Runners needed from in and around Leamington and Warwick to take part in Parkrun relay event

A call for runners has been put out by a team organising a a Parkrun relay to celebrate the launch of a new book.

Eileen Jones has written 'How Parkrun changed our lives' where she set out to see why Parkrun is so widely loved and – during the past year – desperately missed.

Millions of people around the world have registered to do parkrun, the free weekly timed 5k events of which there are 730 in the UK alone.

And during the pandemic when parkruns were halted, people were still signing up to take part.

Eileen, a former fell-runner said she was 'born again' as a parkrunner and had done 260 events at 104 different venues before lockdown.

Speaking about the relay Eileen said: "We are carrying a copy of 'How Parkrun changed our lives' from Fell Foot Park at Windermere (my home base) to Bushy Park in west London where it all began, to give the book to the founder, Paul Sinton-Hewitt.

"We need runners both north (Tuesday March 23) and south (Wednesday March 24) of Warwick. Any ability and any age are welcome to take part.

"The penultimate day (Wednesday March 24) takes the book from Warwick to Aylesbury via Leamington, and we are looking for runners in the area who might want to be involved.

"They can run any distance of their choice, 5k to 25k - what's important is that all our changeover points will be safe and accessible.

"There will be a maximum of two runners per leg, in line with current restrictions, and no overnight running.

"We would be delighted if local runners might want to take part.

"Our local organiser for that section is called Jenny and she can be reached if they email [email protected], for further information or to offer to run."

To buy a copy of the book go to: https://gritstonecoop.co.uk/books/how-parkrun-changed-our-lives