A global summer parks challenge has been launched for runners with Strava accounts.
The event provides weekly and summer‑long challenges, pitting runners against other park‑running competitors—and themselves.
The Summer Parks Challenge (not affiliated with parkrun) originates in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, and is available worldwide.
Organizers expect the second-year running of the event to be a hit with athletes looking to add motivation to their summer volume training programs.
Three summer-long challenges
- Most parks entered (minimum distance required: 300 m per park, unless the park is smaller than 300 m).
- The widest variety of parks entered on foot.
- Highest average number of parks per run over the 100‑day event.
There are also weekly challenges to keep runners (and walkers) engaged in the short term while keeping their eyes on the two mystery grand prizes provided by Frontrunners.ca, one of the event sponsors.
Parks everywhere…
During the inaugural year in 2025, first‑place finisher Mark Shier logged 1,949 total parks, including repeated visits. Meanwhile, Gary Duncan entered 1,057 different parks with a total of 1,339. Many others simply entered parks when they could and focused on the weekly challenges.
“There are way more parks than most people realize,” said Claire Smithers, an active park runner. “This makes it so much more interesting while getting in summer run volume for cross‑country season or for a fall marathon.”
The event raises money for The Land Conservancy, a not‑for‑profit organization that purchases private land to convert into parks.
Any park designated by a community or government entity counts as a “park” during the challenge.
State, municipal, provincial, and national parks all qualify, as do National Historic Sites, tribal parks, conservancies, endowment lands, and UNESCO‑protected lands, among others. The organizers try to err on the side of “yes” to include more “parks.”
The 2026 Summer Parks Challenge runs 100 days from May 18 to August 25.
