Laois Junior Parkruns a safe place for children to express themselves

WHILE many Irish counties have at least one junior parkrun, Laois holds two dedicated separate 2km weekly events, making it relatively rare for a rural county and a standout in the community-led effort to encourage active lifestyles for 4-14-year-olds.

The junior parkruns are free, weekly timed events held on Sunday mornings in Vicarstown and Camross, where they take place in safe settings with plenty of volunteers and parents overseeing the morning runs.

Children can run, jog or walk the 2km tracks and often parents and even the family dog runs the courses with the kids.

The parkruns are supported by Laois Sports Partnership and are held in association with VHI. Both event directors, John Scully (Vicarstown) and Sarah Forté (Camross) have been involved with the parkrun community for over a decade.

The Vicarstown junior parkrun has been running since late 2019 and takes place at 11am along the banks of the Grand Canal, while the Camross junior parkrun, which began last November, starts at 9.30am in Camross Community Park.

Both event directors spoke to the Laois Nationalist recently as some of the children reached milestones at both scenic locations.

Sarah Forté said that she has been a regular parkrunner for more than ten years. She said: “I’ve seen first hand how powerful it is to be part of the parkrun family. It brings fresh air, fitness, friendship and a lovely sense of routine to the weekend. I’ve run parkrun with my own children for years and I wanted them to enjoy those same moments with their friends. When we moved to Camross, the community park immediately felt like the perfect setting and within a year we were up and running.

‘‘The support from the local community has been incredible and we have wonderful volunteers who are extremely dedicated. Then there are the children who turn up week after week no matter what the weather is doing, they are a real inspiration. We now welcome an average of around 43 junior parkrunners each Sunday and the atmosphere is always full of energy and encouragement.

‘‘More and more children are also getting interested in volunteering, which has been wonderful to see. It is so beneficial for the children to build confidence, learn new skills, be an important part of the community and really feel like this is their parkrun.” Concluding, Sarah said: “Camross Community Park is a beautiful place to spend a Sunday morning and it is made even better by the fantastic new café beside the course. We love welcoming first-timers and there’s always room for more; everyone is invited to come along on Sunday at 9.30am to give it a try and be part of something special in Camross.” John Scully has been event director for parkruns in Vicarstown for over ten years. He said that the average number of people for the weekly parkruns is over 170. It takes place at 9am on Saturday mornings and people from all over the world attend. The Vicarstown junior parkrun averages over 80 children each week.

John said that child safety rules surrounding junior parkruns have changed in the last 12 months. He said: “We must have a marshall every 100 metres on the course and ours is one kilometre long because they go out a kilometre and back a kilometre, so we need ten marshalls in high-visibility jackets. At the finish line, we need someone to do the timing, volunteers to scan the barcodes and more to give out the tokens. After that, we have some young volunteers who then sort them all out.

“Interestingly, as I understand it, there’s no junior parkrun in Kildare, Offaly, Carlow or Tipperary and there’s a number of locations like Camross where they have a junior but don’t have an adult parkrun. In Vicarstown, we are one of about 25 places where we have the adults coming on a Saturday to do the 5km, then the children on Sundays to do the 2km. Laois is one of the only rural counties in Ireland to have two junior parkruns.” Several of the children who reached milestones in Vicarstown also commented on how much they love their Sunday morning parkruns and love to meet up with their friends for the events.

Parkruns are free events. Registration is a one-off event for both parkruns and junior parkruns. Visit parkrun.ie/register, complete the registration form and save or print your personalised barcode, which you take to each parkrun to receive your times.