RUNNERS came out in force to celebrate the third birthday of the Sedgefield Parkrun yesterday (March 21).

A special music workout was held before the 5k run, in Hardwick Park, while participants also brought cake to enjoy afterwards.

The weekly event has just under 3,000 regular runners with an average of 112 turning up every week while the session has also clocked up nearly 90,000km in the three years it has been operating.

Sedgefield Parkrun founder, Jane Spink, took part with her family as dozens of eager runners set off at 9am.

“We are in our third year now and it went very well even though it was a cold morning because there is always a friendly atmosphere and everyone supported each other,” Mrs Spink said.

“People were encouraged to bring in home baking so we had quite a range to enjoy afterwards.”

Mrs Spinks said the annual awards were also given out at the run with this year’s winners including Ray Carmichael, who was named volunteer of the year after volunteering more than 40 times, and teenager, Georgina Letts, who was named runner of the year.

“I just want to thank everyone who’s volunteered over the year, it makes it very easy to organise when you have so many willing and enthusiastic volunteers and we are looking forward to continuing the success.”