If you’re the sort of runner who hates the sound of their solitary feet pounding the pavements, you no longer need feel alone.

Why not join a growing group of people where sweaty armpits are acceptable (nay, encouraged) and you are welcomed whether you are really rather good, or if you’ve never donned anything with a Nike logo in your life.

This morning, the Poole parkrun staged its 100th regular 5k timed run.

“It’s not a race,” stressed event director Sarah Ngugi.

“It’s just you against the clock. You can come with a dog, come with a buggy. Beginners are welcome, and it’s absolutely free.”

Little wonder it’s been dubbed the run you can make friends at. There are 162 similar parkruns in the UK, a Saturday morning ritual that began in London’s Bushy Park with just 13 runners in 2005.

Now they have spread all over the world – always in parks. It could be one lap of a bigger park or several laps of a smaller park.

Poole’s first one was in April 2011 and now it sometimes attracts nearly 400 runners.

“It’s on at 9am every Saturday, rain or shine,” said Sarah.

“People came in the snow, people came on Christmas day.

“Some people look at it as more of a community event than anything else. There’s lots of chat and support, and people feel comfortable coming out on their own. There are volunteers who will run with you if you like, and you can use slightly better runners as pacemakers.”

And slightly better runners there are, such as marathon runner Liz Yelling who lives locally, and Steve Way, the world champion 50k distance runner.

“Steve was running at the back recently, encouraging slower runners!” laughed Sarah.

Another benefit of the parkrun is that you receive an email a couple of hours later with your time, a great incentive to haul yourself out of bed the following week to beat it.

“You just have to register once, bring your barcode with you – and that’s it!”

The event is run by volunteers who love running, and Sarah would love to hear from more people who can help out with a range of tasks.

More runners are also welcome, at any ability or age, including under-11s with a parent or guardian.

“It’s a traffic-free environment, it’s there for you every week, it’s free and it brings lots of like-minded people together,” she said.

parkrun.org.uk/poole