500th ParkRun: Yorkshire woman Jean celebrates landmark milestone after volunteering for almost a decade

Jean Hollings, 61, has been a parkrunner since she attended her first event in Bramley, Leeds with a colleague in June 2015.

Jean advocates for parkrun because of its accessibility and community feel.

She volunteers by being a marshal - guiding the runners and hand out timings at the end of the run.

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Jean unfortunately suffered a minor injury around eight weeks into her parkrun journey but she didn’t want to stop going, so she decided to attend as a volunteer instead.

Nine years later, Jean is now celebrating the incredible achievement after helping as a volunteer 500 times in Yorkshire.

She said: “I just loved the atmosphere at Bramley, it was so welcoming. I’d never been to or joined anything like that before and I started to make friends quite early on.

“parkrun really changed my life for the better. It's not just about physically getting fit, it's about mentally getting fit as well.”

Jean strongly believes that you do not need to be a runner to attend a parkrun.

She doesn’t classify herself as a runner and wants to reassure the public that parkrun is for people of all fitness levels.

“We've got a great volunteer team here at Bramley so it’s always nice to know that you've got your regulars there", she added.

"Most of them are runners themselves, but they give their Saturday mornings up to come and volunteer, which is lovely.“I always suggest that people volunteer as marshals to begin with so that you can get the essence of parkrun.“We've got people who will buddy up with other folks. Last week, we had a group of four new mums turn up together and just walked and chatted. One of the mums didn't know the others, but they all made friends."

Jean said people often turn up "quite shy to begin with".

"But then within a few weeks, they're getting to know people", Jean added.

"Then friendships are made.

“It may mean that there’s one less depressed person and these people are joining together to support each other.”

Jean said getting up to go to the park at 9am on a Saturday morning in the UK is not an easy feat, however.

Jean added: “I try to make it fun for everybody. It's not always fun when it’s sleeting down. Or the winds going some weeks you think, what am I doing here? Why am I not in bed? But that's the beauty of parkrun - it's all seasons.

“You don't know what's going on in people's lives. But it's just nice to be there on a Saturday morning and just meeting with like minded people.

"It doesn't matter what they're doing in life, if they've got a career or they’re unemployed, they’re just there for that one thing, and it's quite nice.”