Great Britain athlete guests at Eastney junior parkrun

The athlete, from Southsea, who is now twice a Great Britain international turned up to take part and help present children with their bands for completing a number of junior parkruns.

He also took on the volunteer role of tail walker and had a great time chatting, supporting the juniors and helping inspire them.

Event director Daniel Del Piccolo was very pleased to see so many children having fun as the birthday was crowned in style.

He said: ‘On Sunday we celebrated our third birthday run.

‘Like all of our events, we try our best to encourage children to join in and have fun with their running.

‘Sunday was no different and to help us celebrate we invited Team GB runner Alex Teuten along to say a few words at our run briefing.

‘Alex agreed to join the volunteer team as well and be our tail walker while dishing out high fives along the 2k route.

‘As important as it is to have fun at junior parkrun, we rely heavily on our brilliant volunteers, or “hi-viz heroes” as they are often referred to.

‘Each week we have a good mix of junior runners, friends and family members helping put on our events.

‘Without them the events would not be possible so a huge thank you to everyone who has helped over the years.

‘We encourage new volunteers to come and help us each week as the roles are easy, fun and really fulfilling once the event gets going.

‘Ben Keysell was the run director on Sunday and after giving the pre-run briefing, handed over to Alex Teuten who gave the children some words of encouragement about the enjoyment of running.

‘Alex then presented some milestone wrist bands to some of the runners who have achieved a certain number of runs. He also kindly offered to be our tail walker for the run, which is a role our volunteers do to ensure no runner is left behind. He dished out high fives to the children as they passed by on our two loop course.

‘We had 61 children cross the finish line on Sunday which is a really good turn out. We hope to build on that number and encourage more families to join us over the coming year.

‘As event director, I’d like to especially thank the core team of run directors we have at Eastney juniors.

‘The team works really well together. Thanks to Portsmouth City Council for the use of the park and facilities as well. Here’s to the next year.’

Eastney junior parkrun takes place every Sunday at Bransbury Park (10am). It is a 2k run for juniors only (4-14 year olds). See parkrun.org.uk/eastney-juniors/ for more details.