Brooklyn Bridge parkrun: How Ben Roach brought parkrun to NYC

In this episode I’m joined by Ben Roach, Brit abroad, sports & media lawyer, and founder/Event Director of Brooklyn Bridge parkrun – the very first parkrun in New York City and New York State. Ben and his American-born wife Beth moved from London to NYC with a shared mission: bring parkrun to their new home.

Ben shares a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at how that dream became a weekly 5k under one of the world’s most iconic bridges – from navigating city bureaucracy and securing a route in Brooklyn Bridge Park, to recruiting volunteers, winning over sceptics and managing the growing crowds of locals and parkrun tourists drawn to this bucket-list event in the 'Big Apple'

We also talk about the buzz created by a recent Time Out New York feature, and what it’s like to watch the start line fill with visitors from all over the world who have planned their trip around this parkrun.

If you’ve ever wondered how a parkrun starts, dream of setting one up in your own community, or just love a good parkrun story, this episode will leave you inspired for your next Saturday morning.

Thank you for tuning in. It's been great to have you here.. If you've enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review our podcast. Stay connected with us on social media (Instagram, Facebook & LinkedIn) for updates and more inspiring parkrunners' stories. Until next time, keep running, keep smiling and keep on showing up!

Transcript

Catherine Stenson (00:02.744)
Hi there and a very warm welcome back to the Parkrunners Podcast. I'm your host Catherine Stenson and today we're off to New York City to visit a brand new parkrun event, the Brooklyn Bridge parkrun. My guest today is Ben Roach, British born, now living in New York City with his American wife Beth. Between them they've run at Cannon Hill in Birmingham, Hackney Marshes in London and in Vermont in the US.

Ben (00:04.587)
you

Catherine Stenson (00:32.792)
And when they moved to New York in January 2024, they made themselves a promise. We're going to start a park run here. Fast forward 18 months, maybe almost two years, and that promise is now a reality. And it's the weekly 5K in Brooklyn Bridge park. With the wonderful Manhattan skyline as a backdrop and the East River to one side.

Ben (00:49.643)
Thanks.

Catherine Stenson (01:00.672)
launched wonderfully, I believe, on the same day as this Podcast. So in this conversation, Ben is going to share what it really takes to start a park run in one of the busiest cities in the world and share with us, I hope, some of the early insights and stories from the start line. So let's head over now and give a very warm welcome to Ben Roach. Ben, wonderful to have you on the show today.

Ben (01:29.205)
Hi, thanks Catherine, great to be here coming to you from New York where we are now 13 park runs into our Brooklyn Bridge park run. So there's a bit of background to me, keen runner, post university. I discovered park run when I moved to Birmingham and it was a great way to kind of meet new people. And I started at Cannon Hill park and that kind of started my park run journey. So

I really started to enjoy getting up at 9 a.m. on a Saturday morning and taking park runs. from there I moved to London and Hackney Marshes was my local. since then, park run has become kind of a staple in my Saturday mornings.

Catherine Stenson (02:10.094)
Yeah, oh that's wonderful. And was it 2017 that you first started parkrun at Cannon Hill?

Ben (02:17.674)
Yeah, I think it was 2017. at that point, I was a couple of years into a job in Birmingham and I'd run a little bit, but I wasn't really a regular runner. I ran when I kind of fresh air to kind of my head, clear my head and hasn't really kind of taken up running kind of all too seriously. I stumbled across parkrun when I was running around Cannon Hill park already on a morning on my own. And I just...

saw the number of people there, how happy people were, and I just kind of really got into it from that really.

Catherine Stenson (02:53.878)
that's really lovely. you were saying before you joined parkrun, running was a nice activity and pastime for you anyway about the sounds of it.

Ben (03:05.949)
Yeah, it was. When I was at university, I ran a little bit, but it was kind of very infrequent. And then I got my first job post university and I went from being relatively active, kind of just walking around the city, carrying books around, walking to lectures, to sitting at a desk nine to five. And that kind of really got me into running because it was a great way to either start my day with some fresh air and kind of some time on my own or to finish my day. And that was where I really got into running to start with.

which led me to parkrun.

Catherine Stenson (03:36.566)
I think that's what so many of us love about running is that it is a really good way of clearing your mind you go out you can leave the screens behind and You know just refresh hit reset in a way

Ben (03:49.725)
And it's just such a low barrier to entry. All you need is a pair of shoes and away you go. And I think that was what got me into it. Gyms are intimidating to me. Whereas just being able to go out and do my own thing with very little equipment was just really appealing at the time.

Catherine Stenson (04:04.814)
Yeah, no, that's wonderful. I'd love before we kind of switch to focusing about Brooklyn park run, if you could tell us a little bit about those early days of Cannon Hill and Hackney Marshes. Were there any standout memories or characters like because you've clearly like, you know, formed this, you know, bond and habit with parkrun. I'd love to know what those early experiences felt like.

Ben (04:24.393)
you

Ben (04:33.001)
Yeah, Cannon Hill was quite a fleeting moment for me. It was relatively close to the end of my time in Birmingham. So I kind of turned up and ran and didn't really get too involved in the community side of things there. And I kind of missed that. Although one thing that did stand out was, what have been the world championships around then? I think they were the athletics world championships. And the National Lottery sent certain of their athletes to certain park runs to celebrate and they took their medals. And I remember, think it was Adam Gemili was sent to

Birmingham parkrun and that kind of stands out as a relatively core, relative core memory of mine just having an athlete like that turn up and I think he was a volunteer token distributor on the day or a timekeeper and just having someone like that come to parkrun just kind of really in the early days of my kind of running experience was a really heartwarming experience to see someone like that turn up having competed at such a high level in the weeks prior.

Catherine Stenson (05:30.026)
I totally get that because two weeks ago at Bushy park in the UK, we had Dame Kelly Holmes show up and she was with all her crew from, she does a lot of training, I believe, military in motion. And I've invited her along to the Podcast, so I'm hoping she might come. But yeah, she just brought such know, swathe of like...

Ben (05:47.474)
Fingers crossed.

Catherine Stenson (05:54.605)
joy and you know just an extra uplift to people who wanted to grab photos at the end and just run alongside with her so I totally get where you're coming from that is a lovely memory for you too with Adam, Ben thank you for sharing that. So I can't kind of go by without asking you a little bit about how your journey and your now wife Beth's journey at parkrun, how did they

come about and like where did the overlap happen?

Ben (06:25.374)
Yeah, sure. So I got my wife into running. So she was always a big, she loved spin classes and kind of gym classes like that. And I was like, well, why don't you try running? And that got her into running. And we'd, we've lived in various places together and we've lived apart.

kind of transatlantically for part of our relationship as well. And when Beth was, so at that time I was living in London, Hackney Marshes was my local one and I'd go there religiously, met a really good group of friends there, enjoyed going every week. And Beth was new to a new area on the border of New Hampshire and Vermont. And there was a new park run started there. So I recommended to her when we were remote, long distance at that time, it like, well, why don't you go to that Vermont park run and try it out? And that got her into running and park run.

And that was compared to some of the UK events, a relatively small event. Vermont winters are notoriously very cold and snowy and icy. So it was quite a treacherous run some winters. I remember times going there myself and it was a mile uphill. It was a mile around the lake and then a mile back downhill. And it was relatively challenging up the hill. The flat was fine, but then running downhill was very difficult to stay on your feet. I remember one particular event, we were slipping and sliding.

And just, that's another core memory, just the challenging nature of that run in Vermont. But that got Beth into park run. And when she moved to London, that ritual then carried on with the two of us going to Hackney Marshes.

Catherine Stenson (07:58.531)
And it's, you know, it is a lot of people's stories, you you chat to people about parkrun and especially ones where the habit has kind of fully formed and nearly everybody has brought somebody else from a friendship group or maybe in some cases an awful lot more than one or two because it's actually a lovely thing to share with somebody.

and do it. I you can go out there by yourself. You'll still be made feel welcome. But the actual joy of that kind of just get together on a Saturday morning.

Ben (08:29.178)
Yeah, and that post-park run coffee or tea or whatever it is that you do or even just the chat afterwards is just, I just look forward to doing it, not necessarily for the run sometimes, but more just for the people that you'll see and the community aspect of it, which I think is what makes it relatively unique.

Catherine Stenson (08:45.218)
You feel part of something, I think that's fair to say. So when you think back to the UK events, what was the park run magic do you think that you wanted to bottle and together with Beth bring to New York City?

Ben (08:46.896)
Yep. Yep.

Ben (09:00.641)
it was that community side of it. So going back to knowing that you could you can go down to a particular place at a particular time and know that there's going to be a good group of like-minded people there is the thing that I really wanted to bring to New York City. And the fact that it's just so open and inclusive from living here for the last couple of years, different brands and different running clubs have their own events and they're kind of all tailored to a particular niche whether it's

performance or inclusivity or some other kind of niche. the thing that really stands out to me about parkrun is that you can have a, I I think our course record was set last week in just over 15 minutes, but at the same time, the person, the last finisher was over an hour. So just, you never find that collection of people together at a running event.

in New York City or really anywhere in the world. It really does just appeal to that broad spectrum of people. And I remember on our first event, I think our youngest participant was 11 and our eldest was nearly 80 or just over 80. And like name another event where you get that spectrum of people together. just doesn't exist.

Catherine Stenson (10:14.062)
Yeah, exactly. mean, that could be in a lot of families, like four or five generations. Yeah. And you do see that at parkrun, like whole families, know, grandparents, parents, know, and children who are, you know, in a buggy or, you know, running alongside their parents. And that is, is a wonderful thing to see. And, you know, for that to be

kind of growing as a community activity around the world really is, it's, it's, it's really, really pleases me when I hear, hear that is the same story elsewhere. So I guess that's probably is, you know, one of the reasons that.

Ben (10:49.132)
Likewise.

Catherine Stenson (10:58.826)
you crystallized on this idea about we should start to parkrun in New York City. But, you know, was there a specific moment, Ben, when, you know, the two of you sat down or we were running and chatting to each other? How did it come about? Like, we're going to do this. Went to remember.

Ben (11:15.654)
Yeah, there wasn't really a particular moment other than the fact that we knew we were moving to New York probably about a year in advance given visa processes and timescales for moving and that kind of stuff. And there wasn't really a particular moment where we sat down and thought, you know what, we should do this. It was more of a, we're going to miss parkrun in the UK. We're going to miss seeing the people that we see and doing the weekly 5K and kind of

adding to our milestones and collecting different milestone achievements. It was more of just when we move, we should try and do it. And we kind of collectively agreed on that from the start.

Ben (11:59.417)
And there wasn't really a particular moment. I remember about probably two months before we moved, I reached out to parkrun and said, like, hey, why isn't there isn't one in New York City? Like, surely it's the perfect place for it. And that was what kicked the ball rolling, that kicked, that kickstarted the process already. It wasn't kind of a, we should do this because it was, we're moving, why wouldn't we? It seems like the obvious thing to do, but why isn't there one already? Surely there's a...

a challenge there if there isn't already a parkrun.

Catherine Stenson (12:30.822)
That's an interesting fact for any of our listeners that this Brooklyn Bridge park run is the first I believe in New York State. But just looking at the park run USA website, I think it's up to about 96, 98 across the US now. And we have had another guest on from a park run in

Ben (12:39.468)
Yep, very first in New York State.

Catherine Stenson (12:56.43)
the West Coast of America, up near Seattle and Washington. yeah, it's just lovely to see it grow there as well. But I'd love to hear your impressions, about what the New York running scene was like, because there seems to be quite a lot of people in New York City that are very focused on health and fitness, kind of the antithesis of lots of the things and the impressions that many people outside of the US may have.

of the US more generally. So can you chat to our listeners about your first impressions on New York running scene?

Ben (13:35.701)
New York has such a vibrant running scene, which is another reason why I was really surprised that the park run didn't exist. In some ways, it has more of a vibrant running scene than London. And London is, like, based on my experience of living in London previously, London and

has played catch up to New York in some ways. If you wanted to go on a run any night of the week, there's a running club that you can find. Saturday mornings, there are tens and tens of running clubs out there doing their thing, whether they're affiliated with more of an athletic club type vibe, or whether they're affiliated with a brand and it's a brand putting on a community event. There's just so many running events here.

And that's one of the reasons why I think parkrun hadn't really...

really got off the ground in New York City because there was already lots to do and lots of other options, particularly coming from the UK where I think if you're training for something, your long run Sunday is the kind of integral part of your training weekend, whereas in New York City it's long run Saturday, everybody does their long runs on Saturday if they're training for a marathon or a half marathon, which conflicts with park runs, so there would be a

clash there and I wonder if that's one of the reasons why it hadn't taken off previously.

Catherine Stenson (14:58.712)
Yeah. And I guess maybe it needed somebody like yourself with the history and exposure to parkrun in the UK. It was a bit serendipitous that you found yourself moving with your lovely American wife who you had converted to being a parkrun fan too. I'd love to know what happened after the phone call with parkrun because there may well be listeners out there who were in.

parts of the world where there isn't a local parkrun. And maybe it's something that they could learn here from our conversation today Ben, as to what are the steps that go into going from the phone call to parkrun saying, is there one, why not? And then to talk to us about that.

Ben (15:44.131)
Yeah. Yeah, of course. think our parkrun was relatively unique in the way that came about, actually. I think if you were ordinarily starting a parkrun, there's a couple of things that parkrun will look for, and that's a willing landowner to start with, and then you to pull together a core team of people that will commit to turning up on the regular and run direct.

barcode scan and just be your core team of volunteers. And ordinarily, parkrun looked for you to have both of those sorted before you launch. Given, I understand parkrun had been trying to launch in New York City for a fair number of years now, we were kind of a little bit different in that we tried to find the landowner first and then the team afterwards because we were conscious that we didn't want to pull a team together and then not be able to find a landowner. So our process to start with.

was very much focused on finding a that worked for parkrun that was appropriate for the likely numbers we'd get and where the landowner actually wanted to allow us to be there without charging us a huge fee for it. Because quite a lot of the landowners we contacted, when we said we want to start a parkrun on a Saturday morning every week, their response would be, oh, so it's a

a race and we were like, it's not a race. It's a community event that's 5K and it's timed. And they're like, well, it sounds like a race to us. Here's our race application form and the weekly fee for it is $500, for example. And 500 times 52 ends up in quite a fair, quite a large amount of money. So that was a big barrier to start with was getting a landowner that understood the concept, that understood what, what it was and was willing to work with us without charging us a

a huge great fee. And we went around a few different parks, a few different landowners, before we settled on Brooklyn Bridge park.

Catherine Stenson (17:47.094)
It's so iconic though. I mean, you settled on the right place.

Ben (17:51.084)
I think so too. We often get a lot of questions like why not Central park? Why not Prospect park? And those two parks are difficult. And the problem actually, just taking another step back, that when you look at a map of New York City and compare it to a London or a Manchester or a city in the UK, there are so many parks. I'm going back to London again because I know London. There are so many parks in London where you could host a 5K. You've got like Hackney Marshes where I was, Bushy park.

Clapham Common, you name it. There's so many parks that are kind of of a medium size where you can have a park run. Just open up a map of New York City and look and there's a relatively, a relatively lap, there's short amount of public spaces that could actually host a park run. And that was one of the biggest challenges actually because we kept going back to Central park and Prospect park and the landowners there were just like these parks are too busy as it is, they're too congested. Central park has

a race in it, probably 30 times, like a paid for race, 30 weeks of the year. So if you got a park run there, you'd probably be canceling half of your runs, which isn't feasible either, which was why we ended up on Brooklyn Bridge park, selfishly because it's 10 minutes from where I live. And I just think the park is incredible. The views are incredible. The skyline is incredible. It's probably going to be cold down there in the winter with the breeze from the river, but it's...

Such a good park.

Catherine Stenson (19:18.806)
Listen, it's, you know, when you you're running, you start to move or even if you're, you know, walking briskly, you you can wrap up warm and just savour the fabulous views. So it sounds like, Ben, the biggest hurdles or one of them is getting the permissions. What about things like...

Ben (19:39.081)
Yeah. And I think that's particularly the case in the US, sorry to interrupt, but particularly based in the US where parkrun isn't understood. I think in the UK, you go to a local authority and say, hey, let's launch parkrun. Their response is great. Yeah, we know what parkrun is. We know the benefits of it. We know what it can bring to the area. You go to a landowner in the US. And I think this is one of the biggest challenges for parkrun in the US is you go to them and you say, hey, I want to launch a parkrun. And you don't get the response you get in the UK or Australia or anywhere else. get the, what's parkrun?

Catherine Stenson (20:06.646)
Yeah, and I think it's a younger initiative in many ways in the US. So I think that will, I'm optimistic if we look at what's happened in the UK, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, Poland, all of the wonderful countries where parkrun is thriving. That once it gets established in...

Ben (20:17.182)
Likewise.

Catherine Stenson (20:32.012)
you know, places like New York City, which do have a huge visibility both, you know, in in North America, but, you know, obviously way beyond with a city of that reputation. So it's amazing. mean, it must feel really wonderful for you and Beth to have been, you know, the founding members of the first New York City park run. I was also interested in.

Ben (20:34.56)
So,

Catherine Stenson (20:59.97)
you know, any additional hurdles around like insurance and logistics, because we hear a lot as well about insurances in the US, it's very commercial on the kind of health insurance compared to what we're used to. Were there any significant differences there for you getting the event going?

Ben (21:07.519)
The insurance piece was one of the hurdles, but it was mainly a process thing. So, parkrun globally has some really good insurances and that's part of what the money that parkrun brings in goes to.

contribute towards, and parkrun has some great insurance in the US, we had to provide certificates of insurance and prove that parkrun had these insurances. And then our landowner asked for a few additional forms related to insurance that the insurance broker had to fill in. But that was mainly just a process thing that parkrun, the country manager, Euan, dealt with on our behalf. And he kind of knew exactly what he was doing.

took it to the broker and provided all those forms. And it took a bit of time, but it was more of a formality than anything else.

Catherine Stenson (22:10.168)
And so something else that I think, well, it's certainly of interest to me and I think probably a lot of other listeners, but how did you go about establishing your core volunteer team to get the event off and know that you could run a repeat event week in, week out? Because I think a lot of people worry about that. What am I taking on? Is it going to be just left to me? And will I be scrablling around every week looking for, you know, additional team members? So what's your experience been like there, Ben?

Ben (22:22.336)
Yeah.

Ben (22:40.271)
That was probably, so like I said, it's the landowner and then the team are the two things you need. We were a little bit back to front and that we didn't really have a team. We had a very small team when we launched of people that said that they were really keen to get involved. And I largely sourced those from two ways. So Euan (and) the parkrun country manager for the US had kind of kept a log of everybody that had messaged him over the last couple of years.

on Instagram or on email saying, why is there not a park run? And the day that we got our permit, we emailed all those people and said, hey, you still in New York City, you still interested. And that got us three or four people that were still keen and still live local. And the other way was just scouring the internet and trying to find people who had posted on Reddit previously, being like, why isn't there a park run in New York City? And I was just keenly DMing these people on Reddit who I didn't know, they didn't know me.

saying, hey, we're about to launch this. Are you still interested? Are you still local? And tried to pull together a team that way. And on launch weekend, it was probably three or four other people that were kind of committed to helping out on a regular basis. Obviously, we needed more than what makes five in total with Beth and I. So I just went around all of my friends being like, hey, please can you help? There were some friends that hadn't.

never run a 5k before in their life, had never heard of parkrun and I just asked them to come down and marshal instead of doing their dog walk just to get it off the ground because I knew that as soon as we get it, as soon as we started, people would come and it was just getting to that point where we had that team and as soon as parkrun put their press release out, we also picked up another couple of volunteers that way. So to start with, it was a relatively small and lean team, but I knew or I hoped.

Maybe I didn't know, but I hoped that when we got going, I'd pick up the volunteers. And that's definitely been the case. I'm not run director again until 2026 now, which kind of shows how, I mean, I know we're only what, that's six weeks away, but that shows the team that we've got and the people that want to get involved in that I can actually, I was in Philly last week, I can actually go away and leave the park run knowing that it will work without me. Or I can go and run it if I want to, because that was one of the other things that selfishly I was.

Catherine Stenson (24:42.05)
I think you're.

Ben (25:05.711)
I was keen to ensure is that it was sustainable without me so I could leave and go on vacation or holiday and also so I could run it some weekends.

Catherine Stenson (25:12.994)
Yes, and I think the magic about parkrun is when everybody gives back a little as well as takes the joy of the weekly parkrun. But they're really super creative approaches that you had going on Reddit and Instagram. So thank goodness that's a very positive example of where social media can be an accelerant to making those connections.

Actually building a new little community and team there for the Brooklyn Bridge park run. So huge congratulations on that then. For listeners who haven't seen the course, and I know a lot of people maybe have a picture of Brooklyn Bridge, but what's the course like? How do people, is it a single track? I know My sister and my niece have

Ben (25:52.439)
Thank you.

Ben (26:08.32)
Yeah.

Catherine Stenson (26:10.008)
done it and another friend have done it and it's definitely on my to-do list but it might be, it might be several months before I make it.

Ben (26:15.281)
You should definitely come out. I look forward to welcoming you. It's a very interesting course. When you look at a map, it looks very twisty and turny, lots of corners. But the park itself, you go back 15 years ago or so, the park was a port, like an industrial port on the riverbanks of Brooklyn looking over Manhattan. And ships would come in, deposit goods and stuff. And it was basically an active port.

And that part of the port got decommissioned and it was just relative commercial wasteland that was just left to rot, for want of a better word. then...

But Someone came up with a bright idea to turn these piers that existed where the port used to be into a park. And now it's one of the most beautiful parks in New York City, such green space, such wide open paths, so vibrant. And it basically starts on Pier 1, and you do a mini lap of the pier. And there's a particular part in the course when I ran it to scout out the course where we start.

start and finish is slightly different. And you start up a little hill, and you run around a corner and then you come out onto a wide open pier. And you're in trees when you start and you can't really see where you'll kind of see what's coming. And you run down this hill, and you turn a corner and you get this kind of beautiful Manhattan backdrop. And it's just at that moment where it's like, you know what, this is pretty damn cool. You can see the bridges, the water, the Statue of Liberty is behind you.

and then you kind of run round into the park and you take in, there are four piers and each pier has got a different thing on it, like somewhere like green park trees. One of the piers has got soccer, football pitches on it. One has got basketball courts on it and you lap around these piers. So you go around the four piers, you get to the furthest part of the park and then you run a straight shot back to the finish line. And when you turn around on your way out, you see the Manhattan skyline to start with. And then you see the Statue of Liberty in the distance, which is

Ben (28:25.052)
pretty cool. And then you get to about two miles, 3K in, and you turn around and that's when you see the Manhattan skyline again and you're running back towards Brooklyn Bridge. And you finish kind of in the shadows of the bridge.

Catherine Stenson (28:39.566)
Well, I'm already hooked. You've just painted the most wonderful picture there of a park run that appears to have everything. The sights and sounds of the park, the backdrop of the New York skyline, the river flowing by. You can almost hear the sounds and smells and the hustle and bustle that goes with that. Yeah, what a venue you chose.

Ben (28:42.288)
Hahaha!

Ben (29:02.566)
this.

Catherine Stenson (29:06.488)
Do you remember Ben, what it felt like when you were on the start line on that very first Saturday morning at the end of August this year? Barcode scanner in hand and you know, wondering, were you nervous at any point? Like, will people show up?

Ben (29:16.06)
Yep.

Ben (29:24.281)
Yeah, a little bit. So Euan, the country manager for parkrun, came down to visit as well to help out and to see how it was going, to see how it went. So we went for food the night before and we had a catch up and we were just guessing about numbers. Honestly, we just had no idea. parkrun doesn't really promote inaugural events in the UK, whereas Euan called me about a month before saying,

a PR team are thinking about going big on this, what do you think? And we had a conversation about the pros and cons of that. And even to that point when we were catching up the night before, we just didn't know the number that was going to turn up. I think I said maybe 150, and that was me revising it up. And Euan was about the same. And I remember then getting there an hour before, we were setting up. And people were showing up an hour, hour and a half early, and we were like, OK, maybe we've

We've underestimated this. think the thing we underestimated was how committed some people are. I don't think we quite expected as many people to travel for it. I met people from the UK who weren't supposed to be in New York. They came over, a couple of people from Australia who flew over just for the park run for a long weekend. And I don't think I anticipated the levels of commitment from people to do that. Off no real marketing, other than a press release that park run put out.

And then we were what? were 20, 20, 30 minutes before the start. And I got a call from the person doing course setup. And he said part of the course was closed off. The piers were closed. So like I said, we'd taken four piers. One of the piers was shut off for a third party brand event. And I was just, my heart sunk. And I was like, what are we going to do here?

Catherine Stenson (31:05.6)
One house.

Ben (31:16.516)
I thought if part of the course was closed, we'd have to cancel because that was kind of parkrun rules. And Euan and I had a chat, the country manager for parkrun, and we came up with a creative way to kind of make it work using lapping an existing part of the course. So we weren't doing anything that wasn't risk assessed, but we were there on our phones kind of mapping out what a 5K would look like with minutes to go and how we would change our signs. And I was calling course setup saying, you know, that arrow you've put there, can you...

get rid of that arrow and we're going to put it elsewhere instead. And that was probably the most stressful part of the launch. And it turned out to be more than a 5k in the end. I think it was a 5.2 or a 5.3, but nobody cared on the day. don't think anybody even noticed. I don't think anybody that came to the first event even knew that we were running on a slightly different course, which I suppose is a sign of success. But that was a heart in my mouth gutted moment where I thought these 600 people have come for this event and we're not even going to be able to put the first one on.

Catherine Stenson (31:47.107)
Thank

Ben (32:15.81)
I

Catherine Stenson (32:15.992)
So you got 600 people on the first event.

Ben (32:18.491)
That's 560-ish, I think it was. And that was just...

Catherine Stenson (32:22.782)
honestly, just listening to that and the stress of having to redo the course within minutes of the start time on your inaugural park run. fair play to you because between you and Euan, mean, you know, top marks to you and if he's listening, that was incredible. just.

working with what you've got and making it happen and not allowing the stress of that situation to dent your determination to get going. So fantastic.

Ben (32:58.403)
Yeah. And it was the same for all the marshals as well. The marshals just took to it. Like, if you look at how many people had been to a parkrun or volunteered at a parkrun on our marshal roster for the first weekend, I think half of our marshals had never been to a parkrun before. Our timekeeper was Beth, my wife, she'd never time kept before, or maybe had time kept once before. And then she was timekeeping at an event for 600. So just everybody just took to it and just absolutely smashed it. So a big thank you to.

of our marshals from the first event and all the events passed really because without them just wouldn't be the success it is today.

Catherine Stenson (33:33.441)
I yeah, I'd like to echo that as well. Hats off to all the marshals, all the world tourists and visitors who came to support you on that inaugural park run at Brooklyn Bridge. Amazing. As a matter of interest, what is the typical split now? I know you've not been going that long, but between New Yorkers, tourists, families, first timers, walkers, what does it look like? Share that with our listeners.

Ben (33:59.065)
It's something I'm really interested in and I take, spend more time looking at the results than I probably should because it's really hard to get an answer. So when I look at the results, I can see or I can get from parkrun where people's home parkrun is. And we've been using that as a mild guide, but you take me, I'm still registered at Hackney Marshes as my home parkrun. So I'll show as a tourist in the results. Beth's is in Vermont, so she'll show as a tourist.

A regular tailwalker, Michael, he did his first, he's American New Yorker. He did his first park run in Brighton when he was doing the Brighton Marathon a couple of years ago. So he's registered at Brighton. So it's actually really hard to get stats on kind of who everybody is. So I often say at the start, who's visiting, who's not. And the numbers are getting bigger actually. The number of New Yorkers, and this is my main aim here. Like it's lovely to get people visiting and it's lovely to get tourists to come by because it really brings the vibes. But.

Catherine Stenson (34:39.788)
Yeah, yeah.

Ben (34:55.747)
The event isn't sustainable if it's tourists alone because tourists are never going to really truly volunteer. We need to make it a local event for local people that has this this tourist kind of angle to it. So my main aim over the past couple of weeks has been outreach to the local community to get more New Yorkers to come along. And I think if we looked at our first event, it would probably be something like.

80-20 or 90-10 in favour of tourists to local people. So a really small number of New Yorkers. But over the weeks, that's really started to shift to the point where if I had to guess, it'd probably be something like 50-50 now. And that's just through word of mouth, through Strava, through people seeing other people going, through people talking about it. We were featured in Time Out a few weeks ago, and that's brought more New Yorkers in. I've put us on bulletin boards. I've posted on Reddit.

Catherine Stenson (35:34.904)
Very impressive.

Ben (35:50.262)
I created an event on a local paper's website, like a classified ad section. So I really tried to get the word out. And I think it's starting to get out there now. The number of Americans, actually, I would say, the number of New Yorkers, because even some of our New Yorkers are British like I am. So it's really hard to gauge. But every week, we're probably getting 50 or so people that are brand new to parkrun. Like not new to this event, but have never run a parkrun before.

Catherine Stenson (36:04.749)
Yes.

Ben (36:18.604)
And that's really nice to see as well because we know from, if they've never done a park run before, they're probably more likely to be a local person. So that helps with kind of understanding the demographic of people that are coming.

Catherine Stenson (36:29.068)
Yeah. And are you doing anything specific to try and encourage people who are not runners but walkers and volunteers? Like is that part of the outreach that you just referred to there?

Ben (36:40.694)
Yeah, it is. My outreach is relatively... The past couple of weeks is where we've really started to focus on it because to start with, the motto or the mantra was just survive the first few weeks. parkrun has gone big with PR, so we'll see where that takes us, but we don't kind of want to go even further in kind of marketing because we need to work out what we're doing. We need to get the process settled down ourselves and get to the point where...

we comfortably know what we're doing and we know the things that could go wrong or we know most of the things that could go wrong! And it's only been probably since event 10 onwards that I've started to try and get the word out there. And that's something that I'm looking at every week really is how, else I can go because I think we're getting a lot of people that are already runners coming along. But my next challenge is how I get that kind of next.

group of people who aren't necessarily, wouldn't week. runners, but might like to enjoy walking it or may even find themselves enjoying running it. And that's my next challenge. And I haven't quite figured that out yet. So if any of your listeners have tips on how to contact, how to reach that group of people, then please do get in touch because that's my next challenge.

Catherine Stenson (37:59.245)
Yeah, and that would be wonderful because there's all sorts of different parkrun initiatives as you're probably aware Ben in the UK from there's a recent parkrun primary initiative for children of school going age to try and get them to go along with their families and align to local schools to local parkruns. There's the healthcare initiatives where GP surgeries are referring people for physical and you know mental well-being.

And so all of those are different communities in their own right and each one is having an impact on expanding. But I guess if you could speak to other US cities or officials who are curious but a bit unsure about parkrun, what would you want them to understand about the impact of parkrun, like the really positive impact on their communities, towns and cities?

Ben (38:55.611)
Yeah, I think quite a lot of the times when we went to landowners, they were worried about their main concern was that it was going to be this big event that came in that left a mess. It overwhelmed their park. was a high build out, required a lot of equipment kind of event that would really monopolize the park. And I think my main message to other landowners and other kind of local authorities would be that it isn't that at all.

you could turn up to, if you come an hour before the event, you won't even, like there's nothing there at that point. And then an hour after the event or even half an hour after the event has gone, you could walk along and see and there'd be no trace that park run was ever there. And I think my message is that it really is, it's not a high...

phrase this, but it's not, it doesn't take over the park other than kind of for the time that it's there and it appears and disappears really quickly. But then on kind of the positive benefit side of it, we're seeing people come down who live in the community, who are meeting people. I've seen connections, people making friends that didn't know each other before. I'm seeing people get out to do a 5K and experiencing the fresh air and the physical activity side of it when perhaps they wouldn't have.

Catherine Stenson (39:57.026)
Yes.

Ben (40:17.206)
previously. And also from the park's perspective, we have this lovely cafe we go to at the pavilion called Breads. I was talking to the manager of Breads a couple of weeks ago and she said that their busiest hour of the week for coffee is the hour after parkrun. Like that's their busiest. So I mean, even from a commercial point of view, if you've got a cafe there that is kind of funding the upkeep of the park, then commercially parkrun can help as well because...

Catherine Stenson (40:32.697)
yeah.

Ben (40:44.818)
without park run being there, she said the cafe would be pretty quiet in that hour, but now it's the busiest hour of the week for coffee, which I just found incredible.

Catherine Stenson (40:52.344)
That is so true. And honestly, I think it's true of every park run, because anybody I've spoken to, and especially on this Podcast, nearly everybody mentions the kind of post park runs, sort of rituals they have. Almost all of them involve sitting down and chatting with people, whether you're talking about your personal best or just the fact that you got around and, you know, maybe you're...

working towards a milestone. But those local cafes and, you know, pop up, you know, carts and stuff, they do really well, you know, so yeah.

Ben (41:27.322)
It's just bringing so many people to the area. Every week now we've got, let's say we're averaging three, 350, half of them are tourists. That's 200 people that wouldn't come to the area or might not come to the area otherwise. And they're seeing the park, they're seeing the community, they're contributing. Maybe they'll go to breakfast afterwards as well, not just stay for a coffee. They'll go to a local...

cafe or a diner for breakfast. And it's just people bringing people to the area from a kind of tourism perspective as well.

Catherine Stenson (41:55.311)
And if you think about, let's say there's 500 people like you're...

Brooklyn Bridge park run. Very often those people have arrived with more than one or two or three people because if they could be with friends or family, not all of them are running or walking. So the actual impact is even bigger than the attendance at your event. So just very quickly, a few personal reflections because I'm fascinated because you are a British man who's moved to New York. What does this whole journey, moving countries, setting up a new park run,

leading a community team. What's that taught you about yourself?

Ben (42:35.734)
That's a really good question. I think one of the main things is it's taught me that I can do these things, which is really reassuring. It was quite daunting going into this and I had no idea how it was going to go. And it showed that I think anybody can really do this. I sit at a desk, nine to five normally, like I don't do anything like this. So I think it's just shown me that I can.

push myself out of my comfort zone and thrive. And I think it's just, it's one of the things that it has actually brought me is just that kind of wider sense of community and meeting people. It's, I just love it for that reason.

Catherine Stenson (43:17.868)
Yeah, and it can't help but build confidence to even a confidence that, you know, can spill over into your commercial role because that expansive community, you know, engagement and, you know, management of volunteers and, know, just the risk assessments, all of it, all of it together is, you know, just adds a whole bunch of new skills.

to your repertoire. yeah, well, you put the work in so really well done again, How has being the run director changed your relationship, if it has, with parkrun compared to when you were, if I might say it, just a runner?

Ben (43:47.294)
Everybody does.

Ben (43:54.431)
Thank you.

Ben (44:04.307)
Yeah, I think it's shown me, the main thing is it showed me what goes into it. as a park runner, if you're not a regular volunteer, you kind of turn up and.

We take for granted what goes into putting on these events and the legwork behind the scenes. Like I said earlier, it's a relatively easy process, but you kind of underestimate that there's a person behind the scenes coordinating the volunteers, briefing the volunteers, putting on the event, bringing the equipment, closing down at the end, processing the results, writing a report, doing social media.

And think It's just given me a new appreciation for every run and event director out there and what they actually do. parkrun has gone, has done lots to make it easier over the years. I remember when I first went to parkrun, you had the laptop and the stopwatch and the physical barcode scanners. And I hear horror stories from event and run directors about how difficult the results were. So parkrun's done great things to make it easier over time. But I think, unless you get stuck in to managing and being involved in a parkrun, you don't.

you don't appreciate what goes into it. Even little Things like having an AED on site and making sure the AED gets from the person to the next person so it's there at the event. Just little things like that that just you don't think about when you're not involved in it.

Catherine Stenson (45:13.324)
Yeah, well.

Catherine Stenson (45:23.49)
Yeah. I mean.

Basically, you're having to just string together all of these people, logistics and processes in, you know, just what happens before you arrive at the venue itself and then what has to happen to just tidy up, clear away. And as you say, like there's no parkrun I've ever been to where you would have any sense there was a run like half an hour after all the results have been shared. So, you know, they

They're an incredible organisation and endeavour from that point of view. So just looking ahead, thinking about five years down the track, what do you think success then would look like for Brooklyn Bridge park run?

Ben (46:11.728)
Well, that's a good question. I'd love to get to the point where, I mean, I think every parkrun director will say this, where I've got a huge team of volunteers to the point where the roster doesn't even need to, it doesn't even need me to kind of badger people to fill the roster. That's one sign of success. And to have, think, the other thing, and that's what I'm aiming for now, and...

I'd love it if in five years time we were there, we were at a point where local people outnumbered tourists. I want to get to the point where it is a true local event, where people can come down and meet people, but also meet people from around the world. Because that's a great aspect of it. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying having tourists down isn't a great thing. People love meeting people from around the world, and so do I. But I think success for me is turning this into a community event where we have...

lots of local people who come down to meet other local people but also get that international kind of meet and greet and outlook on life because I think it's just a great meeting point, melting pot of kind of different, it could be a great melting point, melting pot of different cultures, people, nationalities coming together in an event that, yeah.

Catherine Stenson (47:21.954)
I think that's a really nice vision and it seems is very genuine. That full roster of volunteers is something I know all run directors are, that's their nirvana. But actually in making sure that parkrun continues to embody the local community, people and values, as well as being a welcome destination for

Ben (47:35.089)
You

Ben (47:41.767)
Yes.

Catherine Stenson (47:49.059)
the now growing number of parkrun tourists and you are very welcome in Brooklyn Bridge. you know, to all those New Yorkers who might be listening, you know, do get down and join Ben and his team at Brooklyn Bridge because there's space for everyone, regardless of your, you know, confidence level about running. Just, you know, try.

Ben (48:01.139)
you

Catherine Stenson (48:15.567)
walk, run or volunteer and you know share that parkrun love. So final thing here is a little rapid fire round and so this is just a bit of fun Ben. Favourite parkrun breakfast or post coffee order?

Ben (48:31.2)
if you asked me in the UK, that would have been a full English breakfast at La Mella Cafe. Probably now it's the American in me has would now go for waffles or pancakes with chocolate chip, whipped creams and strawberries. I think that's that'd be my go to. So exactly.

Catherine Stenson (48:49.411)
a short stack!. Love it. Most memorable park run you've ever done other than Brooklyn Bridge.

Ben (48:58.188)
good question.

Probably it's between Cannon Hill park where Adam Gemili was there, such a core memory, getting a photo with his medal from the World Champs. Or I think it's Wollocom Dunes it's called. I did it on a stag do with some friends and I took some non-runners along and I completely didn't realize it was on sand dunes with the sand and that they hated me for the rest of the, yeah, killer and they hated me for the rest of the trip. But it was such a fun experience from my perspective.

Catherine Stenson (49:19.375)
Bye.

Catherine Stenson (49:23.894)
killer.

Catherine Stenson (49:31.236)
watching them struggle. The park run role that you secretly love the most?

Ben (49:33.5)
Yeah.

Ben (49:42.747)
think it's being run director. I like being in charge. I like the megaphone. I just enjoy everybody listening to me.

Catherine Stenson (49:44.281)
Yeah.

London.

Is there a song that would sum up the perfect morning in New York City at Brooklyn Bridge park run?

Ben (49:57.169)
good question.

Ben (50:02.897)
Bill Withers its "Lovely Day".

Catherine Stenson (50:04.789)
yeah, I love that. That was one of my wedding songs. Yeah. And finally, Ben, one word that you'd use when you describe Brooklyn Bridge parkrun. Or one word you'd love people to use to describe it.

Ben (50:06.373)
gets me going, makes me smile every time. Amazing.

Ben (50:33.329)
Spectacular.

Catherine Stenson (50:34.767)
Spectacular. Well, with the backdrop that you have there with Manhattan skyline, the East River, the beautiful piers that have been, you know, renovated and brought back to life, I am sure it is nothing less than spectacular. And chatting to you today has been equally spectacular. I've thoroughly enjoyed hearing your story then and getting the inside track and the ups and downs of

how you've managed to bring the incredible park run movement into New York City. Congratulations, Well done, and may it continue to grow and entertain and create lots and lots more park run fans around the world and in New York City. So thank you so much, Ben, for joining me today.

Ben (51:23.366)
Thank you.

Ben (51:27.371)
Thanks for the invite.

Catherine Stenson (51:28.897)
and I look forward to joining you someday and hopefully soon in New York City. Many thanks.

Ben (51:32.196)
I'll see you then. Look forward to it.