Southport Boy Hailed as Superhero at Local Junior Parkrun
Hesketh Park junior parkrun praised for creating accessible atmosphere for young
Southport parkrunner
The parents of a young parkrunner from Southport, have praised the Hesketh Park junior parkrun
team for the inclusive environment they create for their autistic son, Albie.
Albie is a running fanatic and has been able to connect with members of the community and make
friends through parkrun, his parents, Peter and Natalina said: “Hesketh Park junior parkrun has been
extremely inclusive and we are so thankful to all the volunteers with how he has been included.
“We have never been made to feel like he is any different to any other child. There have been
challenges for him along the way, and at times it can feel overwhelming to us as parents but we would
encourage any parent with a child with additional needs to go along.
“It's a little community and we love Albie mixing and meeting so many new people. It helps to build
social skills, understandings of instructions and afterwards he has a little play in the park and enjoys
going into the cafe for his fab ice lolly or ice cream!
“He tells the lady at the till what he would like and these are little things that do not come easily for
Albie so it gives him opportunities each week to work on those skills.”
Albie is one of the 10 million strong parkrun community, of which nearly 400,000 people will take
part in a parkrun each weekend around the world.
Hesketh Park junior parkrun are part of the network of junior parkruns put on by volunteers which
give children aged 4 to 14 the opportunity to be physically active outside together with their families
on Sunday mornings in the UK, Ireland and Australia.
The support of the volunteer team has been vital in getting Albie involved, his parents explained:
“Small adjustments have really helped Albie.
“He struggles with the warm-up at the beginning because it can be too crowded for him, but the
parkrun volunteers are lovely and he can miss this part and wait at the start line.”
Albie has now done 25 junior parkruns, which has been a real standout moment for him, his parents,
Peter and Natalina explained: “Albie's stand out moment was when he got his blue half marathon
wristband, he struggled to go up and collect it when his name was called out but did make everyone
giggle as he shouted, 'no its mega boy' which is his super hero alter ego he likes to be called and the
Run Director then went onto say mega boy down the microphone.
“Albie has had a keen interest in running since he could walk, during the pandemic, Albie began his
first steps, and he would pace up and down our living room with his eyes shut bumping into
everything.
“He soon realised it’s probably best to open your eyes, he then ran up and down the garden all day
every day and was fascinated with his shadow.
“As soon as the parks re opened we would naturally take him down, to play on the slides - but no,
Albie ran the perimeter of the play areas, and we used to joke and say let's put a smart watch on him.
“Naturally when parkrun began, we thought let's give it a try, he loves running but we were unsure if
he would run the right way.
“Some weeks he will walk, some he will be running and sometimes he will walk round chatting to the
volunteers.
“He just goes along for pure pleasure and it's amazing to see every week and to witness – he’s
definitely won the hearts of a lot of volunteers!
“parkrun for Albie is a chance to do something he loves and enjoys with other children.
“He appears to get a great sense of pride from crossing the finish line and getting cheered on and one
thing is guaranteed Albie always smiles and has the bestest morning.”
Dr Simon Tobin, a GP in Southport and Co-Event Director at Hesketh Park junior parkrun, said: “It’s
been wonderful for our team to see Albie making so much progress and truly moving to see him
enjoying some exercise and having fun with his wonderful parents, Peter and Natalina.
“We've worked hard to remove some of the barriers that we know children with autism and their
families face when they consider any form of physical activity.
“We have several children and young adults with autism who participate and volunteer each week
leading our pre-event warm-ups, marshalling and barcode scanning.
“Inclusivity often starts with a conversation to understand the barriers to participation and by asking
what we can do together to make our event as accessible as possible.”
Junior parkrun is provided completely free every week for children and families by the charity
parkrun, supported by local volunteers and both parkrun and junior parkrun are in thousands of
communities all over the world.
To find out more about the charity and sign up to take part please visit parkrun.com
