As parkrun turns 17, we join the celebration of everything volunteering. Who better to speak to than the first ever volunteers Paul and Jo Sinton-Hewitt. They take us back to that first event in 2004, and tell us how the role of the volunteers has evolved. 

We also hear from a 19 year old Run Director at Harrogate juniors.

This week we caught up with a man who has run across America seven times. Swede Bjorn Suneson tells us why he does it, and how at the age of 71 he’s not finished.

Louise checks in from her parkrun travels and we hear about an extraordinary act of generosity from the good folk at Hadleigh parkrun.

With parkrun resuming in the Republic of Ireland, we hear from those involved with Monaghan Town’s first event back. The inspirational Kevin Webber talks to us about living with incurable cancer and how running and parkrun has kept him going. And we find out whether Vassos finally made it to parkrun, or conjures up another poor excuse for not going.

parkrun founder Paul Sinton-Hewitt joins the pod this week to discuss his delight that many 5K events have now returned. He also tells us about his mammoth cycle ride from Land’s End to John O’Groats. Vassos reads out a belter of an email and we find out how his first parkrun in 18 months went...or maybe we don’t!

Vassos manages to rope in producer Patrick to co-host the show with Helen away on her holidays. The listeners pile in on the debate regarding scanning tokens attached to shoes and we hear from the inspirational Tim Beynon on how running helped him deal with prostate cancer.

Vassos is back from his holidays to join Helen for a busy show. They celebrate parkrun’s return in Wales and hear from many of those involved.

Louse is back and reports from Kingdom parkrun in Kent and Vassos and Helen have differing views on barcode tokens being scanned while attached to one’s shoe!

With parkrun having restarted in Scotland, we hear from husband and wife team John and Moira Smith. John was RD for the day at Strathclyde parkrun and tells us how it all went and Moira was dispatched with a microphone and spoke to many of the participants. Vassos catches up with comedian, podcaster and author Rob Deering to chat about his running journey, parkrun and what’s on his playlist.

With Vassos away on holiday, Helen is joined by husband & parkrun COO Tom to chat through some of the news coming out of HQ including the return of parkrun in Scotland. We also hear how the plan for the return in Wales is going.

This week we hear from Natasha Joseph, who attended her first parkrun as it resumed in England back in July and tells us why it was so special. Louise Ayling is back in her role as roving reporter, and Vassos claims to have the greatest stat in the history of stats!

After parkrun resumed in England, Helen gives us a first hand account of her day at Harrogate parkrun, and speaks to some of the volunteers, runners, walkers and joggers. Patrick tells us why he’s parkrun rusty and out of pocket after the weekend, and there the return of the FWT stats quiz.