JUNIOR parkrun has launched in Melksham and organisers of the event have hailed it a huge success.
68 youngsters took part in the inaugural event in King George V playing field last month. Organisers are hoping that more young people, aged 4 to 14, will join the free weekly event, which involves running unaccompanied around a 2km course on Sunday mornings, supervised by a team of volunteers.
Craig Murray, who led the campaign to bring junior parkrun to the town, told Melksham News, “It went perfectly! 68 children took part and the feedback has been really positive. A number of parents have shared on Facebook how much their children enjoyed the event, and how they are really looking forward to coming back. Hopefully we will see more and more young people join us every Sunday in the park.
“I’d like to say thank you to Melksham Town Council, Melksham Without Parish Council and the Melksham Area Board for their donations – without them we would not have got this up and running. And a huge thank you must go to the volunteers whose support has made this event possible.”
Mayor of Melksham, cllr Jon Hubbard, who started the run said, “It is fantastic that Melksham now has its own junior parkrun. There are six primary schools and one secondary school in Melksham – and this is a great way to encourage more young people to exercise. I hope that this event grows just as big as the adults’ parkrun, which has been a huge success.”
Junior parkrun takes place every Sunday at 9am in King George V playing field. Runners are encouraged to register for free on the parkrun website before the event and print out their own unique bar code. Following the run, the bar code is scanned and youngsters can look at the website to see their times.
For more information or to enquire about volunteering, visit the Facebook page – search for ‘King George V junior parkrun’ or visit the website: www.parkrun.org.uk/ kinggeorgev-juniors
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