Under an initiative organised by the Royal College of General Practitioners, the Frome Medical Practice has now signed up to be a parkrun UK practice, joining more than 1,200 other GP surgeries in the UK.
Frome’s first ever parkrun event took place on the 17th August, with 151 runners. The second run on the 24th August, in special memory of Lisa Wells took place on the 24th August. As with hundreds of other events throughout the country, parkrun takes place every Saturday morning, with the event aiming to have a prompt start at 9.00 am and most runners arriving by 8.45am. The Frome run takes place over a 5km loop at the Old Showfield.
One of the GPs at the Frome practice is Dr Rebecca Hall who said, “The brilliant thing about parkrun is that it is totally inclusive. Unless you’ve been to one, you won’t have experienced the strong sense of community, the incredible supportive atmosphere and the great buzz that is present every Saturday morning.
“You don’t have to run, you can come along and volunteer, supporting others who are running. Many of those who run have never run before, but use the parkrun as their personal benchmark each week, becoming more and more competitive with themselves.”
Not only is Dr Hall delighted to see parkrun arrive in Frome, but is equally pleased that via the Royal College of General Practitioners initiative, the event has now been adopted by the Frome Medical Practice.
“On a personal level, I think that parkrun is probably one of the most important health interventions seen in the UK for many years,” says Dr Hall. “These are very early days for parkrun in Frome but I am certainly confident that the weekly event will become a regular fixture in the lives of many people, both for those working here at the practice as well as our own patients. See you Saturday!”
The participation of the Frome Medical Practice comes with the full support and encouragement of Dr Simon Tobin, a GP himself, as well as being the national parkrun Ambassador for Health and Wellbeing.’
“I’m so excited to see this practice in Frome linking with their local parkrun,’ says Dr Tobin. ‘It’s fantastic that trail-blazing practices across the UK are supporting their patients and staff to increase their levels of physical activity as well as connecting with their local communities. Walking, running or volunteering at parkrun can transform people’s lives.”
Anyone wanting to run or volunteer for parkrun can do so by clicking on at https://www.parkrun.org.uk/register/
