Paul Sinton-Hewitt

Paul Sinton-Hewitt
CBE
Sinton-Hewitt in 2019
Born
Peter Paul Sinton-Hewitt

(1960-08-12) 12 August 1960[1][2]
Southern Rhodesia
EducationPotchefstroom High School for Boys
Known forparkrun
AwardsAlbert Medal (2019)
Ashoka Fellowship (2016)

Peter Paul Sinton-Hewitt CBE (born 12 August 1960)[1][2] is the founder of parkrun.[3][4][5]


Early life and education

He was born in Southern Rhodesia, although South African residents his mother had briefly left the country at the time of his birth. [6] Sinton-Hewitt grew up in South Africa and holds Australian and British nationality. His father was born in Australia to British parents and emigrated to South Africa where he worked as a photographer and met Sinton-Hewitt's mother. At age five, due to his parents' marital struggles, he, along with his older brother and sister, was made a ward of the state and then lived at boarding schools.

He was educated at Potchefstroom High School and on leaving school did his mandatory 2 years military service in the Air Force division of the South African Defence Force and then, due to his experience working with the radar systems, he began working in the emerging field of IT. As he writes in his book, One Small Step, his youth in an institutionalized, rules-based environment made him well suited to working in systems. During his working life in Johannesburg he became a keen runner applying his IT systems mindset to achieving his running goals, including a personal best of 2.35 in the marathon, and was a crew member supporting Bruce Fordyce in the Comrades Marathon.[7]

He moved to the United Kingdom where he was living when he had a breakdown in 1995. He has said that the personal challenges he has experienced, including bullying during childhood, and the way exercise and activity have helped him deal with them, were influential in motivating him in creating parkrun and its inclusive approach to sport.[8]

Running and Parkrun

Sinton-Hewitt started the Bushy Park Time Trial in 2004, combining his passion for running with his IT background, whilst unemployed and unable to run due to an injured leg as a means to cope with the challenges he was facing at that time.[9] It evolved into Parkrun – a free 5-kilometre timed running event that takes place every Saturday morning. The first event took place on 2 October 2004, with 13 entrants. In April 2010 a two-kilometre "Junior Parkrun" format was added at Bushy Park for children aged 4 to 14 (held monthly on Sunday mornings).[10] By summer 2018, each weekend roughly 220,000 to 280,000 people participate in about 1,500 Parkruns globally.[11]

In 2018, Sinton-Hewitt completed the Vitruvian Triathlon.[12]

Author

In April 2025, Sinton Hewitt published his first book, One Small Step. A Sunday Times best seller, a story of a simple idea that turned into a global movement, the story of parkrun, told for the very first time from the man who started it all.

In it he documented his challenging upbringing and the genesis of what would become parkrun.[13]

Awards and honours

Sinton-Hewitt was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) "for services to Grassroots Sport Participation" in the 2014 Birthday Honours,[14] and was selected as an Ashoka Fellow in 2016.[6] In December 2019, he was awarded the Albert Medal by the Royal Society of Arts for building a global participation movement.[15].

He was awarded an Honorary sports degree by Loughborough University. Paul was made a Doctor of the University at Loughborough’s winter graduation service on Friday 12 December 2025. [16]

References

  1. 1 2 Anon (2025). "Peter Paul SINTON-HEWITT". gov.uk. London: Companies House.
  2. 1 2 "Happy birthday to parkrun Founder Paul Sinton-Hewitt! 🎉". Facebook. 12 August 2017. Retrieved 23 April 2026.
  3. ↑ Waterman, Andy (2014). "The parkrun Story – Paul Sinton-Hewitt". stories.strava.com. Strava. Archived from the original on 11 June 2018. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
  4. ↑ Sinton-Hewitt, Paul (2025). One Small Step: the definitive account of a run that became a global movement. Macmillan Publishing. ISBN 978-1035065042. OCLC 1493639451.
  5. ↑ Sinton-Hewitt, Paul (2025). "Athlete history". parkrun.org.uk.
  6. 1 2 "Ashoka Fellow Paul Sinton-Hewitt". Ashoka UK & Ireland. Ashoka (non-profit organization). Retrieved 14 May 2020.
  7. ↑ "Q&A: parkrun Founder Paul Sinton-Hewitt". mensrunninguk.co.uk. 27 February 2017. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
  8. ↑ Chakrabortty, Aditya (2018). "Forget profit. It's love and fun that drive innovations like Parkrun". theguardian.com. The Guardian. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
  9. ↑ "Interviews » Paul Sinton Hewitt – parkrun". runbundle.com. April 2017. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
  10. ↑ "results | Bushy junior parkrun". parkrun.org.uk. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  11. ↑ "Weekly Totals History". wiki.parkrun.com. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
  12. ↑ "Vitruvian 2018 Results". resultsbase.com. 8 September 2018. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
  13. ↑ "One Small Step: The Sunday Times bestseller of the Incredible Story of Parkrun". Amazon. Retrieved 15 May 2026.
  14. ↑ "Birthday Honours lists 2014". Government of the United Kingdom: HM Government. 14 June 2014. Retrieved 14 June 2014.
  15. ↑ Anon (2019). "A Social Movement for the Common Good". thersa.org. London: Royal Society of Arts. Archived from the original on 4 June 2020. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
  16. ↑ https://www.lboro.ac.uk/news-events/news/2025/december/parkrun-founder-awarded-honorary-degree/


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