For many across Northern Ireland, Saturday mornings are all about one thing - parkrun.
It's now in most towns and parks and takes community spirit and dedication to make it successful. As parkrun continues to grow locally, the man behind the very first event in Northern Ireland, has hailed those who show up each week, whether to run, walk, volunteer or cheer.
Parkruns are free, weekly community events held at more than 1,000 locations across the UK every weekend. 5k events take place on a Saturday, and a 2k junior series happens on Sunday for children aged 4-14 and their families.
Read more: Tyrone teen reflects on setting record for fastest ever parkrun in Ireland
Matt Shields, attended a parkrun event in London's Bushy Park, unaware of what he was going to, and while sitting in a cafe afterwards, he thought 'I can do this too'.
"On November 5, 12 years ago, Waterworks Parkrun was started," Matt told Belfast Live.
"I am a long term runner, running from when I was around 11. While I was in London I looked for an event that I could go to and we found an event called parkrun. I had no idea what it was, but rocked up. I had thought the event was cancelled because there was nobody there. Then I spotted somebody putting out flags. I followed them round and watched the whole event and afterwards, went into the cafe and thought 'I can do this'.
"From there, we got back to Belfast and I talked to my local club, North Belfast Harriers, and we really needed members. Athletics was in decline at that stage and a lot of clubs were struggling so we thought parkrun would be a good idea to get new members.
"We started it along that line, to increase memberships. It started off as around 100 people and I can remember holding early meetings with various stakeholders who said 'you're looking to hold this every week? And get people to volunteer every week? Good luck with that'.
"There was very little known about it locally so it was like a jump into the unknown. It build from there, and six months later Victoria started and then Falls and Queens. It started to spread out and people who helped us set up the Waterworks Parkrun, returned to their parts of the city and started events there.
"People who came along, yes there were runners, but there was also recreational runners and all sorts of people at a different level. Gradually it started to completely transform beyond a running event to recruit runners. It had become a community event and it's become more and more engraved in communities."
Per head of population, Northern Ireland has the highest density of both events and participants. After the Covid-19 lockdown, the first Saturday return of parkrun saw more than 4,000 walkers, joggers and runners, supported by 492 volunteers. Over 300 people joined parkrun for the very first time.
Matt, who is the country manager for Parkrun Ireland, added: "I am very proud. Parkrun has transformed a lot of things and I would say that parkrun has transformed me. My ambitions at the start were to grow a club, my ambitions now are more about the health and wellbeing of the community.
"For some people it is about the run itself, but for the vast majority of people it is more about the social interaction and the mental health benefits. We are really highlighting the ParkWalk initiative too. If you don't feel like you can run it, come along and walk, and if you don't feel like you can walk, then come along and volunteer - if not, just come along and watch and clap."
For information on events in your area, visit the parkrun website.
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