Member's statement: Parkrun: Paisley Park
Member's statement by Mr Brian Kingston on .
- MLA
- Mr Brian Kingston
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 14 October 2024
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Parkrun: Paisley Park
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4589507
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Saturday 5 October saw the commencement of Northern Ireland's newest parkrun, at Paisley Park on the West Circular Road in Belfast. That is really positive for the community, as it is the first parkrun in the greater Shankill area. We had 112 finishers and a lot of positive feedback. I thank all who made it possible: the volunteer team, the board of Paisley Park Sportsplex, the Department for Communities, Belfast City Council and Matt Shields of parkrun. We were honoured that, along with the Lord Mayor, Councillor Micky Murray, local athletics legend Derek Graham attended to start the event. That made the connection with a historic achievement on the Paisley Park track in August 1967: the breaking of the four-minute mile for the first time in Northern Ireland, by Kenyan Kip Keino and Derek Graham, the first two finishers in the race. Derek unveiled a plaque marking the inaugural parkrun and his and Kip Keino's historic achievement. Derek was a phenomenal athlete throughout his running career. He was ranked number one in the UK and Ireland over 2 miles and 3 miles in the 1960s. He finished second in the equivalent of the World Athletics Cross Country Championships in 1966, and he held the world record for half marathon for six years from 1970 to 1976. The inaugural Paisley Park parkrun took place on the 20th anniversary of the first ever parkrun, which was held at Bushy Park in England in October 2004.
Parkrun is now a global phenomenon, with over 2,500 events taking place each week around the world. As Members will know, parkruns are free, timed 5 kilometre runs in local parks on Saturday mornings. Once you have registered online and received your barcode, you can turn up at any parkrun and take part. The first parkrun in Northern Ireland and on the island of Ireland took place at the Waterworks in Belfast on 6 November 2010. Today, across Northern Ireland, we have 40 parkruns taking place each week, plus 20 junior parkruns, which cover 2 kilometres. Parkrun continues to expand in Northern Ireland. I am glad to say there are several proposed new ones in the pipeline. There is a small one-off cost to establish each new parkrun of £4,000 plus VAT for all the equipment. After that, there is no ongoing cost either to participants or to the public purse. In some cases, there has been difficulty pinning down a source for the start-up funding. It is sometimes provided by local councils, such as Belfast City Council. The Public Health Agency and Sport NI should also be supportive, given all the health and community benefits that flow from parkruns. Well done to everyone who supports the parkrun activities, particularly the volunteers who make it all happen. Happy 20th birthday, parkrun, and here is to many more.
470 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.03 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- Subject area: Sport (including the GAA), the arts and cultural bodies.
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.03 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.01 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.03 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.02 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.03 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.21 | No |
| Overall judgement | 0.03 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 1.00 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.00 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Sport (including the GAA), the arts and cultural bodies | 0.76 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.11 |
| Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations | 0.06 |
| Immigration, asylum, race, ethnicity and Travellers | 0.03 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.02 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:13 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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