CHRISTMAS Eve saw Melksham parkrun’s 5th birthday celebrated by over 180 participants in the King George V Park, with the town’s mayor councillor Simon Crundell starting it off.
Since its inaugural run on 16th December 2017, when Melksham’s weekly event took its place on the worldwide parkrun map, over 27,000 people of all ages and abilities have completed the 5km course in and around Melksham’s park, made possible by over 600 volunteers including 30 young people taking part in the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme.
Melksham town councillor and Melksham parkrun volunteer cllr Colin Goodhind said, “It costs nothing to take part in parkrun, just Google Melksham parkrun and register to run and/or volunteer; it’s as simple as that. In return you’ll have the opportunity to join like-minded cheerful people at 9am on a Saturday morning doing something that’s healthy and being cheered on by enthusiastic volunteers.
“For those with no ambition to run but wanting an incentive to walk with others there’s always the recently-introduced parkwalk. It’s part of parkrun but there are dedicated parkwalk volunteers to accompany you. Beware though, the running bit is catching but there’s absolutely no pressure!”
The event on Christmas Eve also marked several other success stories; Sarah Cardy, a former mayor of Melksham, reached her 100th run in the year and Kyla Gerrish raised over £250 by finishing the last mile of 24-miles in 24 days in December, raising money for the RNLI.
Kyla said, “I like doing fun runs with my mum so when she told me about this challenge, I said yes. I wanted to do the run to raise money to help the RNLI save lives. I found it really hard and it has been very cold, but I am proud I have run 24 miles and raised lots of money!”
