#004 / Don’t give up
Tuesday the 29th of September, 2026
Don’t give up
Reflecting on my parkrun-stats-memory-banks, I don’t think we really counted volunteering for the first few years.
And looking back at the results from the first ever Bushy parkrun, for example, there’s a distinct lack of recognition for those who held the stop-watches, recorded the finishers, or set everything up on that wonderfully exciting morning.
However, scroll to the bottom of a modern-day parkrun results page, and you’ll see an extensive list of wonderful people who’ve done brilliant things.
So, if parkrun was fastidious in recording running and walking participation from day one, why not volunteering? The answer is, because we saw it as simply a necessary evil that allowed other people to run. We really didn't understand or even consider the true value of volunteering to the volunteers themselves.
And every week, without fail, we thanked the volunteers for giving up their time.
As a slight aside, this is analogous to the way that, not that long ago, we really didn’t value the power of sleep. Despite spending (ideally) a third of our lives doing it, and the immense evolutionary disadvantage that creates (it must be incredibly important otherwise we’d have evolved out of it) we figured the less we could get away with the better.
Check out the brilliant book, Why We Sleep, by Matthew Walker, if you’d like to learn more about that topic.
Anyway, back to (not) giving up our time.
Thinking back on my own journey, whilst I’d loved volunteering since we started Woodhouse Moor in 2007, it wasn’t until December the 25th, 2010, that I really considered how volunteering impacted my own health and wellbeing in such a profound and powerful way.
Christmas Day parkrun has become a huge thing in the UK, with hundreds of thousands of people taking part every year, but back then many people saw it as not the done thing. Whilst it had been a tradition since the first year of the Bushy Park Time Trial (now Bushy parkrun), where Christmas Day 2004 had just happened to fall on a Saturday, it took a while to catch on in other places. And when we decided that we’d hold our own first festive event in Leeds back in 2010, it was met with a reasonable level of derision. Many people saw Christmas Day as a day for family and being at home, and not for running or giving up your time to volunteer.
Personally, I wasn’t really sure a) if anyone would turn up, or b) how it would really work.
But to say that day was life-changing would be an understatement.
What we found was people turning up and telling us how difficult that particular day is for them, and how most years they don’t see another human being. Because ‘everyone’ is spending time with their family.
And how the feeling that all those around them are having an amazing time, massively increases their feelings of loneliness and isolation, and serves as an annual reminder of how tough they have things.
What we’d experienced was an hour or so (once you include all the festive parkfaffing) of the most wonderful socialising in the snow (honestly, see photo evidence below). Where people from all kinds of backgrounds came together and enjoyed being outdoors, active, and social. It was honestly the most joyful experience, and whether people were going back to a house-full of raucous relatives, or a solo viewing of the Queen’s Speech, we all left the park that morning feeling glad to be alive.
Never again did I think that I or any other volunteers were giving anything up.
And we never looked back.
Woodhouse Moor parkrun, Christmas Day, 2010
To finish with a great anecdote from a more recent parkrun experience …
A few years ago I ran at Richmond parkrun, with my great friend and parkrun Australia legend, Renee Gimbert. After crossing the finish line we took our tokens and proceeded to the scanners, where we were met by a relatively young volunteer, who we thanked for being there.
To which she replied …
No, it’s me who should thank you … if you hadn’t turned up I’d be standing in the park on my own!
Comment
There will be many future Playbooks that address volunteering and all it encompasses. And fundamental to all of them will be the understanding that volunteering to be of service to others is the most incredibly fulfilling activity. In fact, in a parkrun context, the research shows that it may well be more beneficial to our health and wellbeing than running or walking. Yet for many years we completely misunderstood that.
So often we can go through life not really reflecting on the things we ‘already know’ and misunderstanding the real value of whatever it is we’re working on.
I wonder what else we’re missing?
Tom Williams
Co-Founder, Participate World
participateworld.org
The Participate Playbook newsletter reflects Tom Williams' personal experience and recollections from his time at parkrun. It is not an official parkrun position or record, and any errors are unintentional. Tom writes as an independent consultant through Participate World Limited, and neither he nor the company are affiliated with, employed by, or representatives of parkrun Global or any of its group companies.
