ID172 - Bringing Parkrun to Keele University

The Idea

The proposal is to establish a weekly official parkrun event at Keele University – as a free, inclusive community event, parkrun would bring regular activity and visibility to campus, attract new visitors, and showcase Keele's environment and values. It would support our health and wellbeing objectives while reinforcing Keele's role as a civic anchor, strengthening connections between the University and the wider community  

Parkrun is a free, volunteer-led, timed 5 km community run or walk held every Saturday morning. The movement began in 2004 when Paul Sinton-Hewitt organised the first event at Bushy Park in London. It has since grown into a global community initiative involving hundreds of thousands of participants each week across more than 20 countries, with around 170,000–200,000 people taking part weekly in the UK alone. 

Parkrun is widely recognised for its inclusive and community-focused ethos. Participants can run, jog, or walk the course, with no time limit, and events routinely welcome people of all ages and abilities, including wheelchair users, families with pushchairs, dog walkers, and first-time runners. This strong emphasis on accessibility, wellbeing, and community participation aligns closely with Keele’s values, including the work of the Institute for Social Inclusion and the university’s broader commitment to health and wellbeing. 

Establishing a Keele parkrun would bring approximately 150 – 300 people to campus every Saturday morning based on average parkrun attendances in 2025 in the UK being 230-250 per week. This would create a regular and visible opportunity for the university to engage with the local community. As a weekly community event hosted on campus, it would help position Keele as an open and welcoming civic university, while also providing opportunities for brand visibility, community partnership, and positive engagement with a broad regional audience.

Why This Idea Should Be Considered

The launch of a Keele University parkrun is not intended as a standalone initiative, but rather as a tactical action aligned with a wider strategic ambition within the emerging Keele Strategy. Thinking it could support a potential strategic pillar focused on ‘community engagement and place-based partnerships’, helping to embed Keele more visibly and actively within the local community. 

Direct benefits, however, of this initiative alone, include: 

1. Community engagement and civic presence 
   • Creation of a weekly community event hosted on campus, bringing together the Keele community (students, staff and residents) with participants from across the local and regional area. 
   • Strengthening Keele’s position as a civic university and community anchor, visibly supporting health, wellbeing, and social inclusion. 
2. Brand visibility and reputation 
   • Increased awareness of Keele’s location and campus among new audiences who may not otherwise visit the university. 
   • Positive brand association with health, wellbeing, inclusivity, and community participation. 
   • Opportunities for strategic communications and brand engagement through signage, storytelling, and partnership activity connected to the event. 
3. Campus vibrancy and student experience 
   • Regular weekend activity on campus, contributing to a more vibrant and active campus life. 
   • Opportunities for student volunteering, leadership and community engagement, including potential links with sport, wellbeing initiatives, and academic programmes. 
4. Economic and regional impact 
   • Increased visitors to campus who through the community are always looking for post-run breakfast and refreshments – generating spend opportunities for places on campus  
   • Potential increased demand for accommodation at nearby facilities such as Courtyard by Marriott Keele Staffordshire. 
   • Attraction of parkrun tourism, where participants travel to complete new events, generating wider economic activity and potential links to regional destinations across Staffordshire. 

The parkrun community actively engages with a number of informal participation challenges, including visiting and completing different parkrun locations. One of the most popular is the “Alphabet Challenge”, where participants aim to complete a parkrun beginning with each letter of the alphabet. 

There is currently around 820 UK Parkruns, where some letters are significantly rarer than others. Currently, there are only seven parkruns beginning with the letter “K” and just three beginning with the letter “U.” As a result, these locations attract a high level of parkrun tourism, with participants travelling specifically to complete these letters – sometimes from across the world. 

While the most obvious name for the event would be “Keele University parkrun,” we could also consider the University’s legal name - “University of Keele parkrun.” With this name starting with a “U”, it could make it one of only a small number of UK parkruns contributing to that letter, potentially increasing visitor numbers. 

How We Would Implement This Idea

A small working group of people at Keele and ideally to partner with a local running club. The working group to work on the set up, then for the running club to take this on and run weekly. Many other parkruns are managed by running clubs or people connected to running clubs. 

Working Group at Keele - This would be to carry out: 

• Research with other parkruns about set and liaison with Parkrun as to what is needed to set up 
• A confirmed 5km route – considering public roads and where would work logistically that is safe 
• Consideration of wider facilities – toilets, parking, catering facilities 
• Potential branding and communications opportunities on route ahead of opening 
• Communications plan with wider Keele community - Parkrun communications will connect with tourists and regular parkrunners 

Regular Volunteers of Parkrun - This group would then take on: 

• Weekly set up of parkrun 
• Call-out for volunteers and allocating roles before each parkrun 
• General running of Keele Parkrun going forward 

Likely that Keele staff would support for the opening few events. Could even be that one member of paid staff is Director at each event and oversees the call out for volunteers each week to ensure it does all get up and running. 

What Success Would Look Like

Success would be the implementation of Parkrun at Keele which would lead to: 

• Regular community footfall onto campus 
• Enhanced brand visibility and reputation – both for global parkrunning community and also key messages for attendees to this parkrun 
• Keele being seen regionally as an anchor for connecting with community and providing free health and wellbeing opportunities 
• Increased economic impact on campus services 
• Supporting recruitment and academic engagement and partnerships in sport and health disciplines 

Risks and Mitigations  

• Regular commitment from volunteers – work with a local Run Club to source volunteers already experience in this space.  Work with SU and relevant SU Clubs for student support during term time.  Reach out to people living on campus.  
• Parking pressures – parking payment to be lifted on Saturday mornings, security staff to be available (certainly at first) to signpost drivers to relevant car parks 
• Route confirmation and safety – bring University Warden and Operations and Active Lifestyles Manager on board to consider route including starting/end point  
• Safeguarding considerations – University Warden working with Parkrun on current considerations to establish a comprehensive safeguarding policy