The University of Chester’s running club ‘took over’ the city’s park run when members volunteered at the event, which took place at the Countess of Chester Country Park.
The club has previously participated in the Chester park run - however, with 15 of the club’s members volunteering this time, it was considered a ‘take over’.
The Chester park run takes place every Saturday at 9am and is free for anyone to take part.
The running club has been involved as runners since September 2016.
This time, members volunteered to marshall, scan participants’ barcodes and tail walk, helping to maintain the runners’ general safety and wellbeing.
Alannah Bolton, president of the Running Club, was the run director and responsible for hosting the event, setting up the route and ensuring it was safe for runners.
She said: “As well as organising volunteers, I also had to give a health and safety talk.
“Once the run began, I focused on cheering people on to the finish.
“I also helped the core volunteer team upload the runners’ results on to the parkrun software, which provides the runners with an email or text with their times.”
Alannah added: “I absolutely love the Chester parkrun and what it stands for, encouraging all abilities to get running or walking on a regular basis.
“This is what I hoped to do when I set up the university running club last year.
“Being the run director for the morning is something I never thought I would get to do, and for the lovely Helen Dolby and Matt Dowsett (the organisers) to allow me to do so, I am very thankful. We will be back to volunteer again very soon!”
A total of 170 park runners crossed the finish line, including well-known journalist and TV presenter Louise Minchin, who is also an honorary graduate of the University of Chester.
