Tring Park, HP23 6AP
WHY WE RUN IT
“The scenery is gorgeous and everyone is very friendly. Some weeks I push myself to try and beat my PB and other weeks I just like to run and catch up with my friends and family.” – Izzy Bladen
“Tring parkrun has become a regular part of our family’s Saturday morning ritual. It’s an uplifting start to the weekend where we enjoy the wonderful scenery, camaraderie of fellow runners and a chance to meet new people in the Tring community.” – Peter Leigh
“Why do I love Tring parkrun? It’s not a hard question but I struggle to answer as there are so many reasons. It gets the whole family up and ‘running’ on a Saturday which is a great start to the weekend. We run in beautiful countryside. I feel part of something and a part of a diverse community. If I don’t go I feel I have missed out.” – Maura Patterson
SPOTLIGHT ON: Andy Evans, event director
I’ve been event director for three years, but I was involved as a runner a few years before that, and I did a bit of volunteering. For me, the most enjoyable aspect is the building of a social community. You get a whole group who regularly meet, and because you see each other so often – people from across all age groups – it becomes a new set of friends.
It’s surprising how many new faces we see every week. There are perhaps less in the midst of winter, but there are new faces – in terms of people doing a parkrun for the first time ever and in terms of people visiting the area – all the time.
We’ve been going a few years now, so the logistical side of things isn’t too much of a headache any more. Occasionally we have incidents where a runner may need an ambulance or something like that, but we have plans in place so that things happens fairly smoothly.
There’s a rota of nine or 10 run directors who take it in turns to organise the morning’s run. They’ll get down to the park at about 8am, then there will be two or three people helping out and obviously a team of volunteers.
Tring is unique because it’s quite hilly. From half a kilometre to one kilometre, there’s a fairly big hill that can get muddy in winter, so our runners know to bring their trail shoes!
