Life Satisfaction data four times a year. Since 2011, the average life satisfaction score in the UK has steadily increased from approximately 7.4 to 7.7 by the end of 2018. However, in 2019, the score dropped by about 0.05 points and fell significantly in 2020, coinciding with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, decreasing by approximately 0.4 points.
Notably, the rise in life satisfaction among new Parkrun registrants occurred when the national life satisfaction score declined. A study examining the impact of participation in Parkrun events found that this participation accounted for around 27% of the increase in life satisfaction. Furthermore, the cost-effectiveness of participating in Parkrun events was estimated to be 2.8 to 16.7 times more effective than typical population-level interventions.
The effectiveness of Parkrun events may be attributed to how they are “framed.” Manuals that promote effective psychotherapy highlight the importance of framing interventions by considering their purpose, timing, location, and cost. Parkrun events are community gatherings where individuals can walk, jog, run, volunteer, or spectate at the same time each week (every Saturday at 9 AM) in a designated local park and at no cost.