During the year, you might start hearing people talking about parkrun special events on your Parkrunday morning outing or on the very lively unofficial parkrun social media channels. This is related to a very complicated and esoteric concept: an annual parkrun that happens not on a Saturday. Philosophically, I find it intriguing, a bit like a chicken and egg conundrum: if parkrun takes place on a Tuesday rather than on Parkrunday, does that Tuesday changes name to Parkrunday even if it isn’t the sixth day of the week? (Sorry, stray American readers, Parkrunday IS the sixth day of the week, starting your weeks on Sunday is just plain weird).
Update: last updated end of August 2023, to add 2024 dates
What are parkrun special events?
All parkrun countries are allowed to hold 2 events on days different from your usual Saturday morning appointment. One is consistent across the globe and it is on the 1st of January. I used to think the idea of waking up at sunrise to go running the morning after celebrating New Year’s Eve was as bonkers as it gets, but I’ve now done it a couple of times and it is great! Probably also because I don’t spent the night drinking until 5am anymore, I guess 🙂
The second day is left to the discretion of each country organisation, but it has to be the same day across the country: individual events cannot just pick and choose at their will. A special day is selected and then individual event team decide if they want to and can hold it.
As you can read on the official parkrun page, the tradition started in Bushy park, where they have been holding a special event on Christmas morning since 2004. That also means that in the UK, 25 December is the other day, making the winter holiday period a fun parkrun time if you are not abroad, with 2 special events and, often, at least one regular Parkrunday.
Parkrun special events world schedule
The selected days can theoretically change, but they have been fairly stable historically. You can check it out on the official page, or you can see the list below below.
Up to August 2023, three parkrun special events were set for celebrations whose calendar day changes (Finland, Netherlands and USA). In August 2023, parkrun HQ made an announcement aimed at stopping the recent trend of chasing the annual parkrun Nordic Double, ie attending two special events in a row made possible by the consecutive scheduling of the Danish parkrun special event and the Swedish parkrun special event.
As of 2024, all Nordic countries (Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark) will have their annual parkrun special event on Ascension Day, a variable calendar day falling 40 days after Easter.
So, unless you are really really fast and have access to a private Concorde, this is the end of the parkrun Nordic double.
At the moment, Austria and the joiner country Lithuania have not yet selected a special event day.
| Country | Special event | Variable? | Date | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 date | 2024 date | 2025 date | |||
| Australia | Christmas Day | 25 December | |||
| Austria | None | n/a | |||
| Canada | Canada Day | 01 July | |||
| Denmark | Ascension Day (2024) | ✅ | – | 09 May | 29 May |
| Finland | Ascension Day | ✅ | – | 09 May | 29 May |
| France | Christmas Day | 25 December (?) | |||
| Germany | German Unity Day | 03 October | |||
| Ireland | Christmas Day | 25 December | |||
| Italy | Christmas Day | 25 December | |||
| Japan | Greenery Day | 04 May | |||
| Lithuania | None | n/a | |||
| Malaysia | Malaysia Day | 16 September | |||
| Netherlands | Whit Monday | ✅ | 09 May | 20 May | 09 June |
| New Zealand | Christmas Day | 25 December | |||
| Norway | Ascension Day (2024) | ✅ | – | 09 May | 29 May |
| Poland | Boxing Day | 26 December | |||
| Singapore | National Day | 09 August | |||
| South Africa | Freedom Day | 27 April | |||
| Sweden | Ascension Day (2024) | ✅ | – | 09 May | 29 May |
| United Kingdom | Christmas Day | 25 December | |||
| United States | Thanksgiving | ✅ | 23 November | 28 November | 27 November |
French parkrun events are suspended at the moment because of medical certificate requirements.
parkrun tourism via special events
Travelling to new parkrun events nearby or taking the opportunity to visit new parkrun events while on a weekend or longer break away from home is a great way to mix running and exploring. I love parkrun tourism and parkrun special events are a nice way to mix it up and, potentially, see events in different countries.
This is also the reason I thought about writing this parkrun blog post today: next week on the 5th and 6th of June, there is the annual marvel that is the Nordic parkrun double: two consecutive special events in the lovely Scandinavian countries of Denmark and Sweden (trivia points: Denmark was the first country to embrace parkrun after the UK is the oldest surviving country to still embrace parkrun after the UK. The first non-UK venue was actually in Zimbabwe, as pointed out on Reddit by u/cranberrycactus. The Zimbabwean event is sadly no more). I happen to have a business trip in Stockholm booked for the 7th, so I am most likely going to jump on the opportunity and run my first Swedish event the day before. For a while, I even thought about flying out to Denmark on Sunday night, spend a day there to run a Danish event (some lovely parkrun events in Copenhagen) and then hop to Sweden for my business-parkrun double.
In the end, that was a bit too crazy even for me, so I will only do one country. Also, the historical combo for the Scandì double (Copenaghen + Malmo, since it’s just over the bridge) is not possible anymore: starting from 2023, authorities have withdrawn permission and Malmo cannot hold the special event anymore, since the proximity was bringing too many tourists to the park.
How to prepare for special events
Not much to do besides getting yourself to your chosen venue and making sure you have your barcode with you (and running shoes, ideally)… but if you are getting on a plane on purpose, please please please, check in advance that the venue you have picked has confirmed they will host a parkrun special event on the day. Not all events are on: teams can decide or they might not be allowed to go ahead because of alternative events on their park. This was the case for the chosen target in Stockholm: Haga parkrun will not go ahead, unfortunately, but at least I have an alternative in the suburbs of the Swedish capital.
So, remember:
- Check the country parkrun special events webpage (linked in the table above)
- Check the specific event social media channels: some might find out pretty late they don’t have enough volunteers
- Make sure you know how to get there on time in the morning from where you are sleeping
- Check start time! Sweden, apparently, starts at 9.30am! So much more civilised 🙂
parkrun challenges and special events
If you are tracking parkrun challenges and you are doing with one of the parkrun apps I have recommended, you might have seen a number of challenges that can be completed only on special events or can be made more interesting by special events.
The picture on the left shows the Daily challenge: it can only be completed attending a parkrun on a day other than Parkrunday, ie running on Christmas Day, New Year day or a special event abroad if you are based in the UK.
The second one is one of the several parkrun tourism achievements: visit an event in at least 4 countries. It looks like I might be on my way to completing it 🙂
Let me know if you have any thoughts or if I got anything wrong… or if you have been at any of non-Saturday parkrun and thought it was different from your usual Parkrunday. I think it is
Slight tweak to your table: Canada Day (July 1) was a Saturday in 2023, but will be Monday in 2024.