EVERY Saturday morning at 9am runners set out on a 5k run around parks throughout the world.

From July 5, St Helens will join them with its own park run set up by Sutton Athletic Club partnered by St Helens Council and Victoria Park using Heritage Lottery funding.

The free, timed runs will start and finish near the new Victoria Park bandstand behind the Mansion House. Afterwards runners and volunteers are invited for drinks and snacks at the Victorian Bistro managed by Age UK.

Event director Antony Young explained: “Parkruns are friendly and welcoming with the emphasis being firmly on participation and fun rather than racing.

Since the start of the St Helens 10k more and more runners have been taking to the streets so this is a fantastic opportunity to get them all together regularly and build on the superb initiative started by The Steve Prescott Foundation.”

Register as a parkrunner on parkrun.org.uk/about us/organisation/ then print off a barcode and take it to the event to have your run time logged worldwide.

Children under 11 must be accompanied by an adult.

Volunteers to marshal the event should register on sthelenshelpers@parkrun.com