Latest / The Folkestone & Hythe Sports Podcast / PARK RUN SPECIAL LISTING TOURIST VENUES INCLUDING THE SMALLEST PARK RUN ON THE PLANET AND A PLEA FOR MORE PARK RUN VOLUNTEERS

Transcript

PARK RUN SPECIAL LISTING TOURIST VENUES INCLUDING THE SMALLEST PARK RUN ON THE PLANET AND A PLEA FOR MORE PARK RUN VOLUNTEERS · The Folkestone & Hythe Sports Podcast

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Steely Dan nineteen seventy two and that was nearly six minutes.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: You know, there's not many songs in the seventies that
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: went on for six minutes. It's normally about four when
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: in the sixties it was two minutes twenty seconds. Okay
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: time for some park runners. Well, our Saturday local park
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: runners are slowly looking for different venues to discover folks
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: and park run is still going strong. Last Saturday, four
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: hundred and ten runners took part. Some runners stayed in Kent,
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: visiting venues such as Ashford who had a record turnout
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: five hundred and seven. Pegwell Bay had two hundred and fifteen.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Four hundred and thirty five runners took part in the
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: Great Lines Park in Dullingham. In Medway, three hundred and
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: seventy seven were at Walmerdal, seventy six run at Swanlee.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: Two hundred and ten took part at Whitecliff's Lake, which
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: is near Dartford. Now these all these races where some
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: of our local runners have made their way to. Last Saturday,
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: the further Afield Rosie Smisen was in Birkenhead. I can't
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: help say enough to say it with the Liverpool Birkenhead
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: near Liverpool, where nine hundred and forty three runners took part. Now,
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: this race relied on fifty three volunteers. Now, arguably Bushy Park,
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: the home of park run, is one of the busiest.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: Last Saturday, one thousand, six hundred and five runners took
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: part and listened to this. They needed one hundred and
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: four volunteers and they all came forward to help out. Now,
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: before we go into the subject of volunteering, I'd just
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: like to say well done to two local park runners,
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: David and Belenda Belinda Hitchin. Now, they founded the Susquehanna
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: Riverwalk Park Run, which is in Pennsylvania, USA. Pennsylvania is
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: a look on the west coast. Is the sort of
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: the next day up from New York. Now dug a
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: bit deeper and found that David actually came first. That
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: was amazing. They actually came first that day. But this
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: is no disrespect to David. There was only ten runners
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: in there and Belinda came sixth. Now, once again I
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: started digging even deeper. I found these stats amazing. For
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: this part run. It's been going since October twenty twenty
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: one and the record entry is a massive thirty nine,
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: and that happened to be on the one hundredth event
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: they were celebrating one hundred part runs. It's done. Thirty
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: nine people turned up. One week there was just one
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: runner and three volunteers, but it still went ahead and
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: the highest number of volunteers recorded ever was ten, but
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: that day there were twenty runners. And now David and
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: Belinda are currently on holiday in the USA, but are
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: very keen to come in on the show and tell
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: us more about that park run. And it must be
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: one of the smallest park runs in the world. And Belinda,
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: to be fairs, you did send me a lovely, lovely
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: long email describing the trip and the day with her
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: and David at the Susquehanna park Run, but I'm not
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: going to read it out because I want them to
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: come in and tell us about it, and so just
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: sit tight and hopefully when they get home we can
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: sort something count. So this track is called from the
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: one of these and You and Me song. Ah as well,
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: We're fun.
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: I tried to make.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: You the wan of the is there's the you and
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: Me song. Okay, now I've got some more park run news,
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: and I think this is really an important message to
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: get across to anybody that does a park run. I
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: want to tell you about the Victoria Dock park Run.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: It's located not far from the River Thames, close to
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: the Thames Barrier and London City Airport. It started in
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: March twenty eighteen, nearly eight years ago, but the last
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: time it took part was in December last year when
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: they had to call it a day due to lack
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: of volunteers. Now, as we know, part run relies on volunteers. Sorry,
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: to initially put together a new part run takes time
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: effort organizing. You need a core team and initially you
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: need investment. You do need some sponsors, You've got to
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: buy some kit and and it doesn't happen for nothing
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: initially at the start of it. And although you're getting
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: your run for nothing, there's lots of other things as well,
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: But most of all you need volunteers. Now part run
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: director's job starts on the Monday morning after the previous
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: Saturday's event. Trying to fill in that volunteer role is
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: often the hardest thing to do. We've all seen posts
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: on social media during the week asking for volunteers, then
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: normally by some miracle, they're found and the race goes ahead. However,
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: I think, I mean, is this good enough? Are you
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: a regular park runner? Have you ever volunteered? Come on,
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: be honest. Now, if more regular park runners just occasionally
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: gave up the morning run and volunteered, races like Victoria
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: Dock would still be going ahead. And what worries me?
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: It could happen to more events around the country. Park
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: run has been a new journey for thousands of people
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: who've never run before and found it did wonders for
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: their health and mental well being. It's free, It's nine
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: o'clock on a Saturday at over twelve hundred venues. How
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: lucky are you park runners, especially you tourists when you're
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: flying around looking for something to do when you are
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: away on your holidays. So let's not see how local
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: races go down the road of Victoria Dock. Do something special.
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: If you're a park runner, give something back. You'll find
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: it really rewarding. Become a volunteer. Okay, So that's the word.
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: That's the message that's gone out and I hope it
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: doesn't fall on deaf ears. Okay, getting back to the
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: music now, they were just played Steely down. That was
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: nearly six minutes and I've just grabbed a song off
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: the playlist which has come from the sixties, and as
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: I was saying earlier, it's this one is Jerry and
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: the Pacemakers, How do you Do It? And I'll be
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: back shortly. It's only one minute and fifty one seconds long.
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: Folkeston's community radio station, Radio Folkstone, How do you Do