Two-time Olympic champion Alistair Brownlee visited one of his local parkruns this weekend to surprise a former teacher and cheer on the runners.
Brownlee changed the course of Olympic-distance triathlon – both globally and in the UK – with those golds at London in 2012 and Rio in 2016.
His sporting dreams had been formed ever since hearing London had been awarded the Games when he was a schoolboy at Bradford Grammar School.
And just across the road from that school is Lister Park – one of the region’s most popular parkruns, where runners and walkers complete 5km each Saturday morning at 9am.
Getting active
The first one took place in 2010 and it was number 687 this Saturday. And volunteering at a staggering 500 of those has been Tony Kingham, a former teacher of Brownlee’s and the reason for the sporting great’s visit.
Kingham taught modern languages at Bradford Grammar and for the last two decades has been the marshall on the parkrun’s one hill – how named “Tony’s hill” in his honour. Without fail he encourages all participants as they climb the ‘teeny tiny’ hill three times over the course of the 5km.
He was in position again on Saturday but this time it was Brownlee and over 600 runners who were there to acclaim his volunteering feat.
Kingham is also a coach at athletics club Bingley Harriers, where he helped both Alistair and Jonny Brownlee – Jonny still runs for them and represented them at the Yorkshire Cross Country Championships earlier this year.
And speaking to the BBC on Saturday, Kingham explained why the parkrun is so important in terms of encouraging young people to get active in a friendly environment.
He said: “It’s not just running but anything really that keeps them active.
“They all sit around so much at home looking at iPads, it’s great for them to get out and get a chance to get some fresh air.
“And they all enjoy it. That’s the great thing about it.”
Inspiring others
Alistair Brownlee, who retired from competitive triathlon late last year, echoed those sentiments.
He was quoted as saying: “It’s so important to have someone like Tony inspiring young people, and now more than ever.”
“We’ve got so many challenges in society keeping people active, keeping people healthy, keeping communities going.
“Things like local sport clubs like Bingley Harriers, things like parkrun, are a bedrock of sport and health, but also society and community.”
Many Bingley Harriers – including lots of youngsters – were in attendance to underline the support.
And both Alistair and Jonny have devoted much time and energy helping kids – nearly 70,000 at the last count – get a first taste of triathlon through the Brownlee Foundation, which they founded following London 2012.
They have recently launched a new Leeds Triathlon, which takes place for the first time this August, and all profits will be donated to the Brownlee Foundation to support its mission to provide those free mini-triathlons for primary school children across the country.
