THE Oswestry organisers of one of the biggest free public events in the world – Parkun – were named as the latest Community Champions.

Oswestry town mayor, Councillor Olly Rose, has named the Henley Wood Parkun team as the council’s final Community Champions of her civic year before she hands over the chains.

Cllr Rose welcomed the team to the Guildhall on Wednesday, March 13, to present the Community Champions award and paid tribute to them.

She said: “Exercising outside in nature has a positive impact on both physical and mental health and doing this in such a welcoming atmosphere created by the Parkrun team also helps alleviate social isolation.

“It's also tremendous fun.

“Oswestry Town Council would like to thank Ray and the team for their hard work and dedication in putting on this great event every week in all weathers.

“They are an inspiration to us all, true Community Champions.”

Henley Wood Parkrun is a free 5km community event for runners, joggers, walkers, and spectators that takes place every Saturday at 9am in Henley Wood, off Cabin Lane, Oswestry.

The first Henley Wood park run began on Saturday, October 10, in 2018 with 168 runners and 27 volunteers.

Since that first run, the event has welcomed more than 4,862 runners and 575 volunteers – eight of those original volunteers are still involved today.

The event is run by co-event directors Ray Pickett and Ellen Harrison and co-volunteer co-ordinator Mary Thornton and there are ten people who regularly give their time each week.

Ray added: “We have always had a broad range of abilities taking part and our ‘Park Walk’ was launched in October 2022 to emphasise the inclusiveness of the event.

“Our youngest runner has been just four and our oldest in their early 80s, so it is open to everyone, and we love to see family groups taking part together.

“We don’t report fastest times; however, on average, the run takes about 31 minutes with finish times ranging from 16 to 75 minutes.

“The event has always been fun and friendly, and we’ve hosted several local school pupils completing the Duke of Edinburgh award, two of whom undertook every role available including run director.

“We couldn’t run the event without our fantastic volunteers, so we’re delighted to accept this award on behalf of the team and thank everyone that continues to support us.”