Free Weekly Timed

Radio presenter Jenni Falconer is on the pod this week to chat about her love of running and parkrun. She tells us about her quirky way of counting steps while running.

Andy Large is our guest this week who tells us how finding out he had diabetes prompted him to start going to parkrun.

The brilliant Malcolm from Bolton joins us this week to chat about his decision to retire from parkrun at the tender age of 91. He completed 100 parkruns at Bolton and has volunteered 205 times making him a parkrun legend. We also hear from Hugh Brasher, the London Marathon Event Director who tells us all about his love of parkrun.

Helen's on her own this week as we celebrate junior parkrun turning 12. She speaks to the Crebbin family about why they got involved with parkrun and how it has become an integral part of their weekend. Volunteer Adrian Dixon also joins the pod to tell us why parkrun is so important to him and his mental health. And Helen's kids Rosie and Aston make their FWT debuts.

Author Matt Whyman is on the pod this week to talk about his new book - ‘Failure is an Option'. He tells us his story of a love of running that developed from school cross-country through parkruns, to one of the toughest events in the world. He also recounts the story of how Muhammad Ali changed his life.

Nutritionist and author Anita Bean joins the pod this week to tell us more about sports nutrition. She breaks down some of the myths about food, and explains what we can all do to improve our lifestyles.

Wellness coach Davina Driver joins the pod this week. She tells us what wellness means and how it can be used in relation to parkrun. And Vassos receives some good news, before realising it's not that good!

Professional triathlete, Olympic gold medallist and avid parkrunner Alex Yee joins the pod this week. He tells us why parkrun is so important to his whole family, the joy it gave him taking his grandfather to parkrun to celebrate his 90th birthday and how proud he is recording the second fastest parkrun of all time.

In celebration of International Women's Day, we hear from 19-year-old Olivia Smith who tells us why volunteering at parkrun is so important to her. Shortly after discovering parkrun three years ago, she was diagnosed with a debilitating neurological disorder that left her with limited use of her legs and arms. Determined not to let that keep her away, she is fast approaching her 70th parkrun and can be seen every week at Hillsborough parkrun.

Frances Drury from Sport England joins us this week to chat about “This Girl Can”, which is their nationwide campaign to get women and girls moving. We hear about a milestone for Mary and debate the new rules regarding dogs at parkrun.

Amy Rose O'Hanlon joins us this week to tell the story of how it took nearly 12 years for University Parks parkrun to become a reality. The inaugural event took place a few weeks ago, and Amy talks us through the journey from concept to reality. And the listeners continue to share their thoughts on the hardest and easiest parkruns.

This week we speak to BBC Politics reporter David Cornock about his love and even obsession with everything parkrun. Vassos shares his latest passport fiasco and we get more suggestions for the world's hardest parkrun.

This week we hear the story of Bedford parkrunner Marianna Slivnitskaya who contracted Covid back in March 2020, which later got diagnosed as Long Covid. Nearly two years on, she tells us that while even standing up is a struggle and the thought of running is a distant dream, the opportunity to volunteer every Saturday as part of the core team has given her a welcome dose of positivity.

New parkrun CEO Russ Jefferys is on the pod this week to chat about his promotion. Vassos has an idea to bring Valentine's Day and parkrun together and we indulge ourselves as FWT features on a BBC podcast.

We chat to Sean Doyle - a real life parkrun miracle man. Louise is off touristing, and we hear how you're all getting on with the challenge we set to bring at least one new person along to parkrun.

Minreet Kaur is back on the pod this week to tell us about her quest to find love at parkrun. Having gone through a divorce 13 years ago, she has decided to find the man of her dreams by going to a different parkrun every week.

We head to Australia this week to chat to North Sydney parkrunner David Crook who has just written a book celebrating parkrun's first decade Down Under. He tells us how he went about the research for the book and shares some stories about the people and places that make parkrun in Australia so popular.

To kick off a new year of pods who better to get on than the brilliant Kirsty Woodbridge from the parkrun comms team. She tells us all about the new campaign “Start with…parkrun” and what it actually involves.

For our last pod of the year we speak to the inspirational Liam Critchett who, along with 5 other people with spinal injuries, completed his first ever parkrun a few weeks ago. Having been told he'd never walk again, he talks us through the incredible journey that saw him cross the finish line at Hull parkrun.

Nothing says Christmas more than Flying Boobies! This week we speak to parkrunner Richard Banks about his love of Saturday mornings, and why he set up the Flying Boobies to keep him and his friends connected. Helen and Vassos also talk about what their Xmas parkrun schedule normally looks like. *This episode was recorded before the news broke that parkrun in Wales is to be suspended from the 1st January*

CEO Nick Pearson joins the pod today to discuss why he's leaving his role at parkrun. He also looks back at what has been a difficult,  yet rewarding 12 months for everyone at parkrun. We also read out more of your emails.

Minreet Kaur is our special guest this week. The journalist, presenter and, of course, parkrunner tells us how getting fit and healthy changed her outlook on life. She also gives us the inside track on her dad - The Skipping Sikh.

This week's special guest is Doctor Simon Tobin, who tells us about the importance of parkrun for one's mental health. He shares his own personal story how parkrun gave his father a sense of community after the passing of his mother. And Vassos has some big news about a potential “Great Big parkrun quiz” Xmas special.

COO Tom Williams joins the pod to discuss parkrun's decision to allow the scanning of barcodes on mobile devices. He discusses why they made the decision and how it impacts participant's ICE details. Tom also breaks the FWT record for the longest ever answer!

This week's special guest is TV presenter, model and author Nell McAndrew. She tells us about her love of parkrun, what her favourite volunteer role is and how she will celebrate her 100th. We also hear more of your parkrun challenges.

Our special guest this week is CBeebies presenter and avid parkrunner George Webster. George is the first BBC children's presenter with Down's syndrome, and he tells us all about his new job. He also shares with us his love of parkrun, how he got into it and why it is so special to him.

Avid parkrunner Elise Downing joins us this week, she talks about her experience of running around the coast of Britain, why she decided to do it, how she ended up writing a book about it and how parkrun helped her return to running after injury. And we find out why the “always late” Vassos arrived at junior parkrun an hour early!

Rick Pearson from Runner's World is our special guest this week. He tells us all about his journey to working for the UK's biggest-selling sports magazine, his inspiration for writing songs about running and his love of parkrun. And Vassos makes a pledge to never forget his barcode!

With Vassos and producer Patrick away on their holidays (not together), Helen continues our celebration of everything volunteering. This week she speaks to visually impaired parkrunner Neil Skene who took on the role of Run Director at Ury Riverside parkrun. He tells us what the challenges were and why he finds parkrun and volunteering so rewarding.

Not content with just one guest who has run across America on the podcast, we have found another one - Rob Pope. He is the first person ever to run across the USA four times in one year - and he also followed the same route as Forrest Gump. His latest achievement was to run 24 different parkruns in 24 hours and he tells us all about it.

Fresh from doing the London Marathon, Vassos tells us how it transpired that he did all 26 miles dressed as a Minion. Plus, parkrun's head of volunteer management Jaz Bangerh joins us as we continue to celebrate our hi-vis heroes.

As parkrun turns 17, we join the celebration of everything volunteering. Who better to speak to than the first ever volunteers Paul and Jo Sinton-Hewitt. They take us back to that first event in 2004, and tell us how the role of the volunteers has evolved.  We also hear from a 19 year old Run Director at Harrogate juniors.

This week we caught up with a man who has run across America seven times. Swede Bjorn Suneson tells us why he does it, and how at the age of 71 he's not finished. Louise checks in from her parkrun travels and we hear about an extraordinary act of generosity from the good folk at Hadleigh parkrun.

With parkrun resuming in the Republic of Ireland, we hear from those involved with Monaghan Town's first event back. The inspirational Kevin Webber talks to us about living with incurable cancer and how running and parkrun has kept him going. And we find out whether Vassos finally made it to parkrun, or conjures up another poor excuse for not going.

parkrun founder Paul Sinton-Hewitt joins the pod this week to discuss his delight that many 5K events have now returned. He also tells us about his mammoth cycle ride from Land's End to John O'Groats. Vassos reads out a belter of an email and we find out how his first parkrun in 18 months went...or maybe we don't!

Vassos manages to rope in producer Patrick to co-host the show with Helen away on her holidays. The listeners pile in on the debate regarding scanning tokens attached to shoes and we hear from the inspirational Tim Beynon on how running helped him deal with prostate cancer.

Vassos is back from his holidays to join Helen for a busy show. They celebrate parkrun's return in Wales and hear from many of those involved. Louse is back and reports from Kingdom parkrun in Kent and Vassos and Helen have differing views on barcode tokens being scanned while attached to one's shoe!

With parkrun having restarted in Scotland, we hear from husband and wife team John and Moira Smith. John was RD for the day at Strathclyde parkrun and tells us how it all went and Moira was dispatched with a microphone and spoke to many of the participants. Vassos catches up with comedian, podcaster and author Rob Deering to chat about his running journey, parkrun and what's on his playlist.

With Vassos away on holiday, Helen is joined by husband & parkrun COO Tom to chat through some of the news coming out of HQ including the return of parkrun in Scotland. We also hear how the plan for the return in Wales is going.

This week we hear from Natasha Joseph, who attended her first parkrun as it resumed in England back in July and tells us why it was so special. Louise Ayling is back in her role as roving reporter, and Vassos claims to have the greatest stat in the history of stats!

After parkrun resumed in England, Helen gives us a first hand account of her day at Harrogate parkrun, and speaks to some of the volunteers, runners, walkers and joggers. Patrick tells us why he's parkrun rusty and out of pocket after the weekend, and there the return of the FWT stats quiz.

In celebration of parkrun's return in England this week, Vassos and Helen have decided to add a musical element to the pod, playing out a selection of songs to get everyone in the mood. And COO Tom Williams pops in for a chat to discuss the resumption in England.

With just over a week until parkrun's resumption in England, we hear from a couple of Bangor parkrunners who have been using the Virtual Volunteer app for the first time after parkrun returned there last month. We also got a lovely email from a couple with the subject - “a parkrun love story”.

This week's special guest is Mike, who shares his parkrun journey - and it's a journey that we can all identify with. Vassos is left a little bewildered with Mary's reaction after he broke the news that Whitstable junior parkrun had been cancelled, and we read out more of your emails.

With parkrun events returning in Northern Ireland, we speak to country manager Matt Shields. He tells us what it was like having parkrun back and how special the day was. We also hear from the inspirational parkrunner Charlotte Proud, who suffers from a debilitating condition that makes exercise very dangerous.

This week's special guest is Nicola Miller, founder of the charity A Mile in Her Shoes, which encourages women who are at risk of homelessness or affected by related issues to try running as a way of exercising, socialising, lifting confidence and boosting self-esteem.

Russ Jeffries, parkrun's Head of Communications joins Vassos to reflect on the news that there will be a further delay to parkrun's return in England. Russ also gives us an honest and frank assessment on how difficult and also how rewarding his job has been over the last few months.

parkrun CEO Nick Pearson joins Vassos to bring us the good news that parkrun in England and Northern Ireland will return on June 26th after they received over 500 permissions from land owners. He praises the work everyone associated with parkrun has done to get to this point.

In this special episode we hear from a group of visually impaired parkrunners and their guides about the challenges they've faced in these Covid times of social distancing.

Jack Kelly is our special guest this week. He tells us how parkrun helped process the grief of losing his father and kept him going during those tough times. We hear more of your parkrun tales and continue our new feature “Get on my Land!”.

COO Tom Williams is back on the pod to explain the decision to delay the return of parkrun. He maps out what needs to happen over the coming weeks and why there’s reason to be positive.