Southampton Junior Parkrunners celebrated a world first this weekend after completing their 500th event.

Children aged between four and 14 gathered at Riverside Park on Sunday, October 27, becoming the first of 433 events worldwide to reach the impressive milestone.

The weekly junior funrun first started in October 2013.

Each Sunday, children – and some of their parents – complete a 2km course by running around the circumference of Riverside Park.

Speaking to the Echo, Nicole Barry, one of the funrun’s organisers, said it was great to see so many children active each week.

She said: “Today we’re celebrating our 500th event – and we’re the first junior parkrun event globally to reach that number.

“It’s wonderful to have reached that landmark, it’s great to see so many children out running and hopefully celebrating the day.

“It’s fantastic to see the fun that the children have each week and it’s also a great way to be a part of the local community, getting some exercise, and getting moving.

“It’s very rewarding, the parkrun does kickstart everyone’s Sunday morning.”

Children competing in the funrun at Riverside Park (Image: Matt Davey) READ MORE: We tried Southampton FC's new Knightwood Lounge hospitality

Nicole also said the weekly funrun would not be possible without the volunteers who enable it to work each week, with as many as 25 volunteers helping out each Sunday.

She added: “We’ve had a huge number of volunteers over the 11 years we’ve been doing this to help this event happen and we couldn’t do this event without them.”

The Lord Mayor of Southampton, Cllr Dave Shields, counted children down at the start-line and welcomed them as they finished to mark the special occasion.

Speaking to the Echo, he said: “I’m really happy to be here today to kickstart proceedings, it’s something I’m looking forward to.

“We do have a bit of an (inactivity) epidemic in our city – as there is everywhere else – so it’s great to be getting kids more active, more often.

“I’m so pleased to be able to support this, there’s lots of amazing volunteers as well. It’s the first time I’ve been to something like this, and I’d like to see more of them in possible, around the city, it’s a great initiative.”