17/09/2026
THE STORY BEHIND PARKRUN
Lonely and terribly bullied as a child, Paul came up with one of the biggest community events on the planet - Parkrun.
As a little boy growing up in South Africa, Paul Sinton-Hewitt's home life was very difficult.
When his mother, a model, got the chance to work in Paris, she disappeared from Paul's life for at least a year. On her return, she argued with Paul's dad, and then left altogether.
"I think naturally she was more suited to the lifestyle of a model," says Paul. "I think she probably resented having to be at home with the children."
Paul was five when his father dropped him off at a boarding school – a place where he was bullied and beaten. The matron in charge of Paul and 40 other boys was brutal.
"She had a wooden stick with a leather belt attached to it. And, you know, if you stepped out of line, you got a hiding," Paul says.
One night, a group of boys decided it would be fun to p*e in Paul's mouth.
"That caused such turmoil in my life," he says. "I mean, I woke up gagging and shouting and screaming." The matron decided it was his fault, and beat him for it.
Paul learned never to show fear – or any emotion at all. Life was about survival, until, at the age of 11, he discovered running.
When he was running outside, he noticed the trees and the birds, and felt free to choose his own path. "I had a peaceful time, a time when nobody was bothering me," he says.
As a young man, Paul moved to the UK, married, and started a family, but his life continued to be shaped by tragedy.
His father died when he was 22, and his mother, who'd remarried, became increasingly dependent on alcohol.
By the time Paul was in his 40s, his mother was facing a terminal cancer diagnosis. She hid how serious things had become, and, unwilling to go to a hospice, she took her own life.
Paul was left with many unanswered questions.
"I think about it often,” he says. “If I had said to her, why did you abandon us, I imagine she would have replied, no, I didn't."
Paul was divorced by then, and felt as if he had lost all the important relationships in his life. He found solace by joining a running club, but an injury soon forced him to stop for a year.
He realised he'd grown to really care about the group of friends he'd formed while running, and that he missed the people more than the running itself. So, he came up with a simple idea: a weekly gathering in his local London park, with coffee afterwards.
That small meetup would grow into Parkrun, a community event now enjoyed by millions of people around the world.
Paul is blown away by the network he’s built.
"I am often left without words," says Paul. "The broad breadth of the impact that we’ve on people is extraordinary.”
(Copied from BBC World Service)
🎧 Listen to the Podcast: https://bbc.in/4ypS9PX
Believe it, or not, we try to design our tours so that the Parkrun fans can get their 5km fix locally, wherever we are in the World.
