Andrew Lane, one of the 13 runners who took part in the first ever parkrun, has admitted he was completely wrong about the event's potential, as the charity celebrates its millionth event this weekend.
Early Predictions Were Way Off
The retired accountant, now 69 and living in Wymondham, Norfolk, participated in the inaugural parkrun at Bushy Park in Richmond in October 2004. He said his predictions for the event's growth were far too conservative.
"I remember saying at one point that in the UK it would probably plateau at about 20 events on a Saturday," Mr Lane said. "I thought there'll be one in every major city, perhaps a few extra in London. I could not have been more wrong there either."
He also predicted that Bushy parkrun attendances would peak at 200 because "runners won't want to be as crowded on that route." However, at Bushy parkrun's 1,000th event in August 2024, the attendance was a record 6,204.
Global Phenomenon
There are now more than 2,800 parkrun event locations in 23 countries. Mr Lane said he failed to realize how much volunteering would become a key part of the experience.
"Perhaps what I failed to realise was how much volunteering would become a great pleasure and destination in itself," he said. "I imagined it would be finding volunteers that would hold the growth back and while that's sometimes been tricky, overall and across the world that hasn't been the case."
No Sense of What It Would Become
Asked if he had any sense that it was the beginning of something big, Mr Lane said: "Not at all, and in fact two weeks later there were only 11 people there so I really wondered is this going to take off or not. I just thought this is another nice, informal running event."
He added: "I was in the mindset of a road racer and I thought well this is nice, this is a little 5k race, as I thought of it, an extra one we don't have to pay for, we can turn up. So no sense at all of what it would become."
Masterstroke at the Finish
Mr Lane knew parkrun founder Paul Sinton-Hewitt from their running club days. He recalled the first event had no marshals, and participants were briefed on the course by Sinton-Hewitt.
"The different feature compared to road races we did was everything was done at the finish and that was a masterstroke really for parkrun's growth," said Mr Lane. "Because he wasn't taking money anyone could just turn up and at the finish he timed us, gave us a token with our finishing position on that he'd got from a hardware store and told us to write our names on the clipboard in the back of his car."
Happiness on a Saturday Morning
Mr Lane, who now runs with Wymondham Athletics Club, has completed more than 600 parkruns and volunteered more than 200 times. He described parkrun as "just the happiest place to be on a Saturday morning."
"After a football match I'd say at least half the fans go home a bit unhappy because either their team has lost or their team hasn't won by as many goals as they thought it should have. And the contrast is at a parkrun I'd say maybe 95% of people go home happy and the other 5% are the ones who want to be five seconds quicker," he said.
He credited the event's success to the many volunteers and participants who helped it grow: "It certainly wouldn't have expanded in the way it did without lots and lots of other people to help."
