This year is the 20th anniversary of Parkrun and runners across the country joined various park runs, including in Bushy Park which was joined by Vitality Ambassador Ellie Simmonds, and a few hundred of Simmonds' and Sinton-Hewitt's friends.

In August when Bushy Park hosted its 1,000th event, more than 6,000 people went along, leading Paul to issue a reminder of the ethos of Parkrun.

Speaking to PA News Agency about the event, Sinton-Hewitt said: "I'm concerned about the numbers for the anniversary. Nobody wanted to have that many runners at parkrun. It's not what we are about.

"The local team did a brilliant job. The people who participated did it in a wonderful way, like a festival. People just had to be kind to each other.

"But I never want to see it again."

Parkrun was founded by Paul Sinton-Hewitt who initiated the first event recovering from an injury and missing running with his friends.

Sinton-Hewitt invited 13 of his running friends to meet in Bushy Park in Teddington on 2 October 2004 for a timed 5k run.

This was the first ever Bushy Park Time Trails, which eventually changed its name to Parkrun.

From this a charity with branches around the world has emerged.

Parkrun is now established in 23 countries and more than 10 million people are registered.

"I went from 'let's grow this running event' into something that's more strategic, around mental health, physical health and wellbeing," said Sinton-Hewitt.