Con Smith hosts 150th Parkrun

This Saturday morning will see the 150th Parkrun get underway at Con Smith, and everyone is invited to head along to celebrate this landmark.

“We’re going to hold a big celebration run because we think doing anything 150 times for free - volunteer based - on a Saturday morning is quite a wonderful achievement for the community,” enthuses event director Kim McCafferty.

The Cavan woman urges people who have never tried it before, and those who have but have simply fallen out of the habit, to come along this weekend.

The very first Con Smith Park event was held on January 4, 2020 and saw 280 walkers and runners weave their way through the Cavan Town beauty spot. After Covid rudely interrupted proceedings it took time for numbers to recover, but it is once again firmly established.

“It never fails to amaze me the atmosphere - you can’t come away from it not in a good humour,” says Kim. “There’s something magical about it that leaves everyone in great form.”

Over the last 149 Parkruns they have had 1,343 individuals complete the event, and a total of 5,627 finishes. Kim notes if you multiply those finishes by five it’s quite a long distance they have ran/walked collectively.

The Celt observes, there may well be a few people whose health has improved by including Parkrun in their weekend routine.

“I would hope so, we would really hope so. At the start the impetus was very much health and wellbeing.”

The national Parkrun organisation used to run online features called ‘Parkrun Prescribes’ where they spoke to doctors who encouraged patients to join their local Parkrun.

“I would hope that GPs and healthcare professionals still think that way,” she said.

Even for people who are already healthy but tend to exercise alone, Kim reckons they benefit too from the camaraderie.

“To have a community there, in particular for walkers and volunteers and people who have not socially engaged in exercise before, that doing the Parkrun together - I think the benefits and wellbeing potential for that are endless.”

She is acutely aware of its impact on addressing social isolation, by offering an outlet to bring people together. It wouldn’t be possible to host the weekly event without volunteers - and they have had 144 volunteers over the last four years.

“We’re blessed with wonderful volunteers. The volunteers are nothing short of amazing and new volunteers are always coming along, and are always welcome as well.

“It’s a very sociable and easy thing to do - there’s no major skills training involved, there’s no heavy responsibility involved. It’s a really nice and easy way to volunteer to meet new people and have something positive at the start of your weekend.”

For those considering joining the Parkrun fold this weekend, simply log onto Parkrun.ie and select Con Smith Park. It takes about three minutes to register and receive a barcode which you print out and bring along to any Parkrun anywhere in the world.

“It means you can always get your times and stats and volunteer credits.”

Parkrun starts at 9.30am every Saturday.

“Beside Cavan Institute there’s a big red sign that says ‘Parkrun Starts Here’ and we’ll be there every Saturday morning and ready for the start call at 9.30am,” says Kim.