ON your marks, get set, celebrate!

This will be the message to joggers on Saturday when the weekly volunteer run Chelmsford Central Park Run commemorates it’s first birthday.

Since January 19 last year when 82 runners paced their way around the 5km course in Central Park, more than 2,000 people have thrown on their trainers and been part of the event.

The highest attended run saw 381 people turn up on Saturday while comedian Eddie Izzard was a special guest on August 17 as he joined the group before performing at V Festival in Hylands Park.

Ahead of their first anniversary run, organisers of the event are calling for anyone who has taken part in the last 12 months to show up and celebrate this weekend.

Gerry McGovern, who helped set up the group, said: “We are looking forward to Saturday and reaching the milestone.

“We never knew what would happen when we started and to be where we are now averaging around 200 runners a week consistently is tremendous.

“On Saturday we are going to be given out awards reflecting different achievements over the last year and we also encouraging people to wear fancy dress, so it is set to be a lot of fun.”

Each participant is timed with a special tag given to them at the end of the run which is scanned alongside their own barcode.

These times are then uploaded onto the event’s website.

Mr McGovern said: “We attract a good mix of runners from club runners to people trying to keep fit.

“The most reward thing is seeing people who have never done it before do one run and then come back week after week.”

For more information about the event, visit www.parkrun.org.uk/chelmsfordcentral.