The Mayor’s Award for December was presented to Neil and Diane Wood who initially set up Shildon parkrun.
The run, which takes place in Hackworth Park, is held every Saturday morning starting at 9am from the entrance near the Masonic Hall.
Runners and volunteers are always made to feel welcome and can run or walk at their own pace. The route takes you around the park three times and then a sprint along Surtees Way to the finish line.
There is always refreshments and a chance to chat to others.
The run first took place in Hackworth Park in March 2013 and there are around 800 runs on a Saturday morning around the world.
Neil and Diane were Secretary and Chairman of Shildon Running Club at the time the club were approached to help set up the parkrun and the pair soon became parkrun directors.
After nine months the original event director stepped down and Neil and Diane jointly took on the role.
Parkrun is run entirely by volunteers and over the following years established a keen core team to ensure it runs smoothly each week.
In the beginning, parkrun was considered a purely running event but it wasn’t long before it became clear it was beneficial to both body and mind.
Over the years there have been in excess of 4500 runners who have enjoyed the 5k run in the park and many hundreds of different volunteers who have made the event possible.
Hackworth parkrun recently celebrated its 10th birthday and its 455th weekly event.
Neil and Diane were overwhelmed to have received this award and thanked the Mayor, Councillor Shirley Quinn for nominating them.
If you would like to take part or be a volunteer, you can go along on any Saturday morning and talk to the team.
Shildon & District's local community newspaper.
