New 5k parkrun starts in Cork City on Sat 26th Sept 2015

Just a reminder that the new 5k parkrun in Cork City will be starting at 9:30am on Saturday the 26th of September 2015 and it's free!!

The venue will be the Tramore Valley Park next to the South Link Road on the South side of the city. It is basically two laps of a 2.5km loop as shown in the above image.

This is going to be a weekly event from now on every Saturday morning. You can just jog around or use it as a fitness test. If you do it every 4-6 weeks or so, it should show how your training is going.

How parkrun works......It's very simple....
1) Go to the parkrun website and register. You then need to print out the bar code that they give you.
2) Just turn up at the start line of the park run at 9:30am. There is no need to enter.
3) At the finish line, you'll be given a small plastic card/token which is your finish position.
4) Take this token to the scanning desk and give them your bar code as well. They will scan your bar code and take back the finish line token.
5) The results of the parkrun will appear on their website later that day. You will also get the results by e-mail.

Again, the main thing to remember is that everything is based on your bar code. Not your name or anything else. Bring it with you to the parkrun and you'll be fine.

Remember, this is a weekly event so there is no rush. The first one is likely to be crowded but it is likely to settle down after a few weeks.

Press release from the HSE

Cork City gets its first ‘parkrun’...Next Saturday, 26th September 2015 will see the global phenomenon of ‘‘parkrun’’ come to Tramore Valley Park, Cork with a route that will circle the entire park. ‘parkrun’ is the latest in a number of new events set to take place at Tramore Valley as it transforms from the former Kinsale Road landfill into a major regional public park spanning 70 hectares.

The event takes place every Saturday morning at 9.30am and is FREE! It is supported locally by Cork City Council, Cork Sports Partnership & the HSE’s Health Promotion & Improvement Department.

‘parkrun’ is a global network of weekly 5km timed runs or walks in local parks that take place each and every Saturday morning all year round. Currently there are around 700 ‘parkrun’s worldwide, with almost 1.2 million people taking part in events since its inception.

Health Promotion Officer with the HSE in Cork, Clare Deasy said “The runs and walks are open to all ages and abilities, they are free to enter and the focus is one that encourages participation -not competition. There are no prizes and results are age graded. Events are timed each week with results uploaded to the ‘parkrun’ Ireland web site where runners can track their progress.”

Earlier this year, following an initial agreement in 2014, the Healthy Ireland section of the Department of Health and the HSE allocated further funding to ‘parkrun’ Ireland. The partnership aims to empower communities to make Ireland a healthier place to live and in particular hopes to encourage individuals and families to lead an active lifestyle.  There are currently 36 events in Ireland and it continues to grow. Three of these are already in Cork County in Clonakilty, Bere Island and Macroom. All of the Cork runs take place each Saturday morning at 9.30am