Nose Hill Parkrun’s 1st Birthday

Nose Hill Parkrun may be new, but it is quickly building a community of friendly and engaged people who want to challenge themselves while being active. For those unaware, Parkrun is a weekly, free, 5 kilometre timed run that takes place every Saturday at 9 a.m in Hose Hill Park. To celebrate their one-year “birthday” of operating in Calgary, Nose Hill Park Run applied for a microgrant from ActivateYYC to host a special Parkrun event.

After successfully receiving their $750 ActivateYYC grant, Parkrun held their birthday run in early September. With the amazing support from volunteers, the event was complete with cakes, a free prize draw and the announcement of a new initiative of awarding a certificate to any under-18’s who complete 10 runs. Three of these certificates were handed out at the event. The Parkrun birthday event achieved the highest turnout to a Canadian parkrun to date with 118 participants – 33 of these had never been to a Parkrun event before.

To help make this project a success, the City of Calgary granted Parkrun a year-long permit – and since this was a free event for everyone of all ages and abilities –  only charged them administration costs for the event. An additional Ward 4 Community Events Award of $800 was added to the $750 from ActivateYYC to help fund this project.