a man talks to crowd of runners at parkrun event
Colin Wilmott, event director, give the pre-parkun instructions to runners in Cwmbran

Today’s Cwmbran parkrun saw 239 people try the new 5km route for the first time.

Since 2016, the weekly free walk, jog or run has started and finished in Northfields. The team of volunteers who organise parkrun worked with Torfaen Council and Parkrun UK to get permission to change the course.

It now starts and finishes at Cwmbran Boating Lake (at the same time of 9am every Saturday) which means easy access to toilets and a cafe for participants to socialise and relax after crossing the finish line.

Colin Wilmott, event director, told Cwmbran Life: “It’s fantastic to be able to see them do the lap of the lake to start with.

“It’s amazing to think that we’ve been going nearly eight years and there are still people getting in touch with us saying ‘oh, so what’s parkrun and where is it and when does it start and how often is it?’ So if we’ve encouraged a few new runners it’s fantastic.”

Parkrun is free to take part but you have to register online first. It’s not a race, you take part at your own pace. Once registered you get a barcode that show at the finish line to get your time.

Watch runners start Cwmbran parkrun’s new route for the first time

Video of the entire 5km Cwmbran parkrun route