Nearly 1,000 runners braved the rain to compete in a record-breaking Southampton parkrun.

The 867 participants surged across the finish line at the flagship event on Southampton Common yesterday - smashing the previous record of 844.

Their record-breaking efforts followed a rallying call from organisers of the ABP Southampton Half Marathon and 10K for people to support the weekly 5km run ahead of 8,000 people taking to the streets for the Southampton Half next weekend.

It also follows a public outcry after Stoke Gifford Parish Council announced they are considering charging for a sister parkrun in Little Stoke near Bristol.

In Southampton today, people of all ages united to show solidarity for the parkrun movement and to put in final training runs for the Southampton half.

They ran, jogged and walked along the 5km course which is organised entirely by volunteers. There was a party atmosphere with some dressed in fancy dress and others pushing buggies or walking dogs.

Run director John Grant said: "It's been a recordbreaking run. We've had an amazing turnout. It shows the power of parkrun. "What Stoke Giffords Parish Council has done has ironically promoted parkrun across the country and I'm sure other records have been broken."