Nathan Wotton

At just 24 years old Nathan is a true inspiration, He has to face many challenges in his life but he battles through them and one of the things that help him is his passion for park running.

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 In 2002 just after Nathan's 4th birthday, he was diagnosed with autism.

He faces many challenges in his day-to-day life including issues with social interaction, communication, and imagination. He is very particular about many things, he has many obsessions and likes a predictable routine, his biggest daily struggle is in managing his severe anxiety which is very challenging.

 

Like many invisible disabilities, Nathan does not look immediately disabled and people often struggle to understand his difficulties, Which can sometimes cause issues with his anxiety and communication.

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Nathan studies Gardening (City & Guilds) at Lambourne End Centre 2 days a week and also attends woodworking lessons at Create in Bethnal Green. He enjoys visiting London attractions and is very active in his local community.

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He and his Father are both season ticket holders at West Ham's London stadium, they are also both very keen athletes, Nathan started running in 2019. He likes to complete a 5k Parkrun every Saturday at his local Valentine's Park and whenever he is away from home for the weekend he will try to visit a local Parkrun to him.

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When he started Parkrun he was initially only able to walk or jog in the events and his 5k finish time was around the 38 min mark, but he has greatly improved and can now run the whole event with times under 25mins. Nathan recently completed his 100th Parkrun which he had been looking forward to completing for a while, this was a big achievement for him, the other runners made a special announcement of this achievement before the start of the event, and after their run they all celebrated at the café with cakes and balloons.

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Parkrun is a great community event that brings together local people of all abilities, people can run together in an encouraging and supportive atmosphere.

There are currently 1,167 parkrun events around the country taking place every weekend, if you would like to try it, why not go along to an event near you this weekend? You don't have to run the whole distance, you can walk, run, jog, or crawl. There are people of all ages and abilities at each event.

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Parkrun is a great way to get out into nature, exercise, and meet like-minded people

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