The core team behind a free, weekly 5km run has been recognised for all their work.

Bridport St Mary’s parkrun were named a ‘Volunteer Group of the Year’ in this year’s Volunteer Centre Dorset awards.

Sarah Kay, event director at Bridport St Mary’s parkrun, set up the event with a core team of volunteers nine months ago and started it at the end of June. She nominated the team for the award.

She said: “I nominated our team as I am so proud of them. Certainly, there were times in the nine months setting it up that I didn’t think it would happen and it was all people I hadn’t met before, but we all came together and made it happen.

“It was great to have the recognition of what we do. It’s a really positive thing to be involved with, we aim to be accessible to people and get people outside.

“There were lots of other worthy people nominated, it was nice to see so much volunteer ethos in Dorset.”

The parkrun takes place every Saturday morning from 9am at St Mary’s Field near Bridport Football Club.

Sarah added: “We have a great turnout each week and even when it’s raining, we have around 80 people.

“On good days we have around 130 to 150 people take part - it’s a fantastic way to start the day.

“It is not just about running, it’s a community event and about making new friends. You don’t have to be a great runner, you can walk or jog and it’s free every week. Nobody is too slow to take part and it’s a real community event

“Our participants range in age from four to 90 something.

“We have a core group of about 11 and we need around 20 volunteers each week to make it happen. There’s a fairly small group that do things regularly, but it would be nice to get some more volunteers, so it is not the same people doing it, although it doesn’t have to be a regular commitment.”

For more information and to register, visit parkrun.org.uk/stmarys

To volunteer, email stmaryshelpers@parkrun.com