Merrymeeting Parkrun’s runners and volunteers pose for their weekly photo at their most recent event on Aug. 27, 2022. Contributed / Kristen Cahill
June 11 brought an unspectacular start for Merrymeeting Parkrun. The small collection of volunteers and racers who turned out for the running group’s inaugural event along the Androscoggin Bike Path could have fit into a single compact sedan.
Yet with each successive Saturday, more locals and visitors of all ages have come to run or walk the free 5K course, grab a cup of coffee and get to know their neighbors. Less than three months after its first event, Merrymeeting Parkrun’s biggest challenge is fitting everyone into its weekly group photo.
“It’s really just an awesome community,” said runner Cayla Saret. “I’m pretty obsessed with it.”
The origins of Merrymeeting Parkrun, the Brunswick chapter of a global running non-profit, trace back to one member’s trip across the Atlantic.
While traveling in Ireland last fall, Kristen Cahill was looking for ways to spend her two-month sabbatical from her job at Athena Health.
“I didn’t really know anybody,” she said. “I thought, ‘I really want to integrate with the community.’”
She discovered Parkrun, an organization that helps local communities around the world set up free, weekly 5K runs. While each race is timed, most runners, who span a diverse range of ages and ability levels, care more about meeting new people than crossing the finish line first.
Runners and walkers cruise the 5K course along the Androscoggin Bike Path on July 23, 2022. Contributed / Kristen Cahill
Over three million members across over 20 countries participate in Parkrun groups worldwide, according to the group’s website.
Cahill, used to running alone, gave an Irish Parkrun event a try and found herself immediately hooked. Less than a week after returning home, she reached out to Brunswick Parks & Recreation about starting a local chapter.
“I sounded like a maniac because I was so excited,” she remembered. “I was so passionate about it.”
Parkrun’s inclusive, volunteer-driven model fit perfectly with the Parks department’s ethos, according to program assistant Aaron Cropley.
“Running by nature is often a more of an activity that’s done in solitude, so this is kind of neat to have a bunch of people to get together and act as more of a group,” he said. “This is a great way to promote that camaraderie, the feeling of community.”
Despite a quiet start, word of mouth and social media posts have helped make the weekly 5K run along the Androscoggin Bike Path an essential part of the weekend for a growing number runners, including Saret.
“I am not a morning person,” Saret said. “But I am out of bed when my alarm goes off Saturday mornings because I’m really psyched to see everybody.”
Some racers push themselves to set a personal best each week, she said. Others walk. Saret usually jogs with one or more other runners, enjoying the opportunity to socialize while exercising.
The group meets for coffee at Little Dog Coffee Shop after their August 27 run. Contributed / Kristen Cahill
Many members of the group are relatively new to town and have used the Saturday runs to get to know the community, Cahill said. Once the last participant finishes the course each week, everyone is invited to head to Little Dog Coffee Shop to get to know one another.
While the trip to the café is optional, Cahill said turnout is good.
“They have to put multiple tables together to accommodate the group,” she said. “I just look at these people making these connections and I just think how awesome it is.
A surprising influx of “Parkrun Tourists” from around the world have already begun joining the Merrymeeting group, which is Maine’s first Parkrun chapter, according to Cahill.
“We’ve had a few different couples from Australia, a few different couples from England, Poland, South Africa,” she said. “It’s kind of a huge thing in Europe. People pilgrimage – it’s almost like you check off a National Park.”
Yet while the group’s popularity has taken off, Cropley said the Parks & Recreation Department isn’t interested in campaigning to boost participation numbers. Instead, he said, he preferred to let the group grow organically, one personal record, cup of coffee or friendship at a time.
“We really wanted to have this as an opportunity for people in the community to be able to enjoy that community spirit,” he said. “I would rather see 25 people show up and be there and have a wonderful time enjoying the sense of community than have a hundred people show up but not be there for that reason.”
For information on how to register for Merrymeeting Parkrun’s free 5Ks, visit the group’s website at parkrun.us/merrymeeting/.
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