Former jockey Nina Carberry, Olympian David Gillick and exercise physiologist, Dr Brian Carson, recently launched Vhi’s ‘More Than Running’ campaign to highlight the various health benefits taking part in parkrun can bring to all its participants.
parkrun in partnership with Vhi is the biggest community-led physical activity movement in Ireland and is open to everyone no matter your age, ability or background. Anyone can come along and take part as a walker, jogger, runner and also as a volunteer.
With events in every county in Ireland, parkrun, in partnership with Vhi, takes place each Saturday morning at 9.30am in more than 100 locations across the country and is free to take part in. In Ireland, more than 8,000 people take part every weekend, as walkers, joggers, runners and volunteers. Participants only need to register once on the parkrun website (parkrun.ie ), bring their personal barcode which records their activity, and then turn up at any event.
Less than half of Irish adults reach the recommended guidelines for physical activity (54% of males and just 38% of females ). This decreases even further as we age to as low as 33% over the age of 65 and just 20% after 75.
Dr Brian Carson, University of Limerick lecturer and Exercise Physiologist, says even minor changes to your routine can have a positive effect on your health, and encourages people who haven’t previously experienced a parkrun to take that first step this summer.
Dr Carson suggests that no matter your current fitness level even a small increase in the amount of physical activity you do can have multiple health benefits, with studies and scientific research offering the following reasons to get active:
Exercise has been proven to be beneficial in the treatment of 26 chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes as well as respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.
By limiting the time you spend sedentary (i.e. not moving ) and replacing it with sufficient physical activity of any intensity, you can almost halve your likelihood of encountering cardiovascular disease and lowers the risk of stroke by over a quarter.
In a recent study of over 60,000 parkrun participants, new participants who were previously inactive reported improvements to fitness, physical health, happiness and mental health.
“parkrun and physical activity have never been more important. Whether it’s your first ever time at parkrun, whether you’re volunteering, whether you’ve walked to the park to spectate, it’s all participation to us and that’s what parkrun is all about. No matter how you’re starting, parkrun provides a regular opportunity for everyone to take a positive step in their life,” Matt Shields, parkrun Ireland Country Manager, enthused.
