A couple from Doncaster who agreed to get married at parkrun and even celebrated their special day with a wedding day parkrun have revealed how important the weekly event is to their romance.

James and Lynne, who can often be found at their local parkrun, Cusworth Hall parkrun, said: “parkrun means a lot to us.

“It’s our Saturday morning ritual whether we are running, marshalling, catching up with our parkrun family – just kick-starting our weekend. After we first met, around six years ago, many of our dates centred around parkrun since we both enjoyed them so much.

“We settled into a routine, after the pandemic, of going to Cusworth Hall parkrun every week and when we started living together, this became our local parkrun event. We volunteer regularly as well as running, and have made many great friends through parkrun.”

The pair are just two of the 10 million strong parkrun community, of which nearly 400,000 people will run, walk, jog and volunteer at a parkrun each weekend around the world.

It was this parkrun community that appealed to the couple, Lynne explained: “We both joined parkrun as a social way of keeping fit and being part of a group.

“I was already a regular runner, whereas James had managed to get to 46 years old without even running a step!

“But, he really enjoyed the friendly atmosphere and quickly became hooked from his first time at parkrun.”

James proposed to Lynne while she was volunteering as a tailwalker, Lynne added: “I got about a third of the way round the course, when I saw he was standing there with some marshals.

“I was completely amazed by what happened next and, of course, I said yes!

Following our parkrun proposal, we started to plan the wedding, and went for a Saturday as it was easier for our families to attend.

“I turned to James one night, and said ‘shall we do a wedding day parkrun?’ We both decided it was completely necessary as parkrun had been such a big part of our life together so far.”

There was to be one last parkrun twist in their romance, Lynne explained: “The week prior to our wedding had been extremely icy so Cusworth Hall parkrun had been forced to cancel their 200th event.

“But this meant the milestone event now coincided with our wedding day. There was a record turnout of 245 parkrunners, and we saw so many well-wishers and friends – parkrun really is a fantastic community. parkrunning on our wedding day was really non-negotiable given we’d had so many parkrun dates and a wonderful parkrun proposal.

“Our wedding day parkrun being combined with Cusworth’s 200th event meant the stars aligned perfectly – it was just meant to be!”

parkrun is a charity that relies on the kindness of those who can and are able to donate, and the generosity of their partners and funders to ensure that events are free for people to participate in.

parkrun is for free, for everyone, forever and to find out more about the charity and where your nearest event to run, walk, jog or volunteer please visit parkrun.com