Children were in charge at the Great Lines weekly parkrun as volunteers decided to give themselves a break.

The jobs of run director, timekeepers, marshals, scanners, token sorters and warm-up leaders for the 5km run were handled by junior runners.

Run director, 12-year-old Katelyn Jarvis, said: “After we had introduced ourselves, we did a warm up with music and all the adults joined in.

"Then the marshals were all around the course giving out high fives and support to the runners. The other mini volunteers were ready at their posts for when the runners finished.

“My roles were run director, new runners briefing, warm-up leader, token sorting and I also helped with scanning. I really enjoyed all of my roles, especially the warm-up.”

She was helped by Jamie Coleman, Rosie Coleman, William Kingston, Alex Kingston, Leyla Yusuf, Sophie Peppiat-Wildman, Ryan Gurnett, Maisie Crittenden, Elizabeth Fry, Matilda Prankard, Elliot Pilcher, Connie Pilcher, Bethany Williams, and Daniel Smith, 12.

Jamie, 10, said: “I was one of the timers. I said 289 ‘well dones’ to the finishers – I really enjoyed it and would love to do it again.”

And fellow timekeeper Sophie, seven, said she really enjoyed the day but admitted: “I think I may have beeped a few in a bit late so sorry about that.”

Rosie, 12, helped with barcode scanning and said: "It was great fun - today made me appreciate how important volunteers are to parkrun. I would definitely do it again."

William, six, said: “My job was barcode scanning. I liked it because it was fun and I liked working the machine.”

Bar code scanner Alex, six, said: "I liked it but I would rather be a marshall because I didn't like scanning the wristbands.”

Five-year-old Leyla said: “I liked giving the grown ups high fives and cheering them.”

Ryan, 10, said: “I loved marshalling today because of the great atmosphere and all the high fives. I'm looking forward to doing it again in the future.”

Maisie, five, said: "I loved helping at the adult’s parkrun, it was fun getting lots of high fives and my brother had fun as well."

Elizabeth, eight, said: “It was very exciting seeing how quick the quickest people are and how many people there are. I loved it.”

Matilda, six, said: “My favourite bit was when there was a big line of people and all of them gave me a high five.”

Elliot, 10, said: “I really liked being in charge of the adults, and loved the atmosphere”

Five-year-old Connie said: “I really enjoyed high fiving everyone even the fast runners did, and I loved seeing all the dogs running.”

Bethany, six, said: "I really loved seeing all the adults doing the gorilla stomps.”

Daniel, 12, said: “It was really great to see the support from all the runners and to meet new children. I would certainly consider doing it again.”

It was the 156th run at the Great Lines and saw 289 runners take part, including 23 first timers and 41 who recorded personal bests.

Visit www.parkrun.org.uk/greatlines

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