Paul Sinton-Hewitt | |
---|---|
Born | Peter Paul Sinton-Hewitt 1960 (age 63–64) |
Known for | parkrun |
Awards | CBE |
Peter Paul Sinton-Hewitt CBE FRSA (Born 1960) is the founder of parkrun. [1] He was appointed a CBE "for services to Grassroots Sport Participation" in 2014, [2] and was selected as an Ashoka Fellow in 2016. [3] In December 2019, he was awarded the Albert Medal (Royal Society of Arts) for building a global participation movement and made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. [4]
Born in Southern Rhodesia, [3] Sinton-Hewitt grew up in South Africa. At age five he was made a ward of the state and then lived at boarding schools. He was educated at Potchefstroom High School and was a crew member supporting Bruce Fordyce in the Comrades Marathon. [5]
He moved to the United Kingdom where he was living when he had a breakdown in 1995. He has said that the personal challenges he has experienced, including bullying during childhood, and the way exercise and activity have helped him deal with them, were influential in motivating him in creating parkrun and its inclusive approach to sport. [6]
Sinton-Hewitt started the Bushy Park Time Trial in 2004 whilst unemployed and unable to run due to an injured leg. [7] It evolved into Parkrun – a free 5 kilometre timed running event that takes place every Saturday morning. The first event took place on 2 October 2004, with 13 entrants. In April 2010 a two-kilometre "Junior Parkrun" format was added at Bushy Park for children aged 4 to 14 (held weekly on Sunday mornings). [8] By summer 2018, each weekend roughly 220,000 to 280,000 people participate in about 1,500 Parkruns globally. [9]
In 2018, Sinton-Hewitt completed the Vitruvian Triathlon. [10]
The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), commonly known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges.
Bushy Park in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames is the second largest of London's Royal Parks, at 445 hectares in area, after Richmond Park. The park, most of which is open to the public, is immediately north of Hampton Court Palace and Hampton Court Park and is a few minutes' walk from the west side of Kingston Bridge. It is surrounded by Teddington, Hampton, Hampton Hill and Hampton Wick and is mainly within the post towns of Hampton and Teddington, those of East Molesey and Kingston upon Thames taking the remainder.
Strathclyde Country Park is a country park located on the outskirts of Motherwell in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, named after the former Strathclyde region of Scotland. It is often commonly referred to as Strathclyde, or simply Strathy.
Craig Mottram is a former Australian long and middle-distance runner who specialised in the 5000 meter event.
Ranelagh Harriers is a road running and cross-country club based in Petersham, Richmond, south-west London, England. The headquarters are its clubhouse, which is behind The Dysart restaurant and right next to Richmond Park, allowing plenty of opportunity for off-road running. Ranelagh athletes compete in many events from the 5k to ultramarathons on a variety of terrains, and in the Surrey Road League and the Surrey Cross Country League.
The Albert Medal of the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) was instituted in 1864 as a memorial to Prince Albert, who had been President of the Society for 18 years. It was first awarded in 1864 for "distinguished merit in promoting Arts, Manufactures and Commerce". In presenting the Medal, the Society now looks to acknowledge individuals, organizations and groups that lead progress and create positive change within contemporary society in areas that are linked closely to the Society's broad agenda.
Potchefstroom High School for Boys is a public English medium high school for boys situated in Potchefstroom in the North West province of South Africa. It is one of the oldest schools in South Africa.
Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public research university and a member institution of the federal University of London. It has 6 schools, 21 academic departments and approximately 10,500 undergraduate and postgraduate students from over 100 countries. The campus is located west of Egham, Surrey, 19 miles (31 km) from central London. It is listed by The Sutton Trust as one of the 30 "most highly selective" British universities.
Bushy Parkrun is a running event that takes place every Saturday morning at 9am in Bushy Park, Teddington, London. It was the very first Parkrun, founded by Paul Sinton-Hewitt in October 2004 under its original name Bushy Park Time Trial. The event has become a pilgrimage for Parkrunners, attracting entrants from across the globe. It is entirely managed by volunteers and is free to enter. The course is 5km in length with a terrain that is mostly footpaths and grass. The run holds the UK record number of entrants with 2,545 people on Christmas Day 2019. There have been numerous notable participants including the former men's Parkrun record holder Andrew Baddeley, and double Olympic 5 km gold medallist Mo Farah.
Parkrun is a collection of 5-kilometre (3.1 mi) events for walkers, runners and volunteers that take place every Saturday morning at more than 2,000 locations in 22 countries across five continents.
HM Prison Spring Hill is a Category D men's prison, located in the village of Grendon Underwood, in Buckinghamshire, England. The prison is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service, and is jointly managed with HMP Grendon, which is situated next to Spring Hill.
Timothy Peter Jenkin is a South African writer, former anti-apartheid activist and political prisoner. He is best known for his 1979 escape from Pretoria Local Prison, along with Stephen Lee and Alex Moumbaris.
Vassos Alexander Georgiadis is a British sports reporter, presenter, author and endurance runner. He is currently the sports presenter of The Chris Evans Breakfast Show on Virgin Radio. Alexander hosts the Parkrun podcast, he is a motivational speaker and serves as an ambassador for the young person's charity SkillForce.
Carol-Eduard Novak is a Romanian road and track racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Continental team Team Novak.
The 2016 UCI Road World Championships took place in Doha, Qatar, in October 2016. The championships was moved from the traditional September to October to avoid extreme hot and blustery weather. The event consisted of a road race, a team time trial and a time trial for elite men and women and a road race and a time trial for men under-23, junior men and junior women. It was the 89th Road World Championships and the first time that Qatar and the Middle East hosted the championships.
Andrew Butchart is a British runner who competed in the 5000 metres event at the 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics. He is the current Scottish record holder in the 3000, 5000 and 10,000 metre events. In June 2023, he broke the parkrun “world-record”.
Paul Martelletti is a New Zealand marathoner and ultra-marathoner. His notable victories in 2015 included the Greater Manchester Marathon, Bath Half Marathon, Wokingham Half Marathon and Watford Half Marathon. In 2014 Martelletti won the Chelmsford Park Marathon and the Windsor Half Marathon. He also represented Great Britain at the 2014 IAU 100 km World Championships in Doha, Qatar.
Cardiff parkrun is a parkrun event that takes place every Saturday morning at 9am in Cardiff, Wales. The parkrun was the first in Wales and has become the second largest in the UK. The run was started on 16 Feb 2008 and celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2018 with its largest ever attendance.
Alexander Amos Yee is a British professional triathlete and distance runner. He won the silver medal in the Men's Triathlon at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and the gold medal in the Triathlon Mixed Relay at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics on Saturday 31 July 2021. He is also the 2022 Commonwealth Games triathlon champion in both the men's and mixed team events. He is a double World Championship medalist over the World Triathlon Championship Series, with silver in 2022, and bronze in 2021