THEY get tens of thousands of people running across the UK, and now the popular parkrun project is planned for Prudhoe.

A combined community project has set the ball rolling for a free weekly 5km run at the town's Tyne Riverside Country Park, with 48 volunteers already in place to help out with the hosting of the runs.

More than £1,000 of the required £3,000 to get the scheme up and running has been acquired through donations from local running clubs, and it should be up-and-running within six weeks of the group finding the outstanding total of £1,850.

There are hundreds of parkruns held throughout the UK, with some overseas too, with hundreds of people turning out to take in the three mile course at 9am on Saturdays.

The formula has already proven a winning one as it attracts entries from all walks of life, and sporting organisations from the Tyne Valley are clubbing together to introduce it to the district.

While spearheaded by local athlete Holly Kelleher and her team at Castle Tri triathlon club, the parkrun project also has the strong backing of its neighbours One Life Racing triathlon club, Tynedale Harriers and Stocksfield Striders running club.

Northumberland county councillor for Prudhoe North Eileen Burt is also championing the cause, agreeing to fund the purchase of a defibrillator to be placed on the visitor centre building and contribute towards improving the surface of the trail, to meet parkrun's terms.

Holly said: "The parkrun is free which is the biggest thing, as it is all inclusive and people can run with their children.

"There's very few races where you can bring your children with you, plus other road races are very expensive.

"I run a 'Couch to 5k' group at Castle Tri to get people into running, and I am concerned they will stop once they complete the course but this provides somewhere they can go on a weekly basis.

"The closest ones to us are at Newcastle or Gibside, but there's nowhere in Tynedale and the riverside is such a beautiful area.

"It would be good for Prudhoe, and bringing people into the town is no bad thing."

The parkrun will bring with it a number of benefits, including social and health for individuals and economic boosts for businesses.

Holly said: "At the Tynedale 10K, I suffered a bad injury so I volunteered for the Gibside parkrun for 15 weeks and I made loads of friends, and I still keep in touch with them now. It is a brilliant way of meeting like-minded people."