The man who came up with ‘parkrun’ and an endurance athlete are among the guest speakers at this year’s Literary Festival.
Both men feature in the extensive line up of “authors, thinkers and performers” who will be appearing at the 2026 Festival between 23 April and 7 May.
A multitude of events are planned “spanning literature, history, science, politics, health, nature, business, poetry, music, food writing and comedy”.
Sport and wellbeing are included alongside health with broadcaster and endurance athlete Vassos Alexander speaking about his passion for cold-water swimming and reflecting on the physical and mental benefits of pushing personal limits.
Endurance runner, Mr Alexander used to present the sports news on The Chris Evans Breakfast Show on Virgin Radio and he hosted the parkrun podcast.
Mr Alexander is a motivational speaker and serves as an ambassador for the young person’s charity SkillForce.
He will be discussing his book ‘Swimmingly – Adventures in Water’ at St Pierre Park Hotel on Saturday 2 May.
The following day, parkrun founder Paul Sinton Hewitt will share the story of how his simple idea for a non-competitive 5k run on a Saturday morning grew into a global movement.
13 runners and five volunteers took part in the first parkrun at Bushy Park in England in October 2004. By 2026, more than 10million people are registered across more than 2,500 locations in 23 countries.
Guernsey parkrun is held on L’ancresse Common at 09:00 each Saturday – starting and finishing near the Beachhouse restaurant – with more than 150 people taking part supported by around 17 volunteers each week.
On Sunday 3 May, Mr Sinton Hewitt will be discussing his book, ‘One Small Step – The Incredible Story of parkrun’ at St Pierre Park Hotel.