Parkrun beats attendance record at festive outing

Organisers have hailed a record attendance at a city's Christmas Day Parkrun event.

They said 1,178 people completed the 5km (3 miles) run on Thursday, up from 1,000 last year.

The number of participants was about double that of their regular run, which takes place every Saturday around Worcester County Hall and Worcester Woods Country Park.

For the festive outing, many runners and walkers donned festive outfits.

Richard Ralphs, the Worcester Parkrun event director, is one of the 70-80 volunteers at the free-of-charge event, with Mr Ralphs calling the volunteers the lifeblood of the event.

"[Last year] was quite a shock, all the other Christmas Days have been fairly normal for attendance - maybe five to 10% higher, but this was nearly double," he said.

Many people run the race in festive attire, from Santa hats to elf costumes, although sometimes more surprising outfits are worn.

Last year, there were people dressed in dinosaur costumes.

"I'm not sure what's Christmas-y about dinosaurs, but there were Christmas dinosaurs there. Anything goes," Mr Ralphs said.

Mr Ralphs said it was an easy one to tick off the New Year's resolutions, and a launchpad for trying other physical activities.

But while many people might shudder at the thought of physical exertion on Christmas Day, Mr Ralphs said times had changed.

"As a nation, we're a bit more active than we used to be, so it's not that unusual to go for a run on Christmas Day, whereas it used to be really niche," he said.

When asked why the Parkrun was special, Mr Ralphs said: "I think it's just the fun element, seeing your friends. It's a nice start to the day.

"Let's be honest, it's not for everybody, a lot of people want to wake up and have an eggnog or a glass of champagne.

"But if you want, you can have a run, see your mates have a giggle and maybe burn off a few calories."

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