Low-income residents won’t have to fork out a penny to run a 5K.
Beginning Saturday at 7:30 a.m., anyone can participate in a free weekly 5K inside Depot Park, Depot Park Manager Cindi Harvey said. The volunteer-based 5K allows people to challenge themselves to beat personal times each week.
“You just come on out, have a good time, enjoy Depot Park and be healthy,” Harvey said.
Gainesville resident Shauna Dixon approached Harvey in 2017 about bringing parkrun, an international non-profit that helps cities create the free 5Ks, to Gainesville. She discovered it when she visited her sister in Brighton, England.
“Once it catches on and everybody actually gets the idea of it, it just grows and grows because it’s a great thing for the community,” Dixon said.
The parkrun headquarters requires $5,000 to pay for timing equipment, a laptop, high visibility jackets and training for volunteers to conduct the run each week, Dixon said. She has raised $2,100 from donations.
“I will continue to collect donations until I reach that amount, but in the meantime we can continue with parkrun with the blessings of parkrun headquarters,” Dixon said. “They’ll never stop me doing it because I have not raised the money. They really want to encourage this.”
Dixon has gathered around 10 volunteers for the kickoff run.
The program began in London in 2004 and spread to communities in 20 different countries, Harvey said. Gainesville’s parkrun is the second in Florida after one launched in Clermont.
Residents and visitors alike can register and print their personal barcodes online at the Depot Park parkrun website that are scanned to record times after the race, Harvey said. Each parkrun event uses the same system, so runners can participate in parkrun in 1,300 different cities without having to re-register.
“Someone can visit from London, and they don’t have to miss a beat,” Harvey said. “They can continue on with their parkrun challenge right here in Gainesville, Florida.”
Dixon said running instills confidence in herself.
“Now in my late 50s, though I have slowed down considerably, I still feel like running and the feeling of accomplishment it brings me is second to none,” Dixon said. “This is a feeling I want to share with everyone.”
If it weren’t for Dixon, no one at Depot Park would have known about the international parkrun events, Harvey said.
Nicole Desena, a Fit2Run events coordinator, said the athletic gear retail store is spreading the word about about the parkrun event through fliers in the store. Desena, 23, said people ask every day about what 5Ks are going on nearby, and now she has an answer that won’t cost $50 to sign up for, she said.
“So many people make excuses for why they can’t join a gym or can’t do this, so this is something to get everybody excited,” Desena said.
Contact Angela DiMichele at adimichele@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter at @angdimi
Matt Antworth, right, runs in the ELULS Eco Run on Saturday with his roommate, 21-year-old education junior Jack Krasny. Antworth, a 21-year-old mechanical engineering junior, said he’s using this race and Delta Epsilon Psi’s Dash For Diabetes 5K to warm up and get back in shape.
