Tag Archives: Shannon Parkrun

WITH the Saturday morning Parkruns at Illaunmanagh now having been going on for six months, the organisers are looking to get more local people taking part.  “It is going well, but we would still like to have more people. We would normally have around 25-30 people each week and we’re hoping to get more because Shannon is a big town and this is quite close to the Town Centre,” said Rob Stephen, who has been involved in staging the runs since the outset. “The Clare Sports Partnership are doing one of these couch to 5k things at the moment and at the end of that, in November, they’re aiming to join us then to do the 5k parkrun at the end of it. “There are about 40 people doing that, so hopefully once that’s done some of those people might be encouraged to participate.” He feels it’s important that people aren’t put off by the name, and they should know …

SHANNON had its first ever Parkrun last Saturday morning, with scores of people coming out for the occasion.  Parkruns are free community-based, volunteer-led events which take place on a Saturday morning at 9:30am in many countries worldwide – Ireland has over 100 events currently.   Rob Stephen was instrumental in establishing the Shannon one and speaking about the first local event, he said, “The sun was out, the weather was great. We had around 150 people participating and about 15 people volunteering. It went very well, there was a good crowd volunteering. “One woman flew over from London to do it, she stayed locally in a hotel then, she’s a big enthusiast. There was a big crew from the Parkrun in Tralee, a couple came from Naas. “Obviously there was a good few local people too and people came from the other nearby Parkruns.” He said that the crowd won’t be as big this Saturday, but that it is hoped around …