Children shine bright at this weekend's Mountlucas parkrun

It was a cold and drizzly morning for Mountlucas parkrun this weekend, but shining brightly through the showers were the underage participants and volunteers at the event.

There were six participants under the age of 18 at this weekend's event held at the at Bord na Móna Mountlucas windfarm.

Leading the underage pack were siblings Heidi and George, who are no stranger to parkrun having completed 86 and 98 parkruns respectively.

The next under-18 finisher was RJ, who achieved a new personal best time of 27 minutes and 20 seconds. He was followed by his brother Nathan and sister Fiadh. The trio of siblings have completed a combined total of almost 450 parkruns.

Fiadh's role for the day was supporting another underage participant, 6-year-old Kayla, who completed her first-ever parkrun. While Kayla is a regular participant in junior parkrun (a 2km event held on Sundays in various venues through the country), and has attended Mountlucas parkrun frequently while being pushed in the buggy as a baby and then as a toddler by her father Neil, this was her first time completing the 5km course on her own.

Her finish time was an amazing 37 minutes and 29 seconds. She may have been spurred on by her mother Cuizhi who last week completed her first ever marathon, and who ran alongside Kayla for her first ever parkrun!

Children also shone brightly as part of this week's volunteer team. Siblings Pearl, Bruce and Ruben all volunteered at the event in various roles.

This was 5-year-old Ruben's first time ever to volunteer at parkrun. He was undoubtedly encouraged by his older siblings who are regular volunteers and participants at the event.

This weekend, Pearl handed out finish tokens as participants crossed the finish line, Bruce scanned and sorted finish tokens, and Ruben assisted with course checking, setup and general support.

Mountlucas parkrun takes place at Bord na Móna Mountlucas windfarm every Saturday morning at 9.30am sharp.

For more information see: parkrun.ie/mountlucas