He might only be five, but Adam Young is already a running veteran, having just clocked up his half century of parkruns.

The youngster raced around his 50th parkrun event at Catton Park, on the outskirts of Norwich, on Saturday morning with his dad Peter, 35, who first inspired him to take part.

His time, at just under 30 minutes, might have been a little way off his 27m 20sec best for the 5k distance after he twisted his ankle, but it did not spoil what was a great occasion for the young runner.

The Garrick Green Infant School pupil said he was 'really pleased' to have notched up 50 parkruns, which he likes because it 'keeps me nice and fit'.

He said: 'I like seeing all the people down there. There's lots of people who know me and lots of people that I know now since I started.'

His proud father, who lives at Catton Grove Road, said Saturday's race was a great occasion for them both with all the competitors giving him a great reception before they set off.

He said: 'People were cheering him on as he went round – it was lovely.

'He twisted his ankle a little bit but was determined to finish and did it in 29m 30sec in the end.'

Mr Young, who used to do parkrun at Eaton Park but started at Catton after it was launched there in 2013, said his son had been running the event with him since January last year after showing an interest in joining him.

'Adam said 'I would like to do that with you daddy' and I said 'you're only four, do you think you could manage it?'.

'I said let's do a one mile run and he was fine with that so we did a couple, and then 1.5 miles and told him 'once you can do two miles we will try the parkrun'.

'His first was on January, 2014, which was a bit run-a-bit and walk-a- bit, and have been most weeks since and he did his 50th on Saturday. We've never forced him to come but he's a very determined little lad.'

He added: 'I don't know how good Adam could be, but one day he would like to win a parkrun.'

In October last year Adam dressed up as a Jedi from the Star Wars films, complete with lightsaber, to help celebrate the first anniversary of the event at Catton.

He has also been a volunteer at the Catton event which is one of a number of parkruns in Norfolk with others including Eaton, Mulbarton, Gorleston, Thetford, Blickling, King's Lynn and Sheringham.

Have you got a story about a young achiever? Email peter.walsh@archant.co.uk