Knaresborough Junior parkrun: 113 Run at Conyngham Hall

Knaresborough’s new junior parkrun started on Sunday morning with 113 children round the course at Conyngham Hall, and 29 volunteers running it.

Every one of those 113 finishes was a first timer at the event, because there had not been one before. parkrun’s own event history records the date as 20 September 2026 and the number as event one. The event statistics page puts the average finish time at 13 minutes 52 seconds and the number of different children at 108, a handful having run it more than once between them.

The fastest time on the morning was 7 minutes 16 seconds.

What it is, and who it is for

Conyngham Hall junior parkrun is a free weekly 2k for four to fourteen year olds. It runs every Sunday at 9am in the grounds of Conyngham Hall, Knaresborough HG5 9AY.

The practical points, from the event’s own pages:

• It is free, but you have to register with parkrun once before your first run.
• Bring a scannable copy of the barcode. Without it there is no recorded time.
• Children under 11 must be brought to and from the event by a responsible adult, and that adult has to stay for the whole event.
• Parents do not have to run. Taking part is optional for adults at a junior event.
• Scooters, balance bikes, trikes and cycles are not allowed.
• Only 4 to 14 year olds who complete the course themselves get a result.

It is separate from the Saturday event in Harrogate. Harrogate parkrun is a free weekly 5k on the Stray at 9am on Saturdays, and is open to all ages.

It needs volunteers

Twenty-nine people made Sunday happen, and a junior parkrun needs that number every week. The event has published its roster for the six Sundays through to 1 November, and it is visibly thin. On most of those dates the volunteer coordinator slot is empty, the first timers welcome role is empty, and several marshal positions and the parkwalker slot have nobody against them.

The volunteer page sets out how to help, and the bar is low:

• No experience of running, parkrun or volunteering is needed.
• You can book ahead by emailing conynghamhalljuniors@parkrun.com with your name and, if you have one, your parkrun ID.
• You can also just turn up and speak to a volunteer on the morning.
• There is no separate registration for volunteering.
• Roles include course setup, marshalling and scanning barcodes at the finish, and several can be combined with walking or running.

parkrun counts volunteering towards its own milestones, at 10 times for anyone under 18, then 25, 50, 100, 250, 500 and 1,000.

What it means for you

• The next runs are Sunday 27 September, then 4, 11, 18 and 25 October, all at 9am.
• Register once, at any parkrun, and the same barcode works at every event in the country.
• The council car park at Conyngham Hall is on Bond End, is open 24 hours and has 355 spaces. It is not free. Summer rates run to 31 October at £1.40 for an hour and £5.90 for the day, and drop to £0.70 an hour from 1 November. Motorcycles and disabled users park free, and there are 12 electric vehicle charging points.
• Bond End is one of the Knaresborough streets on the council’s roadworks charging list, so check our Harrogate roadworks and travel page before driving in on a Sunday morning.
• For other things on locally, see things to do in Harrogate.

We have not named any of the children who ran. parkrun publishes full results, including names, on its own site.