Junior parkrun pilot in Australia: A real world evaluation.

Abstract

Regular physical activity is important for children's health. Parkrun supports communities to deliver free, weekly, 5 km events in 22 countries around the world and is the largest physical activity model delivered at scale in the world. Junior parkrun aims to encourage children aged 4-14 years to be active outdoors through providing safe, cost-free and non-competitive weekly timed walk, run or jog over a 2-km distance. The aim of this study is to evaluate the junior parkrun pilot in Australia. A process evaluation was conducted using routinely collected data of junior parkrun participants, as well as a self-completed questionnaire. A total of 1827 children had registered and participated in at least one junior parkrun over the course of the pilot period. Participants had, on average, attended 10% of the junior parkrun events including and subsequent to their first participation by the end of the study period. Majority of parents (61%) said that junior parkrun had increased their child's physical activity either a little or a lot, and most agreed or strongly agreed that junior parkrun was fun (90%), enjoyable (91%), energising (85%) and challenging (70%). The junior parkrun pilot appears to show promise in Australia for enabling children to engage in physical activity, in their local communities in a fun and inclusive way. Parkrun junior can co-exist with other organised sports programs; however, it can also specifically target those not participating in any sports, given the high levels of enjoyment in a non-competitive, non-team environment.