Eastney junior parkrun host super show for fantastic fourth birthday party

The event is a 2k in the park for juniors and it takes place on Sundays.

Eastney junior parkrun has done so much for the community in the city, introducing lots of juniors to running or walking and helping people make friends, enjoy the fresh air, and be part of an amazing event.

It’s a nice course for cheering people with the out-and-back route along the path in the park.

Lots of the runners and walkers were wearing fancy dress with some great superhero costumes for the birthday special.

To see the full picture gallery click on the link at the top of the story or on the icon on the main image.

It made for a lovely atmosphere with everyone encouraging each other and many running or walking with parents, other family members and friends.

And of course there was cake and treats – surely a must for any party.

Event director Pete Birch said: ‘As we celebrated our fourth birthday and our 198th run at Eastney junior parkrun, I looked back at our previous 197-run attendance.

‘We have had 11,033 finishers, with one of our regular runners Amber Nightingale, becoming the 11,000th child to cross this finish line on January 20.

‘Amber is closing in on her 50th junior parkrun and her ultra marathon wrist band.

‘We have had 1,325 different juniors cross the finish line.

‘This has all been made possible by 3,047 volunteer roles being completed by 305 different volunteers.

‘Our 300th different volunteer was also one of our regular juniors runners, Ted Male.

‘Ted has been running with us just under a year, and took on the role of warm-up lead, getting all the kids ready to run.

‘We love to see the kids out front leading the warm up or taking on any of the volunteering roles, giving back to the community and allowing others to run and have fun. We had 21 volunteers and seven of those were juniors at this event.

‘The best thing about the parkrun on Sunday was seeing all the smiles on the children’s faces and having parents coming up to thank us for putting on the event.

‘We had four first timers out of a field of 62. We look forward to them all returning in two weeks on February 10.’ 

There will be no Eastney junior parkrun on February 3 with the Portsmouth Coastal Half Marathon route using the park.

Great Britain international athlete Alex Teuten was among the volunteers for the birthday party on Sunday as well.

The runner, from Southsea, helped ensure all the juniors were supported around the course.