Jamaica Pond parkrun’s goal is to provide free weekly exercise for everyone in the community.  Started in Jamaica Pond in 2017, Jamaica Pond parkrun uses a series walking and running trails along one of Olmstead’s picturesque gems along the Emerald Necklace.  All paces, all abilities, all ages are welcome.  

• Concept: We host a free timed 5k run, every Saturday morning at 9 am.  Anyone can participate. It is free to attend – just turn up.  Participants can choose to walk, jog or run the course, or alternatively can volunteer at each event.  Volunteering is easy to do – and largely consists of cheering parkrunners along the course and chatting with curious passers-by.
• Event structure: We meet at the Pinebank Promontory at 0845 for a Run Brief, the run starts at 0900.  The Run Brief is designed to welcome new parkrunners, outline the course, the timing system, safety issues (i.e. tree branches on the trail) and announce where to meet for coffee & conversation afterward. 
  • The course is 5km and on a paved surface.  From the start line, parkrunners head along the Pinebank Promontory towards Jamaica Pond.  They complete one lap around the pond in a clockwise direction, turn around, and complete the second lap in an anti-clockwise direction.  Once complete, parkrunners head back up to the Pinebank Promontory for the finish.  After the run, we head to the local coffee house for coffee and conversation.  This truly helps us to build our community. 
  • A run report is generated every week and published on our website.  We include encouraging stories about our parkrun community – this could be if someone achieves a personal record, or if they have attended the most parkruns, or if they were really good at cheering others along the course.  The report is complemented with photos from each event. 
  • Although the event is timed, there are no winners at parkrun, instead, we have finishers! This concept encourages parkrunners to improve their fitness level against their own times, and regularly return again and again.