What is The Crystal Palace parkrun?

It’s a 5km run against the clock. It is held every Saturday at 09:00 in Crystal Palace Park. See Course page for more details. It’s free! but please register in advance. All abilities welcome. For further information go to the Crystal Palace parkrun website.

Crystal Palace parkrun needs you!

As the Crystal Palace parkrun is entirely organised by volunteers they always need people who can dedicate one or two Saturday morning every two months. The idea is to build a number of teams, each self-sufficient that will be able to start and end the run safely and produce the results. Some of these roles allow you to volunteer and run. i.e. a runner could easily do the post run results processing.

Crystal Palace parkrun is a warm, friendly event and the volunteers are invaluable in helping the event run as smoothly as possible.

New and old parkrunners are encouraged to join the list of volunteers. Without our volunteers on Saturday mornings Crystal Palace parkrun could not happen and I certainly could not do everything on my own!

There are lots of roles available on Saturday mornings, from setting up the event to registration, and timing to course marshals. Everyone is welcome to help out and volunteers are able to choose the role that they would like to do, training is given as and where necessary. During the event itself, there will always be people, including myself, around so if you ever had a problem you can call on them to help.

When you volunteer at Crystal Palace parkrun, you are rewarded for your efforts through points on the league tables, acknowledgements on the website and through emails. It is also very rewarding to help out too.

Volunteering on a Saturday morning only takes about an hour so you have the rest of the day to do as you wish. Some people help with set up and then run the 5k course, others run the course and then help pack the bits and pieces away so that they do not miss out on their weekend run.

All volunteers can help out as often or as little as they wish and there is no pressure whatsoever.

If you are interested in being put onto the volunteer list for the Crystal Palace parkrun please contact  CrystalPalaceHelpers@parkrun.com

Fernando (far right) and team

Last Sunday was the Run to the Beat, London’s music half marathon set in Greenwich.

Our local fitness group, Miracle Fitness, took part led by the ever-energetic Fernando. Over twenty of the current ‘bootcampers’ entered after having trained intensively with him throughout the summer. He was pleased to see everyone finish the race with a new personal best time.

They have all proven something to themselves, but also have shown that once again Crystal Palace is a place where sport can thrive in people. Most importantly they have all run for a very good cause raising over £3000 towards the Rainbow Trust children’s charity.

Miracle Fitness is a fitness training company specialising in Fitness Boot Camps for men and women. Fernando has been running the bootcamps in Crystal Palace Park for over 4 years now. The bootcamps focus on body toning, cardio, flexibility, endurance and nutrition. His philosophy is that fitness can be achieved with a ‘can do’ attitude and this will set you on a path to a fitter lifestyle. The boot camp is open to all fitness levels and abilities, so anyone can take part.

If you run a local business or service and have a story to tell please contact chris@palacemag.co.uk

After successfully setting up Bromley parkrun, Ashlee Corfe handed over the event to a well trained, confident and friendly team at Bromley. She thought that South London could do with another parkrun and there wasn’t a better place than Crystal Palace Park. “I think that the heritage and the build-up to the Olympics will impact this park and what a time to utilise the space with local runners during this occasion,” commented Ashlee.

When the word got out that parkrun was coming to Crystal Palace the e-mails started flooding in saying that clubs, people, etc were so excited and could not wait to have one near them. Since starting, Crystal Palace parkrun took off and within the first month it has averaged 57 people per week. The volunteer team are extremely dedicated with lots of enthusiasm. The feedback from the participants is extremely positive even though people say the course is tough due to some hills but that is what makes it.

The good thing about Crystal Palace parkrun is that you can turn the day into an outing for the whole family by having a picnic, checking out the Dinosaur area, National Sports Centre and Athletics Stadium or the farm. For more information please visit the Crystal Palace Park website. So what is holding you back?

Come down and experience this high energy, friendly atmosphere for yourself. Even if you don’t want to run but would like to be a part of the team we are always looking for new volunteers.
To register please go to www.parkrun.com or for more information please contact Ashlee Corfe on 020 8323 1718 or e-mail events@bromleymytime.org.uk