Milnrow junior parkrun celebrates first birthday

The junior parkrun at Milnrow Memorial Park celebrated its first birthday on Sunday 13 October.

The group, which was started by volunteers Barbara Bayliss and Cathy Jepson-Brown in October 2018, meets every Sunday in front of the cenotaph at 9am.

Junior parkrun is a 2-kilometre event for juniors (4-14-year-olds) with parents encouraged to join in.

The Milnrow Memorial Park event is one of two junior parkruns in the borough, with the other taking place at the same time in Queen’s Park, Heywood.

Milnrow Memorial Park event director, Cathy Jepson-Brown, is delighted with the event’s success: “It’s been an amazing year. It’s so lovely to be involved in something which helps children become more active in a fun and safe environment.

“We have been very lucky to have the help of so many volunteers without whom the event couldn’t happen. Fun for the children and fun for the helpers!”

 

 

Councillor Sara Rowbotham, cabinet member for health and wellbeing at Rochdale Borough Council, said: “Congratulations to Cathy and everyone at Milnrow junior parkrun on their anniversary. Parkruns are only possible thanks to the dedication of volunteers and it’s brilliant to see that people in our borough are committed to helping our young people to enjoy being active outdoors.”

Rochelle, mum to the borough’s Healthy Heroes family, joined the group for their celebration and gave superhero goodies out to families.

The course is fully marshalled so children are able to run by themselves or they can run with an adult. The aim of parkrun is to have fun so anyone can go along whatever your pace. There is always a tail walker so no one is left behind.

The 2km course is made up of two full laps and a smaller one on a mixture of paths, trail and grass. The start and finish are on the grassy area beneath the cenotaph. Each full lap takes runners up along the woodland paths, up to the giant, down around the cenotaph and back to the start. The shorter lap misses out the giant.

Parkrun is always free, you just need to register online before your first visit and bring your printed barcode with you.

For more information about junior parkrun visit:

• www.parkrun.org.uk/events/juniorevents