Meet Our Local Stretford Parkrun..

Who’d of thought a few years ago Saturday mornings would be taken over by 5k runs in parks across the UK. In Longford park, Stretford parkrun brings runners, walkers and volunteers from Chorlton, Stretford and beyond completing their 5k as a community. And on Saturday 15th, Stretford parkrun celebrated their 10th birthday (despite storm Claudia trying to gate crash the party). The event saw 812 participants and almost 50 volunteers join the celebrations, making the event the largest in the North West on the day. 

The event has grown from an average 200 runners in 2015 to over 700 most weeks in 2025. The last finisher in 2015 took 37 minutes – the event now sees many people walking the course and taking an hour, promoting movement and mental well-being to as many people as possible. The event starts and finishes at the athletics track at Longford park, one of only 2 events that does so. And parkrun has become more than just a run for many in communities including South Manchester. For many, it’s an chance to spend time with friends or family, for others, including a number of volunteers, It’s an opportunity to meet people, perhaps the only time in a week they do so. And the event helps local businesses. Cafes in the park, down Beech Road and in Chorlton village see groups of runners enjoy a post run coffee and cake.

As part of the 10th birthday celebrations, the team decided they wanted to support a charity in the local area and arranged a collection for the Stretford foodbank. It’ll come as no surprise that local residents came up trumps – car loads of food and personal care items were donated – this means a huge amount to the team at Stretford foodbank. The team here at JP Brimelow see how important parkrun has become in the area, and thrilled to see local people supporting this important charity, so the team have joined in and made a generous donation in support too. Really kind of you – they do their donations here : https://www.justgiving.com/charity/trafford-north-foodbank

So happy 10th birthday Stretford parkrun. If you’d like to take part, the event starts at 9:00am each Saturday inside the track. There’s a briefing at 8:55am if it’s your 1st time joining, and there’s always a tail walker, so no participant is ever last. If you want more information, check out Stretford parkruns the website, or find them on Facebook and Instagram. Or just pop down one Saturday, just beware it might take over your lie-ins.

Look forward to seeing you all, James.

Eddie – Saturday 3rd January 2026. (Text and images from James at Stretford Parkrun).