The weekly Saturday 5K run synonymous with Gainesville’s Depot Park is expanding to Jonesville at West End Community Park with its inaugural parkrun on Saturday, July 12.
The free event will start at 7:30 a.m. at 12830 W. Newberry Rd. and is open to all ages, running or walking fitness levels, even “barkrunners”—dogs on leashes. But parkrun isn’t just a typical walk in the park.
Participants are timed with a barcode retrieved at registration that can be used for a lifetime at any parkrun event in the world.
With over 2,500 parkruns hosted across 23 nations, the Jonesville parkrun chapter will be the second in Alachua County, seventh in Florida and 89th in the U.S.
“The county has been wonderful working on the course for us and getting it to a safe condition,” Alachua County parkrun founder Shauna Dixon told Mainstreet after finishing a run on the new course. “I’m going to be very proud to show it off on Saturday at our inaugural event.”
Unlike most new run clubs popping up on social media in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and as an alternative to dating apps, parkrun started in 2004 at Bushy Park near London, England, as a time trial for a group of 13 runners.
The group doubled in size as it continued meeting and hasn’t stopped since. According to elliottline.com, 326,000 people participated in the July 5-6 parkruns, with individual event attendance ranging from as little as 14 participants to over 1,600. Around 25,000 of the registrants were first-time participants.
“Milestone” T-shirts can be earned after 25, 50, 100, 250 and 500 parkruns to help incentivize event runners, walkers and volunteers to keep showing up. Junior parkrunners, kids ages 10 and under, can also earn a milestone T-shirt after 10 parkruns.
But Dixon, 63, said the parkrun community itself is enough to show up for once and keep coming back.
Originally from Ireland, Dixon said she got to the idea for starting a parkrun in Gainesville after attending one in England while visiting her sisters. She said she instantly fell in love with the community and started working to recreate it.
Between going to necessary meetings for proper permitting, locating the best course and rallying her friends together to help meet the minimum number of required volunteers, Dixon said it took about a year before the first parkrun commenced at Depot Park in 2019.
Since the first run drew around 80 participants, hundreds of Alachua County residents have logged parkrun miles at Depot Park.
Dixon said she comes away from parkruns “on a cloud” after seeing how people come together to push each other towards goals and celebrate successes, such as last week when a regular participant who is blind and led around the course by volunteers celebrated his 200th parkrun.
“I’m passionate about people just moving, whatever it be,” she said. “I’ve seen so many people who have never done a 5K or people who have done their 50th 5K, people who have lost weight on their parkrun journey and they’re now doing marathons, all because they came out, they tried Parkrun. It’s so rewarding, and it makes me incredibly proud of not just our parkruns, but parkrun as a corporation, as a community.”
With the growth of parkrun at Depot Park, Dixon said the timing of Alachua County turning West End Golf Course into West End Community Park couldn’t have been better.
She said she received great support from the county when she approached them with the idea, and especially from Alachua County Board of County Commissioner Anna Prizzia, who attended the Depot Park parkrun.
The West End parkrun will be a 5K (5 kilometer/3.10 mile) loop with pavement, grass and hills that Dixon said City of Gainesville Manager of Park Operations John Weber helped curate and will allow participants a challenging alternative to Depot Park’s flat and paved loops. In February, Alachua County hosted the World Masters Athletics Indoor Championships cross country race on the West End course.
Although parkrun does not provide water stations and the West End location only has porta potties, Dixon said more permanent restrooms will be built as part of the county’s long-term plan for the park. She said strollers are welcome at Depot Park and West End but may struggle on the golf course terrain.
Dixon said the Depot Park parkrun will be in good hands under co-event director Kristen Bryant and parkrun regular Anne Ray, while Dixon and Lisa Brosky operate the West End parkrun.
“We now have the two options,” she said. “You can go to [Depot Park], the easier, faster one at an equal target and come out here [to West End] and give yourself a bit of a challenge. Walkers are welcome and encouraged.”
While Saturday’s event at West End has secured all its volunteers, Dixon said more will be needed in the future. Roles for all ages including youth and teens involve timekeeping, barcode scanning, course set-up and “tailwalking”—finishing last so no one else has to.
Dixon said West End participants should log their home parkrun as West End Community Park online, where results will also be published.
Other parkruns in Florida include Clermont Waterfront near Orlando, Weedon Island Preserve in St. Petersburg, Halsema Trailhead and Ed Austin Regional in Jacksonville, and Rec Plex North in Pensacola.
Can’t make it to Depot Park or West End for 7:30 a.m. Saturday parkruns? Check out one of these other running clubs in Alachua County:
- Peak Pulse Run Club
When: 6 p.m. Thursdays, 8 a.m. Saturdays
Where: Depot Park (874 SE 4th St., Gainesville) Thursdays, Fourth Avenue Food Park (409 SW 4th Ave., Gainesville) Saturdays
- Two Rules Running
When: 6:15 p.m. on Mondays
Where: Cypress and Grove Brewing (1001 NW 4th St., Gainesville)
- Team Florida Track Club
When: Monday, Thursday, Saturday
Where: TBD
- Running Tabs Run Club
When: 6:15 p.m. on Thursdays
Where: Tipple’s Brews and Wine (2440 SW 76th St. Ste. 110, Gainesville)
- Endure Run Club
When: 6 p.m. on Wednesdays
Where: High Springs Brewing Company (18562 NW 237th St., High Springs)
- Rise & Run Club
When: Will start back in fall
Where: TBD
- Zenith Run Club
When: Will start back Sept. 1
Where: TBD