Roosevelt Island parkrun – your weekly Saturday morning walk among the deer and trees in the middle of the Potomac.

Twelve years ago ‘parkrun‘ started as a group of friends gathering to run 5km in a park in England. Today on a given Saturday over 200,000 people run, jog or walk their 5km parkrun in 1,000+ parks around the world.

Why has this phenomenon taken off?

Simplicity is the word. parkrun is free. It is weekly – always in the same place at the same time on the same day – Saturday morning at 9am. It is easy to participate in – sign up once online, print your personal barcode, and use it to show up at 9am at any parkrun in the world and participate – no fees, no packet pick up, no signing in.

parkrun is for walkers and joggers, as well as runners. Most Saturday mornings on Roosevelt Island our participants include parents with babies and people in their 60’s, 70’s and even 80’s, completing the 5km at their own pace – sometimes in over an hour. They are greeted at the finish with the same warm verbal embrace of the volunteers as the speedsters who arrive first.

And parkrun works because of volunteers – we organizers are volunteers, and each Saturday some of us take turns walking or running while others take a turn volunteering.

Get involved

We invite everyone who enjoys exploring Arlington’s trails and pleasant company to come join us for fresh air and new friends.

For more information and to register (once), visit Roosevelt Island parkrun local webpage.