Newsdesk

volunteering at parkrun

parkrun Does You Good

Keeping people happier and healthier, one parkrun at a time...

Earlier this year, Sheffield Hallam University’s Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre (AWRC) surveyed individuals over 18 who had participated in at least one 5K parkrun between October 2023 and October 2024, resulting in 76,589 returns. parkrun is the world’s biggest physical activity movement, and the research was commissioned to quantify the health and wellbeing benefits of participating in the free, weekly, timed 5K events.

The independent survey, commissioned by the parkrun UK charity, confirmed the findings of a survey in 2018 by highlighting that volunteering has an even bigger impact on the health and wellbeing of participants than running or walking a parkrun.

The therapeutic effects of parkrun were already well documented. The latest survey results arrived just as parkrun was celebrating its 2,000th GP practice joining the parkrun practice initiative, run in partnership with the Royal College of GPs (RCGPs). The initiative enables health care professionals to ‘socially prescribe’ parkrun to support patients with various physical and mental health conditions – as runABC correspondent Alan Newman reported in March 2025. 

The main findings of the survey were that after participating in parkrun:

  • 90% of all respondents reported a sense of personal achievement
  • 88% reported improvements to their fitness
  • 85% reported improvements to their physical health
  • 79% reported improvements to their mental wellbeing
  • 81% reported improvements to their happiness

Those who also volunteered reported an 86% improvement in their happiness, compared with 81% for respondents who only ran or walked. The survey also showed that 23% of parkrunners have a health condition, with over 45% being impacted daily by their conditions. However, 83% of participants with a health condition reported an improvement in their physical health, and 80% reported an improvement in their mental wellbeing because of running or walking at parkrun.

Professor Steve Haake from Sheffield Hallam University’s AWRC said: “This new survey reiterated what we found six years previously – that parkrun improves the quality of life of parkrunners, not just from running and walking as you would expect, but also from volunteering. parkrun improves both the physical and mental health of parkrunners and contributes very effectively to the government’s current commitment to the prevention of chronic disease and the desire to keep people healthy.” 

So there it is, proof positive that parkrun does you good, even if you are volunteering and not running or walking. If you’ve never volunteered, now’s the perfect time to give it a go. Plenty of roles are available before parkrun, during parkrun, or after parkrun.

To find your nearest parkrun, click here.

Photo courtesy of parkrun marketing UK

Start Fundraising On GoFundMe

GoFundMe

Previous & Next News

top