Volunteers Assemble: Uganda forever + parkrun forever! - Burgess parkrun #630 - 10/10/26
At 0615 I saw a volunteer reminder email. Amongst today’s instructions, it said, ‘It’s going to be an absolutely brilliant day, and as one of our volunteers, you are making Burgess History with a volunteer attendance record’. I laced up my shoes and set out to do the course check. Passing the finish area at 0640 I saw a corridor of lights on the grass as the pre-event crew was doing the set-up. The email wasn’t wrong; as the sun started to light up the park, heralding a beautiful autumn day, everything was in place for a proper Ugandan takeover celebration.
A significant number of Ugandans are in the Burgess parkrun community. They have always contributed through running, walking, and volunteering. This includes Alex Akom one of the Kings of Burgess, and Josephine Ocaka, one of the Burgess Queens. For the last few years, to celebrate Uganda Independence Day, they have ‘taken over’ the event on the Saturday after 9th October, doing most of the volunteer berths for the day, teaching us some Swahili words, providing music, laughter, food and drinks at the end. It’s a must-attend event on my running calendar.
After completing the course check, I went home. When I returned, numbers were swelling, the setup was being admired, and a festival feel was in the air.
Finally, it was time for me to lead the first-timers and tourists in the first-timers' welcome. I introduced some Swahili words (Jambo = hello and Asante = thank you), as we prepared for an event to remember!
From the Ugandan community, James Kilama-Oceng, who started attending parkrun in May 2018, is a member of the volunteer 25 Club and a Burgess regular, wore the Blue and White Run Director hi-viz with distinction. James covered the practicalities like a pro, thanked everyone for making the Ugandan community so welcomed, and urged everyone to celebrate with them with traditional Ugandan food and music at the end. With appetites whetted, we set off, all 854 of us: a carnival of red, yellow, and black, whistles, and horns. Uganda forever!
Asante and Jambo were shared with the marshals, and I was dazzled by the number of people wearing the Ugandan colours, flags and scarves.
Parkrun is run by volunteers, with no volunteers, no event. The popular Hove Promenade parkrun was sadly cancelled today due to a lack of volunteers. Today, 91 people wore hi-viz vests (huge thanks to Kennington Junior parkrun and Burgess Junior parkrun for lending us theirs). And a huge thank you to all the members of the Ugandan community who came, served drinks, food, and goodie bags, danced, and made it a day to remember!
There were 186 first-timers at Burgess parkrun today, which included Jo Marshall, the previous Event Director of Marshall Drive parkrun; imagine having a parkrun named after you! I also spoke to Jo Sheppard from the parkrun adventures podcast. With 18 different parkrun flags across 287 locations, Jo is a parkrun globetrotter! You can listen to the podcast by clicking here; they will be uploading an episode about today.
I was recently introduced to TikTok 🙂 An ex-client sent me a link showcasing how difficult it is for care-experienced young people; it was insightful and devastating to watch, the young person seemed so lonely. The founder of parkrun, Paul Sinton-Hewitt, is care-experienced. He created parkrun partly to build community, and here at Burgess parkrun, we can see how it is flourishing.
On TikTok, I found the channel of Samuel Olara, a Burgess regular from the Ugandan community. Samuel uploads his videos of running at Burgess parkrun, and they’re a joy to watch. To see what you’ve been missing, click here.
Last week parkrun celebrated its 22nd birthday, and I feel it was truly honoured at Burgess parkrun today.
Happy belated birthday, parkrun; may you continue to be a safe harhour for people who need community, inclusion, solidarity, laughter and fun.
How parkrun began
You can read about how parkrun was created by the founder, Paul Sinton-Hewitt, a care leaver, in his book ‘One Small Step’, The Definitive Account of how a run became a Global Movement by clicking here.
Uganda’s Black Spot
Samuel Olara has written several books on Uganda. These include;
and;
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