2026 College Park parkrun #1: Info

Saturday, August 22, 2026

There will not be transportation from DeMatha for this race. Please have your sons at the parkrun no later than 8:00am so we can properly go through our warmup routine before the race begins at approximately 9:00am.

Note the following details:

Location
Paint Branch Trail
4289 Metzerott Road
College Park, MD 20740

Schedule
8:00a - Warmup
9:00a - Open Race (All athletes)

Estimated end time
Approx. 10:45am

• We will wait as a team for everybody to complete the race and encourage them into the finish line; then we will go through our cooldown run and stretching routine before we depart for the day.

Athletes:

• Because this is not a school sanctioned event, we will not wear racing jerseys. Those will be distributed to the team next week ahead of the Braddock Relays.

• Wear your training shoes. Do not wear spikes for this 5k -- the course is entirely on asphalt.

• Bring your yoga mat (or towel) for cooldown stretches.

• Bring a filled water bottle. We will have water coolers but our supply will be finite so arriving with your bottle already filled will help ensure we make it through the morning without running out.

Registration

The parkrun is not a DeMatha sanctioned meet, so this is not a race I can register you/your son for. If you have never registered for a parkrun before, follow the directions below beginning with Step 1.

If you have previously run at a parkrun event, at College Park or anywhere else, and you don't know how to log in, go to this link instead for help accessing your profile. Please do not create a new account if you already have one.

1. Go to this link to register.

2. During registration, under "Home parkrun," it doesn't really matter which you select, but the 'College Park parkrun' option makes the most sense since you will likely run this one more often than you will any other parkrun in the immediate future.

3. Once you finish filling everything out, click "Check Form." It may take a moment, but it will take you to a page that asks for you to check everything and verify it is correct.

4. Once you have done so, click "Register Me."

5. Within 20 minutes (it took about 30 seconds when I registered), you will receive an email confirmation. In the email will be a link where you can get your barcode. You will use the same barcode every time you run and you MUST HAVE YOUR BARCODE with you at the parkrun in order to receive a result. If you don't have a barcode, they will not record your time and I may not be able to confirm your time. Your barcode must be printed; your phone will not work with their scanners. If you do not have access to a printer, you can email your barcode to me no later than Thursday, August 20 at 3:00pm and I will do my best to get it printed out for you.

6. Make sure you save the confirmation email somewhere on your email server so that you can retrieve your barcode easily for future parkruns.

Additional Important Details

• The distance for this course is 5 kilometers, or 3.10 miles.

• Parents: if you drop your son off and leave, please be sure to return by 10:45am to pick your son up. This will be a very short day for us and I'd like to keep it that way.

  • Parents, siblings, other relatives, and even friends are also welcome to register and run/walk the course themselves if they'd like! It's all entirely free.

• Anybody taking photos of our athletes during the parkrun can upload them to our shared album here.

Forecast

• As of Saturday, August 15, the forecast for August 22 is cloudy with a high of 80º F and a chance of rain.

  • We will be tracking the forecast throughout the week to advise our athletes on proper attire.

If you have any questions, contact Coach Puffett directly.