WOODSTOCK — The 25th Parkrun of the season this Saturday will have some special guests: Hartford Middle School students who participate in the Girls on the Run program will run their end-of-the-season 5K during the weekly outing that takes place at 9 a.m. on Saturday at Marsh-Billings Rockefeller National Park in Woodstock.
“I thought it was just a very cool exciting collaboration for our towns,” said Geraldine Fowler, who co-directs the Woodstock event with Dominic Lord.
The Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller Parkrun is affiliated with the international Parkrun organization, which hosts free, timed 5K races around the world on Saturday mornings. Woodstock’s Economic Development Commission gave Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller Parkrun a $5,000 grant so that they could be part of the international group. The first run was held in June and average attendance is around 28 people.
“We have people who are pregnant running. We have babies in strollers, we have people who are 80 years old,” Fowler said, adding that the biggest age group is people in their 40s. “It’s a really wide range. It’s really great.”
Parkrun has quite the international following and the weekly Woodstock event has brought new people to the area.
“A lot of people will be planning their vacations and look to see where there’s a Parkrun and then they’ll go there,” Fowler said. “They’ll come just to hit us in Woodstock. They’re called Parkrun tourists.”
The Parkruns will continue through the winter. Fowler is working with the Woodstock Inn on coming up with good and safe routes.
“We haven’t seen as many local people take it on as I thought we might initially, but we definitely are starting to have a following that’s taking off but the concept is very new to people,” Fowler said. “People are so appreciative and they love it so much so it feels really good when you can create something that brings the community together in such a great healthy way.”
Editor’s note: To register for this Saturday’s Parkrun, visit parkrun.us/marshbillingsrockefeller/. Liz Sauchelli can be reached at esauchelli@vnews.com or 603-727-3221.
