Free Weekly Timed Vassos Alexander

With the announcement that parkrun will resume at the beginning of July in New Zealand, we speak to COO Tom Williams. He tells us how it happened quicker than they expected and why it’s a boost for all parkrunners around the world. Helen breaks down some of the myths of running during pregnancy with Andrew Shennan, Professor of Obstetrics at King’s College London and Vassos gives us an update on his plans to be a running coach. Follow us on Twitter here https://twitter.com/freeweeklytimed

To mark the two year anniversary of the parkrun practice initiative, we’re joined by parkrun’s Global Head of Health and Wellbeing Chrissie Wellington. She tells us how proud she is of it and how much of a team effort it was to get off the ground. We also check in with two doctors who have different stories about how parkrun has helped them and their local community.

parkrun CEO Nick Pearson is back on the pod this week. He tells us about the partnership with World Athletics, why the New Year’s Day double is no more and the latest on puppy Apollo! Helen chats to someone doing 100 parkruns in 100 days, and the stats quiz returns... sort of!

As parkrun returns in New Zealand, we speak to Trevor Masters, Event Director at East End parkrun to find out how it all went. parkrun COO Tom Williams tells us what HQ learnt from that first weekend back. Finally, we speak to an avid parkrunner who has just finished an amazing challenge for charity… and he’s from Helen’s hometown! You can follow us on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/freeweeklytimed

With the huge success of (not)parkrun, we speak to HQ’s Technical Lead and IT wizard, Ian Rutson. Ian talks us through some of the numbers and why it’s been such a success worldwide. We also hear from the ED whose parkrun has the highest number of walkers, and the listeners help Vassos find his ultimate downhill 5k. You can follow us on Twitter here https://twitter.com/freeweeklytimed

After setting himself the challenge of breaking 20 minutes for his downhill (not)parkrun, Vassos talks us through how he got on. Mike Graney, parkrun’s Head of Analysis joins us to discuss some of the surveys that have been done regarding the return of parkrun and we hear from Taz, who tells us what it is like turning up on a Saturday morning wearing a hijab.