Parkrun for town in New Year

Damian McCarney

Saturday, January 4, may well mark the start of a new weekly regime for many readers.
The date will see the long awaited Parkrun come to Cavan Town.
“We have managed to establish a viable course and a viable team so we are very excited about managing to get a Parkrun in the middle of Cavan Town,” says Matt Shields, country manager of Parkrun Ireland.
For the uninitiated, Parkrun is a global phenomenon taking place across 22 countries. Participants can run, jog or walk the 5k run weekly for free, and by joining you get a microchip to record your time, which you can use at any Parkrun event anywhere in the world.
Of course County Cavan has already welcomed three incarnations of Parkrun, with a well established event in Cootehill, the run in Virginia having completed tens of runs to date, and a junior Parkrun set up in Crosserlough. While there’s almost 93 park runs set up nationwide, the Cavan Town event proved a particularly tough Rubik’s cube to solve, but given it was “well up the list” of large towns to go without, it was one with which they persevered.
“We have been working to get a Parkrun in Cavan now for the best part of a year – and it’s difficult, because we are having to use the park, the college and even the waste ground beyond,” he says with a laugh that acknowledges the organisers’ ingenuity and determination in overcoming adversity.

Safe
The ‘Parkrun’ title isn’t restrictive for the organisers, who explain that they host runs on beaches, racecourses, industrial estates, colleges, hospital grounds and administration blocks.
“It’s any usable space which is traffic free and safe,” clarifies Matt.
The Cavan Town course will see participants start off in Con Smith Park for about half a kilometre. The wide footpath is segregated from the road by a cycle lane and parking bays. At the top of the hill (heading towards St Pat’s College) the course turns right into the gravel carpark at the back of the college and back into the park. The 5k will involve two and a half laps.
They have recruited Kim McCafferty as local leader and about 20 volunteers, which according to Matt “is a good start-up team”.
With the inaugural event taking place on Saturday, January 4, Matt is optimistic for its success. “Hopefully with New Year’s resolutions, it shoud get off to a good start.”

Meeting people
Paradoxically, Matt believes the running aspect is only a small factor in the success of the Parkrun phenomenon.
“It’s not actually about the run. If you want to do a 5k run, put on your shoes go out through the door and just go and do one. The reason you go down to Parkrun to do the run is completely different – it’s about social inclusion, meeting people, health and wellbeing more than it’s about physical activity, in that lies the success. If you ask people why do you come back here week after week? They don’t say they are coming back for a 5k run, it would be more along the lines of: ‘I’ve met so many friends here’; ‘I know so many people that I didn’t know when I started’; and ‘I really enjoy the craic’. That’s the type of responses you are getting – the success is in breaking down social isolation.”