The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Friday, May 26, 2017 3Brooklin Town Crier Not just a walk in the park! Interested in a picturesque Saturday morning jaunt through and around the Brooklin Fair grounds? Then join the Park Run group, pictured here as they begin the first of four loops of the park, a 5 km distance. Park Run is an international group of runners who meet Saturday mornings at 9 am in parks around the world to challenge themselves to new personal best times in the 5 km distance. The Whitby group, which began only last month, is one of dozens of ParkRun groups, though right now there are only seven in Canada and another dozen in the U.S. But the idea is catching on. For one thing, ParkRun registration and participation are free. Visit parkrun.ca to register. For another, with a bar code in hand, runners' times are recorded and results posted online, categorized according to gender, age and even how the result compares with others in the same category. The only competitive component then is the one a runner has with herself/himself. No, there aren't any cheering crowds or motivational placards like you see at marathons. Instead, the runners do it for the personal challenge and the postrace camaraderie. The next Whitby (Brooklin) run is on Sat., May 27, at 9 am. Register first then show up near the playground behind the Vipond arena.