Special Event Days at parkrun List for 2026

Everyone knows that parkrun happens every Saturday morning. The time does vary depending on where. England and Wales (where I run, walk or Jeff most of mine) begin at 9am. However, there are also special event days at parkrun. Each year there are two extra days where event teams can opt to hold a parkrun on another day. That is New Year’s Day (January 1^st) in all countries and another.

Things to Know

If that falls on a Saturday it just means there isn’t one that year. Plus some places do not hold them on Sundays due to parkrun junior. Of course it also depends on the situation with volunteers and permissions from the land owner.

Previously more than one event was run on New Year’s Day and you could do the double. This is no longer the case.

Different Special Event Days at parkrun per Country

In the UK extra special event day is held on Christmas Day. Now that the 5k app has become the official parkrun app more people are becoming aware of these extra special event days at parkrun.

Each event declares closers to the time whether they are holding an event or not.

Parkrun Dates for Special Event Days 2026

With the Special Event Days at parkrun it is possible to do 65 days in 2026. There are 55 in the UK and 10 outside. Note that there is not extra day for Germany (Unity Day) or Poland (Boxing Day), as they fall on Saturdays this year

• 11^th March – Lithuania – Independence Restoration Day
• 27^th April – South Africa – Freedom Day
• 1^st May – Austria – State Holiday
• 4^th May – Japan – Greenery Day
• 14^th May – Nordic Countries – Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden – Ascension Day
• 25^th May – Netherlands – Whit Monday
• 1^st July – Canada Day
• 9^th August – Singapore – National Day
• 16^th September – Malaysia Day
• 26^th November – USA –  Thanksgiving

Parkrun Tourism Community

You will find that there is a wonderful parkrun tourism community who have set up different groups to help with these events. Often the event directors share information in them to help all the can, whilst also getting an idea of numbers.

Personally I would have never been brave enough to take my first abroad parkrun solo trip without them. Many thanks particularly to Debbie. You can read all about my trip to Berlin for Unity Day.

Now I am heading to Lithuania next week and then hopefully Austria, one of the Nordic countries and back to the Netherlands! Hopefully taking me up to 59 events for the year.