Organisers of a weekly run in Ipswich have said the event is one of the fastest-growing Olympic legacy projects in Suffolk.

Ipswich parkrun took the ‘Project of the Year’ award at the County Sports Awards ceremony.

The award was in recognition of parkrun’s success in increasing participation from different groups in society as well as creating new links between organisations.

Ipswich parkrun is managed by a core team of six volunteers, headed by event director Rory Marriott who collected the award.

Marriott said: “If it wasn’t for the runners and volunteers, Ipswich parkrun wouldn’t be the very proud owner of a shiny cup. So congratulations to everyone who makes Ipswich parkrun into a community, something that I am so immensely proud to be involved with.

“I am incredibly proud to be a member of the Ipswich parkrun core team and winning tonight at the Suffolk Sports Award was the icing on the cake.”

Starting in September last year, the weekly free 5km event has hosted 60 runs in Ipswich parks, reaching 1,581 runners who have completed 7,587 collection runs.

That adds up to 3,474 hours of time spent on the track and 37,935km covered by runners since the event began last September.

Average attendance at the parkrun is 127 every week.

A spokesperson for the event said: “Whilst regular and accomplished runners do take part they are not seen as elite, just part of the parkrun community often providing an inspiration to others imparting their knowledge and experience over post run refreshments.

“The dedication of the Ipswich parkrun team maintains the free weekly community parkrun throughout the year, which include Christmas Day and New Year’s Day this year as additional bonus events.”