Thousands turn out for Christmas morning parkruns

By Jonathan McCambridge, Press Association

Thousands of people have taken part in Christmas Day parkruns across the island of Ireland.

Many sported Santa hats and wore festive-themed costumes as they participated in the events which have become a seasonal favourite in the running calendar.

The parkrun, which usually takes place on a Saturday morning, is a free, timed 5k run organised and staffed by volunteers.

The festive events have become particularly popular, with the number of participants much higher than for the weekly runs.

At Stormont in east Belfast, the event broke its participation record, passing 1,000 for the first time.

Last year’s record 790 runners was easily beaten, with a bumper field of 1,152 taking part.

Festive music playing through loudspeakers reverberated around the estate, while crowds of supporters cheered the runners as they passed.

Race director Marianne Hood said Stormont was becoming the place to go on Christmas morning.

“I think it’s now becoming a tradition,” she said.

“So many people, I think that they’re hearing about it, and then they’re wanting to come this year to see what it was like because they’ve heard of people from last year.

“And this is the third year in a row that we’re going to have set records. And I think the atmosphere is so brilliant. Everybody dresses up and it’s so much craic.

“So I think just people are hearing more about Stormont Parkrun as the destination to go for Christmas Day.”

She added: “The atmosphere is brilliant. It’s so fun. Nobody cares about their time.

“Nobody cares that they’re backed up the avenue waiting to get their token.

“It’s just really, really good for families. Really good for friends and friend groups.

“There’s everybody taking selfies, everybody’s taking photographs of each other. It’s brilliant. The atmosphere is class.”

One of those crossing the finishing line was Irish former Olympic rower Eugene Coakley.

“Christmas morning and 1,000 people, I believe, are here – there’s nowhere better you’d want to be than in Stormont park having a parkrun, it’s brilliant,” he said.

“We’ve been up all morning opening presents, but to get out and get a bit of fresh air and run around the park is brilliant.”

At Wallace Park in Lisburn, 713 runners packed on to the course, beating the previous Christmas Day attendance record by almost 100.

Run director Jonathan Davis said there was a sense of community around parkrun which seemed to strike a chord at Christmas.

He said: “We had 624 runners here last year. They were queuing to finish this year, which has never happened before, so we are well above that today.

“This is such a massive community event. People wouldn’t turn up here if they didn’t want to, particularly on Christmas morning.

“It brings people together in a way that very few other things can do and I think it is something we should cherish.

“We have been going here in Wallace Park since 2013. We are doing something right, we are very lucky to have an incredible team of volunteers that turns up here every single week.”