ParkRun Finally Reaches Lira City

By Frank Oyugi

As the old adage says " work without play makes Jack a dull boy" Lira city dwellers could soon run their way to good health,thanks to the introduction of ParkRun.

ParkRun is a five Kilometres race where diverse people from the community both young and adults come together normally on a weekend to engage in physical activities largely for health benefits.

ParkRun has registered immense success in countries such as South Africa,The United Kingdom and some in the middle East according to James Kempt,the head of event delivery Parkrun Global

"In South Africa we have had a ParkRun where up to 200 people turn up and it is a mazing because people make friends and do alot of networking" says James.

Gill Fordyce is the territorial manager ParkRun.She tells this publication that in countries such as South Africa and the UK where peope come together, there has been social interventions in the lives of the community such as reduction in depression and stress among People grappling with social challenges of life.

It should be noted that Parkrun comes in handy at a time when the Uganda government through the ministry of public service has issued mandatory instructions to all departmental heads to ensure that civil servants engage in physical exercises at least once a week, largely for health benefits such as reducing obesity, managing diabetes and hypertension.

Hypertension is a major risk factor for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, leading to the premature death of an estimated 9.4 million people annually. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates about 22% of the population aged ≥18 years have hypertension.

In Uganda, the most recent data on hypertension among adults was from the Uganda 2014 STEPwise approach to non-communicable disease risk factor surveillance (STEPS) survey [7] and national epidemiological study conducted in 2016 by Lunyera et al [8] showed the overall prevalence at 24.3% and 31.5% respectively. Notably, this STEPS survey recommended public health interventions to curb the prevalence of hypertension in Uganda. 

Public health interventions such as the introduction of walkways and cycling lanes, promotion of consumption of healthy foods, cessation of smoking, and promotion of health seeking have been made towards reducing hypertension in Uganda through the Ministry of Health (MoH). Despite these efforts to reduce the burden of hypertension, their impact has not been measured.

Josephine Ocaka,an active participant and promoter of ParkRun London- UK equally underscored the benefits of this event.

"Personally I have been a beneficiary of the Parkrun ,I have diabetes and was always on Insulin but I have registered significant improvement since I started participating in ParkRun" she told Luo Native.

Asked if this could also aid in nuturing talents of runners in Lango,Peter Lumoro who is a native of Gulu and has been promoting ParkRun said in the recent past they have identified some youths with talents in athletics and some have particpated in the national competitions.

Meanwhile this is an inclusive activity where even those with vision impairment can equally participate as explained by James.

In their maiden entry to Lira City,this robust team was welcomed by the city mayor Sam Atul who expressed his happiness that such a sports event is taking shape on his land.

Atul told the team that Lango has a rich history in athletics and cited Otuke East MP Julius Achon as a living legend and a stestament to that effect adding that ParkRun will further cascade this to another level.

The mayor said they are also in the offing to initiate Akii-Bua run in memory of Olympic medalist - deceased John Akii-Bua who hailed from present day Alebtong district.

ParkRun according to the organisers,is not done on a high way or open roads but rather in a safe environment such as a play field and Lango college playground is the venue being touted for now.