Table 2 Level of engagement and overview of outreach activities undertaken by parkrun Ambassadors

‘On the ground’ level

Talking to people in the local community

Involved talking about parkrun and signposting people from the local neighbourhood or community to the nearby parkrun event. Talking to people involved informal conversations with members of the public and more formal conversations as part of organised events. Informal conversation included talking to members of the public about parkrun (e.g., on the bus, park users, neighbours). This also included helping to register people with parkrun (and on occasions, printing off their parkrun barcode). Formal conversation included attending events as a parkrun representative and/or having a stand/stall at events such as health events in community centres, employee wellbeing fairs and conferences.

Hosting theme days and takeover days at local parkrun events

Involved organising theme days at their local parkrun event such as a ‘pyjama day’. These events were believed to get the best engagement from people and families who would not ordinarily attend. parkrun ‘takeover events’ (where a local club or community group run a parkrun for the day– providing all the volunteers on the day and promoting what their group does to the parkrun community) were another useful way of engaging with new people from the local community.

Event activation

Involved doing outreach work as part of parkrun event activation (the set up and start of new parkrun events). This could involve seeking new event locations or working alongside other parkrun volunteers to help in the setup of new events such as finding the right people from the local community to be on the event team.

Buddy scheme

Involved recruiting children who were regular parkrun participants to volunteer to participate with a new child with the aim of making the new child’s first experiences of parkrun more positive.

Organisational level

General Practice (GP) Practices

Involved liaising with GP practices and encouraging them to sign up for the ‘parkrun practice’ initiative. Activities ranged from ‘having a chat’ with health practitioners, to putting flyers up in GP surgeries, to liaising with the Royal College of General Practitioners (see below re: engaging at a higher decision-making level).

Schools

Involved promoting parkrun/junior parkrun via schools– such as doing interactive presentations about parkrun at school assemblies. It was suggested that outreach activities with school should find options that do not depend on parental engagement– for example, the buddy scheme mentioned above or working with youth groups who could provide transport and supervision for children to attend their local parkrun.

Local organisations

Involved working with local organisations to engage with local communities including; foodbanks, friends of the park groups, housing associations, weight loss organisations, large local employers (such as travel companies), children’s groups (such as Cubs, Brownies and sports clubs), and hospital trusts.

Higher decision-making level

Local authorities

Involved establishing links with local authorities (e.g., the public health team or health and wellbeing services). Activities involving local authorities were mainly conversations with ‘good contacts’ and attending meetings which had varying success.

School authorities

Involved working with the school or education authorities to align parkrun/junior parkrun with school health and wellbeing mandates. It was suggested that this could involve schools signing up as parkrun advocates (something akin to the parkrun practice initiative).

Government

Involved talking to politicians and having establishing contacts in the government who were parkrun advocates.