Motivation

parkrun 1000: A milestone in history

23rd March 2024 was a big day in parkrun history, the first person in the world hit the 1000 milestone. Nicki Clark has been volunteering at parkrun since 2009 and has now become the first person in the world to volunteer at parkrun 1000 times. This incredible achievement was celebrated at her local parkrun, Riddlesdown, with plenty of cake, mud and of course a brand new milestone t-shirt! We caught up with her to hear all about the special day and her journey with parkrun and volunteering.

ㅤ

ㅤ

When did you start parkrun and why? Which parkrun did you attend first and what do you remember of your first experience of parkrun? Did you start parkrun as a volunteer?

I started parkrun in 2009. I hadn’t been running for long, having signed up to do a Race for Life. After the 5k, there was a 10k, then I got a charity place to run the Great North Run, and a London Marathon place followed.

I didn’t think I was a good enough runner to join a running club, but running itself helped me to clear my head following a bereavement, and I didn’t always want to run on my own – I’d heard about parkrun from a couple of different people, and although there weren’t many parkruns around in 2009 (23 by the end of the year) I was really lucky to have one locally. On 4 July 2009, I went to Banstead Woods parkrun, and I loved it.

Banstead Woods is a beautiful location, and the parkrunners were very friendly. I couldn’t quite believe that something as well organised as this could be free, and I was hugely impressed by how enthusiastic the volunteer team was. I finished with a time of 32:29 and was immediately determined to improve!

I went along again the next week, and was persuaded to go for coffee afterwards. It was then that I got chatting to Kaye, the volunteer coordinator, which inevitably led me to volunteer, unofficially at first, helping out with token sorting over post-event coffee.

I volunteered officially for the first time on 5 September 2009 as timekeeper, Banstead Woods was my home parkrun for 2 years, and in that time I ran 9 times and volunteered on 86 occasions. I joined a running club – the mighty South London Harriers – and marathon training had me doing long runs on a Saturday because I needed a day to recover before heading back to work on Monday. This didn’t fit in with running a 5k at parkrun, unless I wanted to run off straight after I’d finished, so I developed the habit of volunteering, going for coffee and then heading out for my long run afterwards. This worked very well until my knee gave out, and effectively stopped me from running for many years – however, parkrun had become became a vital part of my routine by then - and nearly 15 years later it still is. Not being able to run didn’t stop me from volunteering!

ㅤ

ㅤ

What is your favourite thing about parkrun and volunteering?

For me, parkrun is all about the people, and the community.

The friendships made, and the sense of belonging created within the parkrun world is amazing. Weekend mornings are filled with a sense of achievement, laughter and community which I am proud to be a part of and I wouldn’t want to be without.

parkrun is a huge part of my life, and many of my closest friends are parkrun friends– if you can get through a winter and survive wet kit, battered signage, numb fingers and disintegrated soggy rosters with a team still laughing, then you can get through anything!

I’ve been the Event Director at Riddlesdown parkrun since the inaugural event in July 2011. Riddlesdown parkrun grew directly from Banstead Woods parkrun. More and more people came along to Banstead, and other events evolved locally to lighten the load, including Riddlesdown. Since 2011, the parkrun family at Riddlesdown has grown and developed – even those who have moved to different parts of the country often return and stay in touch.

For me, Sundays are either spent at Bushy Park, the home of junior parkrun, where Bushy junior parkrun happens on the first Sunday of every month, or at Lloyd park in Croydon, at Lloyd junior parkrun. Each of these events has a very different character, but what they have in common is a fabulous team spirit. I know that I’ve been lucky to have such fabulous people with me on the core teams of both of these parkruns, and of course at Riddlesdown. I owe a huge amount to all three teams; they’ve made every single event an absolute pleasure.

Volunteering puts me right in the heart of the community week in, week out. Having a reason to be up and spending time outside is a huge boost, and the knowledge that so many people are getting so much from something that I’m part of is really fulfilling.

Obviously, it hasn’t all been rainbows and sparkles – sometimes I’ve been bitterly resentful of the 6am alarm after a busy week; soaked through before 9am; deeply perplexed by inexplicable disparities between timers and token numbers; covered in mud; and despairing of ever regaining the feeling in my hands and feet, but I can honestly say that I have never regretted getting up and going to parkrun.

ㅤ

ㅤ

You must have lots of memories at parkrun over the years, are there any particular moments that stand out?

There have been so many memorable moments over the years:

Some of these are sad. The parkrun community often feels very like a family, and losses within that family hit very hard. The event before the Covid lockdown was particularly memorable. It was a memorial parkrun for Morgan Quinn, who was one of the founder members of the core team at Riddlesdown, along with his wife Kaye. Reading a speech in honour of a truly lovely man, knowing that in all probability this was the last parkrun for a while was one of the most emotional pre-event briefings I've ever given. Fortunately, things were not allowed to become too desolate, as a very excitable dalmatian puppy called Blue decided to honour Morgan by singing and barking all the way through my efforts, which created laughter amid the sadness.

A fair number of them are weather related, and are mostly funny, particularly in retrospect:

Snow at Banstead Woods, when a morning which had started as cold, but clear clouded over just after 9, and by 9:30 blizzard conditions prevailed – this was in the days before barcodes and scanners, and the event laptop wasn’t at all a fan of the cold – the timekeeper was taking photo of the runners as they ran over the line, and results were compiled using the photos, and notes that Event Director Chris Phelan had scribbled on scraps of paper and stuffed into his pockets.

Ice and snow at Riddlesdown have seen the volunteer team out on the course at 7am with hammers and cones to break through ice and mark hazardous points, but the most memorable results of weather at Ridds has to be the mud, and the puddles. Prolonged rainfall has created lake-like conditions on parts of the course many times, sometimes with ducks coming to visit! We’ve had Vicar of Dibley style puddles, and they are a fair number of photos of people knee and almost waist deep in water, as well as the occasional faller seemingly practising their back-stroke. The mud is sometime slippery, sometime sticky, and sometimes – however impossible it may seem, a combination of both, with parkrunnners sliding into the funnel, covered from head to toe in mud, and sometimes minus a shoe or two.

Torrential rain has also been part of many a parkrun – although no occasion of being soaked to the skin sticks in my mind as a November event at Bushy Juniors when it POURED throughout the event, and had been doing so for many days previously. I was tail walking, and despite a highly waterproof jacket and really good wellies, I got drenched – water went down my neck and over the top of my boots, and the tiny parkrunners at the back of the pack were big on puddle jumping, so obviously I joined in – it was an absolutely fantastic morning, but my car was soaked for days after I drove home still dripping!

The resident wildlife has created some memories: - Trevor Cummings, volunteering as a marshal being dive-bombed by a swan landing in the finish funnel made me laugh until I cried; Alan O’Connor arriving at the finish funnel a little more slowly than usual, having been sent flying after a collision with a deer which burst out of the bushes and straight into him – he was bruised but ok - the predicable reaction (“oh deer!”) caused a lot of giggling amidst the concern; The ‘murder hornets’ (yes, they were wasps, but they were very angry wasps indeed) at Ridds a couple of summers ago did their best to sting every single runner, and required a course diversion for several weeks -there was a lot less to laugh about there, until the morning when Helen, one of our core team members, came back from a pre-event course check and proudly announced that the wasps had all gone and the nest was empty – which she knew because she had poked it with a stick when she realised that she couldn’t hear any buzzing. To fully appreciate this, you have to understand that it was only when hoards of noisy runners came thundering past that the wasps all got agitated, most of the time they were fairly quiet.

There are events when things have gone wrong – timers and / or scanners have malfunctioned, and appeals for Garmin times and positions have gone out; realising that we didn't have the finish tokens at Bushy junior parkrun, on the first occasion with more than 200 finishers. Cardboard, scissors and a marker pen came to the rescue; followed by a long afternoon in the cafe manually inputting results, the gazebo taking off in the wind; the wheel falling off of the cart full of kit… all dealt with amid much cursing and laughter by the respective volunteer teams and parkrunners.

Some slightly chaotic - in the past parkrun event teams could vary their start time for New Year’s Day parkruns. This meant there was an opportunity to do two parkruns in one day. The first New Year’s Day event at Riddlesdown was at 11am in 2012. It was the only year that parkrunners had the opportunity to complete three events in one day. The turnaround time to make each event was short, so people were arriving very close to the start time. I remember styling out the longest ever set of pre-event announcements to try and give everyone time to arrive before we started the parkrun.

There have been many celebrations over the years: a small sample being Steve Stockwell’s 50th milestone, just before Riddlesdown’s first birthday, where we gave him his milestone Tee and he stripped on the start line to wear it for his 50th parkrun; Kaye’s 500th run, and John Foan’s 80th birthday, with cake and candles at the start, and which he ran with frilly knickers over his shorts and a superhero cape for reasons that will never be disclosed in a public forum!

The celebrations last week for the V1000 were beyond anything I expected, and I’m completely bowled over by the whole thing – it was such a special day, filled with friends and family from all the different parkruns I’m involved with, some of whom I hadn’t seen for years. All of these people are part of the parkrun journey I’ve been on – and without them all, and many others, it couldn’t have happened.

ㅤ

ㅤ

You said that you hadn't intentionally set out to be the first person to hit the 1000 milestone. It is an amazing achievement, how did you feel when you found out and did you enjoy the celebrations at Riddlesdown?

When I first started volunteering, milestone tees were only for runners – when the purple V25 tee became available, it was a very exciting moment, and to be honest I was surprised that a relatively small number of people had them– in relation to the number of runners wearing red 50 tees, black 100 tees and even the occasional (then!) 250 tees but it didn’t occur to me that I’d done any more volunteers than a lot of other people had. At some point after the V25 T-shirts were made available, there were ‘club’ lists on the parkrun website which listed people who had achieved each milestone by the number of parkruns they’d completed. I hadn’t realised that there was a volunteer list as well until someone, one of the team at Bushy juniors, I think, pointed out that I was at the top of the V25 list. I didn’t believe it initially, as I assumed that people like Ann and Ray Coward, volunteer legends and parkrun royalty, who had both been at it for longer than me, would have done many more, but they were right, much to my surprise! I was fairly proud of being the ‘volunteeriest volunteer’, but not obsessively so and I also really enjoyed seeing other people join the V25 club, resulting in there being an ever-increasing number of purple tees. At some point, and again, I can’t remember when, the club lists disappeared, and I hadn’t been keeping a close track on how far ahead I was, or even if I was still at the top of the list when it went. At this point, I was volunteering every Saturday, once a month on a Sunday at Bushy Juniors and maybe one other Sunday at Lloyd Juniors, more if they were short of volunteers, but not every Sunday, as sometimes I felt the need for a lie in! Although the club lists had gone there was (and still is) a list of how many people have done each number of volunteers (or runs) but without names, and when I occasionally looked at that list, I could see that my lead was steadily being chipped away by a couple of others, and I was perfectly happy with that. And then there was Covid, and the shutdown.

I had to shield during lockdown, and as someone who has always been surrounded by people, spending 12 weeks on my own with my dog was not easy, and my family all live miles away. During those 12 weeks, all three of the parkruns I’m involved with had regular zoom calls, parkrun friends shopped for me, and even baked me bread when there was none to be had anywhere. These points of contact just about kept me sane. I don’t think I truly appreciated parkrun until it was taken away, and when we were allowed to return it felt like a huge family reunion. I don’t think I’ve missed a parkrun, 5k or 2k, since.

When volunteer milestone tees were introduced, there was obviously a much greater awareness of how many volunteers people had done. I had done well over 500 volunteers pre- lockdown, so was able to buy the blue V500 T-Shirt as soon as they were available, and I wore it as symbol of my commitment and passion for parkrun, with considerable pride. I was still at the top of the V500 club, and at that point, given that I was determined to make the absolute most of every parkrun, it was going to be impossible for anyone to catch me. It wasn’t that I wanted to get to 1000 first, it was simply that I didn’t want to miss an event - the latter made the former inevitable, if that makes sense!

I started to pay more attention to the numbers when I got to 800 volunteers, and then over-took the lovely Darren Woods’ run total. About a year ago someone told me that if I didn’t miss an event, I would reach V1000 at the end of March 2024. A quick count with a calendar confirmed this, but I was really reluctant to look at exact dates as I didn’t want to tempt fate. Coming towards the end of 2023, with Christmas and New Years Day parkruns confirmed, I highlighted the 23rd Match 2024 in my diary, and asked the core team at Ridds to keep that day clear!

In the last few weeks, with the date fixed, and people starting to make plans for the celebration, it obviously became important to get there on the right day – fears that either illness or atrocious weather might get in the way were unfounded, and my worries turned to the practicalities of the actual occasion! Riddlesdown is a small event, and it is set in a National Nature Reserve, with sites of special scientific interest in several places and I was concerned that we might be swamped on the day putting the environment under unacceptable stress.

I needn’t have worried, because it was an absolutely fabulous morning. There were people from all the events I’ve been involved with, my parents, the core teams from Ridds, Lloyd junior parkrun, and Bushy juniors, along original Riddlesdownites who have moved away and returned for the day. The event went like clockwork, thanks to the efforts of a huge number of volunteers. I was and am completely overwhelmed by the warmth and excitement shown by everyone. Danny asked me how I felt after thing had started to calm down, and my response summed up the celebration as well as I could: ‘There were a lot of people, a lot of people did a lot of yelling. I said a lot of words, they gave me a yellow t-shirt and everything’s amazing!’

I’m proud of parkrun, and I’m proud to be a part of something so amazing. Although I am ridiculously proud of the fact that I am the first person to wear the new 1,000 milestone T-shirt, I am really looking forward to things going back to relative normality now the milestone has been reached. It’s done, and now it’s business as usual – just wearing a different T-shirt!

ㅤ

ㅤ

What do you think of the 1000 t-shirt and did you guess the colour of it?

It’s very yellow, and I love it!

This is actually somewhat surprising – as I mentioned in an interview with Danny Norman for With Me Now, yellow is not my favourite colour of clothing (I wear a lot of black!) and if I’d had my choice, it would have been charcoal grey, in an understated way!

Having said that, I love the colour yellow in all other respects. Sunflowers are my favourite flower, closely followed by daffodils, and I have painted my bedroom walls yellow everywhere I’ve lived.

The t-shirt is currently hanging up in a clear plastic bag to protect it from snags and dust, and every time I look at it, I smile because it’s such a happy colour!

I guess I often like to blend in and looking at the photos of all the milestone tees together, I’m not going to be able to hide in a crowd anymore.

I didn’t guess it would be yellow, but I suspect I would’ve loved it whatever the colour, because it of what it represents.

ㅤ

ㅤ

What advice would you give to someone starting parkrun or thinking about volunteering at parkrun?

To anyone thinking of coming along to parkrun, either to run or to volunteer – I’d say DO IT! The supportive atmosphere, the chance to be part of something so inclusive – there is no downside. You don’t have to run, walking is good too, and volunteering is the best way to still be part of it all without having to break a sweat!

SportsShoes would like to thank Nicki and all of the incredible volunteers who help to make parkrun happen each week. If you are feeling inspired by Nicki's story and would like to sign up to parkrun then check out our how to parkrun guide.

Are you feeling inspired? Then join our SportsShoes Strava Run Club and become part of our inclusive community.
And for more inspirational tips to become stronger, better and happier, then check out our Motivation category. Because it’s no fun standing still.