2.5 Children at parkrun

Since parkrun started in 2004 we have welcomed children to participate, as walkers, joggers, runners or volunteers at all of our events. Across all parkrun and junior parkrun events, children are permitted to register and participate from the age of four, at junior parkrun events they can only walk, jog, or run until the day before their 15th birthday.

Exceptions to this rule are subject to the discretion of parkrun head office. Examples include those over 14 with special educational needs (SEN) or those with a registered disability, for whom social interaction and physical activity may be difficult but important.

Every week we welcome tens of thousands of children to our events. This creates safeguarding challenges across a diverse range of environments and as such it’s critical that we present a clear and concise position.

We want children to have an overwhelmingly positive experience at parkrun; participating because they want to, in a way they want to; and in a safe environment at all times.

• At our 5k events, children under the age of 11 must be within arm's reach of a parent, guardian or designated adult of the parents' choice at all times.
• At junior parkrun events, children can participate on their own from the age of four until the day before their 15th birthday.
• At junior parkrun events, children under the age of 11 must be accompanied to the start, and from the finish, of the event.
• As with adults, children must always participate on foot. The only exception to this is that we do welcome wheelchair users where the course permits. In appropriate circumstances, children may, if needed, be carried for short periods, at a sensible walking pace and not while running.

2.5.1 Unaccompanied under 11s at 5k events

At our 5k events we require children under the age of 11 to be accompanied at all times, this is to ensure their safety and prevent the volunteer team from needing to directly supervise very young children.

However, volunteer teams are not required to proactively search for unaccompanied under 11s, rather they should remain observant at all times and only intervene where appropriate, using the following principles:

• It should always be stated in the first-timers and pre-event briefings that under 11s should be accompanied at all times.
• If event teams think an under 11 might have been unaccompanied they should enquire in a positive and friendly manner, ideally by identifying their parent or guardian, and then sensitively explain the policy. In almost all cases this solves the issue.
• Where event teams believe that a family is repeatedly breaking this rule, they should politely explain that if they continue to run unaccompanied they may not be included in the results in future.
• If at this point their behaviour does not change, event teams should inform parkrun HQ via eventsupport@parkrun.com who will assist.
• Whenever an under 11 is identified has having walked, jogged, or run, without being accompanied, this should be logged as an incident by the Results Processor, Run Director, or Event Director.

2.5.2 Volunteering

Children and young people are a part of every parkrun community, and we encourage them to volunteer.

Children aged 4 - 10

Children aged 4 - 10 are always encouraged to volunteer, however:

• They must be capable of doing the role assigned to them
• They must volunteer within close proximity to their parent/ carer/ adult of their parent’s choosing
• Event teams must never take responsibility for pairing U11s with adults
• They must not be left for event teams to ‘keep an eye on’ during the event; we are not free childcare!
• Be generous with your event credits; if children help sort tokens at the end then give them a credit, you never know what it might lead to!

There are no set ratios of U11 children: responsible adults:

• Common sense can dictate
• Always try to accommodate requests, remember a parent with multiple children might find it difficult to attend at all if the children are not also involved.

Example: A parent with four young children emails to ask if they can all volunteer at your event. They may not be able to accurately do time keeping at a busy event, and it may not be sensible for them to marshal at a remote spot, far from the start/ finish area, in case the adult is needed to attend an emergency situation. However, they could still parkwalk, tailwalk, marshal a spot within good sight of the start/ finish area, help with finish token support etc.

Young people aged 11 - 17

Children and teenagers aged 11 - 17 are a valued group of our parkrun communities, and should always be encouraged to volunteer at events.

Young people in this age bracket may volunteer without being in close proximity to their parent/ carer, however for both safeguarding, and health and safety reasons, they must still be within close proximity of a responsible adult when they volunteer.

As with all aspects of event delivery, it is best when teams keep things simple and allow common sense to dictate, however we appreciate that having U18s volunteering at your event who aren’t looked after by parents/ carers can raise concerns so we have created the following section of frequently asked questions (FAQs):

FAQs about volunteers aged 11 - 17:

Q: What does ‘close proximity’ mean?
A: They should be within close enough shouting/ walking distance that should there be an emergency, for example a heart attack/ lost child/ aggressive dog walker, they can quickly and easily get the support of an adult volunteer to deal with the situation.

Q: Is there an expected ratio of adults: teenagers?
A: No, there is no set ratio. Common sense and local knowledge can be employed. For example, you could sensibly have ten teenagers on scanning duty at a busy event, alongside just a couple of adults, if all the teens are known to you, and generally reliable. However, you may only want one teenager on finish token support, alongside two adults, if the teenager is particularly nervous, or has specific additional needs.

Q: How do we decide if someone is a ‘responsible adult’?
A: If young people are volunteering alongside a responsible adult, ensure that:

• They are known to the event team, not a tourist who has never been to the event before;
• Both parties, and where sensible, parents/ carers are comfortable with the pairing; remember not all adults are comfortable being paired with teenagers;
• The roles they are doing aren’t out of sight and earshot of others, for example a remote turn point in a wood;
• Where possible, have more than one young person paired with the responsible volunteer.

Q: Do I need to get parents to sign paperwork?
A: No, please do not create your own paperwork; there are strict data protection restrictions around recording and storing information.

Q: I have too many teenage volunteers, can I turn them away?
A: Event safety must take priority, but where possible please don’t ever turn volunteers away. Remember you can’t have too many marshals, parkwalkers, or tail walkers (who doesn’t love a party at the back!). However, if you have young people wanting to sign up to regular volunteering, for example for a Duke of Edinburgh (DofE) Award, and you feel you are at capacity of the number of young people you can give safe, meaningful, and regular volunteering to, you may want to think about creating a waiting list and/ or letting them know about other local events that might have more capacity.

Q: My event is being used as a volunteer provider for an outside organisation, for example The Duke of Edinburgh Award, what extra steps do I need to take?
A: As far as possible, treat young people volunteering through a scheme in the same way you would treat any volunteer. Remember, although you may be needed to fill in extra paperwork, you are not an official Assessor. If asked to provide official Assessor (or similar) contact details, please always use the event email address, and not your own personal details.

Q: Where does my duty of care start and finish for teenage volunteers?
A: Your duty of care for teenage volunteers is the same as it is for any member of our parkrun community. We are not supervising, training, or teaching them, but we do still have a common sense duty of care to ensure that they are not put in a position of unreasonable risk, for example, we wouldn’t pair a nervous 13 year old teenager with an unknown adult volunteer and ask them to marshal in a spot that is out of sight and earshot of others. In addition, if you had concerns about them, either at a parkrun or about issues affecting them outside of parkrun, for example if they disclosed or showed signs of abuse, or if you had a suspicion they were being groomed or were in an unhealthy relationship, you should raise an incident and report it using parkrun’s standard policies and procedures as outlined on the safeguarding hub. In any emergency situation you would contact emergency services in your country, and then inform parkrun via our Critical Incident Line.

Q: Do we need to ask parents/ carers to accompany their young people?
A: Where possible, we’d love parents/ carers to come along, so please do encourage them to come and volunteer or run/ walk/ jog. If the young person is part of a volunteer scheme that will mean they’ll be attending regularly, for a lengthy period of time, for example Duke of Edinburgh, you may want to request that the parent/ carer comes along for the first week so they can meet the team, see how parkrun works, and ask any questions. However, do remember that not everyone has parents/ carers who can come along, or that it may be better for the young person to build independence and come alone, which is absolutely fine.

Q: What should I do if I have any concerns about the young person?
A: If you have concerns about anyone at your event, please contact the parkrun safeguarding team. If your concerns are of an urgent/ emergency nature, please contact relevant emergency services in your country in the first instance, and let the parkrun Critical Incident Line know, and finally make a follow up incident report for parkrun at the earliest opportunity.

Q: What should I do if the young person isn’t fulfilling their volunteer role how they should be?
A: There may be multiple reasons why a young person isn’t fulfilling their volunteer role, for example they may not understand what is expected of them, or they may have additional needs. Please be patient, talk to them about the role to try and establish what is wrong, and make adjustments where you can, such as buddying them up with a more experienced volunteer, or giving them a different role to try. Remember that for some, just turning up on a Saturday morning can be a big achievement. If problems persist, please seek advice from your ambassador. If there is a significant cause for concern - for example with a young person’s conduct whilst volunteering (such as bullying) please seek advice from the safeguarding team or event support as appropriate.

Q: Can I connect with the young person on social media?
A: No. As per the guidelines in our Social Media Safeguarding Guide, ensure that all communications with U18s is only through official channels. If a young person tries to connect with you on any social media, politely decline.

Q: Can I add the young person to WhatsApp groups?
A: No. We know that many events use WhatsApp to manage rosters etc. however, we ask that you don’t add U18s to WhatsApp groups in line with our Social Media Safeguarding Guide, but instead use the event email to correspond with them.

Q: Are there any volunteer roles U18s can’t do?
A: No! U18s can do all volunteer roles, including that of Run Director, if shadowed by an appropriate adult. Should they be doing the role of Run Director, please ensure the appropriate adult is also a Run Director, so that should an emergency situation occur, for example if the defibrillator is needed, a correctly trained and experienced person is available.

Q: Can a teenager marshal unaccompanied?
A: Allow common sense to dictate:

• Example one: A 5k, one-lapper, with a marshal at a halfway turn point in a woods, not within close proximity of a responsible adult volunteer, out of sight and sound of adult support should they need it, wouldn’t be appropriate.
• Example two: A 2k, two-lapper, with a marshal point 100m from the finish funnel, within good sight and calling distance of all the adults at the start/ finish area, a sensible teenager would be fine to marshal this.

2.5.3 Event team responsibility

• At no point should event teams take responsibility for pairing children under the age of 11 with an adult.
• As with all volunteers, event teams must provide children who volunteer a high-vis vest, provide adequate training in the relevant role, and also give them clear information about what to do in case of an emergency or if they require assistance.
• The under 11s policy is in place as a support tool for event teams to prevent inappropriate participation by younger children. The key principles of this policy should be communicated at all first-timer and pre-event briefings, as well as repeated frequently on social media and event news pages. We should not be apologetic when explaining this policy.
• All discussions with a parent or guardian should be carried out in a supportive manner. Some parents find it difficult and it can often be difficult for parents whose children are much faster than them. We should be understanding of this and provide encouragement but stress that the policy must be adhered to and faster children should be asked to slow down so that their adult can keep up.
• Anything of concern should be raised with parkrun HQ immediately, where appropriate action will be taken. In extreme cases, particularly where a child is seen as at immediate risk of harm, local emergency services should be contacted.
• At no point should teams attempt to physically prevent anyone from participating at parkrun events. If event teams believe a situation is unsafe, we ask them to contact emergency services. Our events are delivered in public areas of open space and the only sanction we are able to apply is to remove results, which should only be done by parkrun HQ and in rare circumstances.
• Running whilst carrying a child of any age (whether in a front or back baby-carrier/harness, in arms, on shoulders or piggyback) is not permitted during parkrun events, as it poses a substantial safety risk. Walking whilst carrying a baby or child is permitted as long as their safety and welfare is not compromised.
• Children can be pushed around our events in a buggy but should be dressed appropriately, comfortable, and be secure throughout. They should also have reached a stage of physical development where they are able to withstand the rigours of course-specific conditions.