2019 – My Parkrun Year | Dr Scott Arthur

ParkRun

What’s Parkrun.
Parkrun is are free, weekly, 5km timed run which take place around the world. They are open to everyone, free, and are safe and easy to take part in.

These events take place in pleasant parkland surroundings and people of every ability take part; from those taking their first steps in running to Olympians; from juniors to those with more experience and mums with buggies; we welcome you all.

Edinburgh is lucky enough to have three Parkruns: Edinburgh (Cramond), Portobello (Figgate Park) and a new one at Oriam (Heriot Watt University). However, there are many others just outside Edinburgh.

Parkrun has helped me hugely – after I had my cardiac pacemaker fitted in December 2015 it was a key part of how I recovered my health and confidence. Others use it to lose weight, spend time with friends or simply build up their fitness.

My Parkrun Year – 2019
I managed to complete 32 Parkruns at 13 courses in 2019. These largely focused on my “home” course (Cramond) and at the one in my hometown of Kirkcaldy (Beveridge Park). Towards the end of the year the Oriam Parkrun started, this is closer to me so it’s now my “go to” course for running and volunteering. They Oriam Parkrun course is a little hilly and can get congested and quite muddy, but it is still a great event.

To keep Parkrun free and fun, it is important that people volunteer. In 2019, I managed to volunteer 8 times – a few of these were due to me being unable to run due to a broken arm.

My 2019 Events:
Volunteering 8
Edinburgh 12
Kirkcaldy 5
Oriam 4
Lochore Meadows 2
Plean 2
Amager Fælled 1
Camperdown 1
Dunfermline 1
Meadowmill 1
Montsouris 1
Vogrie 1
Westpark 1

Fastest Run: Kirkcaldy on 13/07/2019 – 23 mins 27s
Best Place: Meadowmill on 31/08/2019 -29th (but only 63 people took part!)
Best Age Grade: Kirkcaldy on 13/07/2019 – 62.9% (Age grading takes your time and uses the world record time for your sex and age to produce a score.)
My Best Course in 2019: Undoubtedly Parkrun de Montsouris. This was a great course around a well maintained park full of fantastic sculptures.
Only Course where I saw a wild deer: Amager Fælled
Best Organised Event: Edinburgh Parkrun