Exploring the health-promoting potential of the 'parkrun' phenomenon: What factors are associated with higher levels of participation?

Purpose:“parkrun” is a free and increasingly popular weekly 5-km walk/run international community event, representing a novel setting for physical activity (PA) promotion. However, little is known about who participates or why. This study aimed to identify sociodemographic, health, behavioral, individual, social, and environmental factors associated with higher levels of participation.Design:Cross-sectional.Setting:Tasmania, Australia; June 2016.Participants:Three hundred seventy two adult parkrun participants.Measures:Online survey measuring sociodemographic, health, individual, social and environmental factors, parkrun participation, and PA.Analysis:Descriptive statistics, zero-truncated Poisson regression models.Results:Respondents (n = 371) were more commonly women (58%), aged 35 to 53 years (54%), and occasional or nonwalkers/runners (53%) at registration. A total of 44% had overweight/obesity. Half had non-adult children, most spoke English at home, and 7% reported PA-limiting illness/injury/disabil...