RUNNERS came out in force to celebrate Newport parkrun's seventh anniversary.

Held in the shadow of Tredegar House, runners were encouraged to wear red to support the Welsh team at the Commonwealth Games.

There were 299 runners at their celebratory event, including 31 first time runners and team of 24 volunteers.

Event director Howard Mason said: “It was incidental that our seventh birthday celebrations should coincide with the start of the Commonwealth Games at the Gold Coast, Australia.

“So, not only was there birthday cake but hundreds of our participants dressed in red to support the Sport Wales ‘We Are Red’ campaign. We were also proud to welcome Seren Bundy-Davies, the Welsh 400m athlete who started today's event and happily volunteered as part of our event team.”

Fellow event director Liz Mounfield added: “It’s amazing to think that such a simple concept as a free 5k run in a park can have such an impact with more than 12,000 different runners completing Newport parkrun since its launch seven years ago.

“We are so grateful of the support of more than 900 different volunteers in this time. The true impact of the event has been in creating a happy and healthy community which will hopefully continue for many years to come.”

Parkrun is a weekly free, 5km timed run that starts at 9am around the world.

There are now parkruns in all of the Gwent boroughs now has at least one parkrun event – Monmouthshire: Rogiet; Blaenau Gwent: Parc Bryn Bach; Caerphilly: Penallta; Newport: Riverfront and Tredegar House and Torfaen: Cwmbran and Pontypool.

Visit parkrun.org.uk for more information.