Preston's Perfect Parkrun

I've been parkrunning for a while and, although I've had some memorable runs in wonderful locations across England I've never been inspired to write a post about a specific parkrun. Until now.

Let's get this out of the way up-front: Preston parkrun is absolutely drop-dead gorgeous. If I were married to a parkrun I'd be anxiously fiddling with my parkrun wedding ring and wondering if I had time to slip it into my pocket before Preston parkrun noticed.

The arch - Preston parkrun starts under here

Most of the run is in Avenham Park, with the back corner of the route just creeping into the side of neighbouring Miller Park. It's a three lap affair with a small spur routing you down to the finishing chute. Terrain is 100% paths with some gravel patches, but footing is sure throughout. This route would be fine in the rain, no need for wellington boots (I'm looking at you, Nonsuch) or big knobbly tyres (and you, Riddlesdown). I'm not sure it would be so good in the ice or snow though thanks to the steepest parkrun hill I've ever run up. I'd need a steep-o-meter to confirm, but I think it is even steeper than the pointy bit in Lloyd Park I ran a couple of weeks ago - in any case, you need to go up this one three times rather than twice at Lloyd Park, so I'm giving this one the prize.

Tree-lined pathway at the start of the lap, river Ribble to the right, café to the left

I got up nice and early at 04:15 (yuck!) - ate a good breakfast and cycled to Euston to get the 06:05 to Glasgow, due in at Preston at 08:36. We were a couple of minutes behind schedule, but that doesn't matter as the park is no more than 5-10 mins stroll from the station - perfect for long-distance tourists. The sun had been out all the way up on the train, and it was bright and warm for the briefing. It looked like there were around 100 people there (a good estimate, the results show there were precisely 100 people :). A show of hands suggested about a third were tourists, and a third were first timers - seeing as this was an inaugural event I'm not sure what that leaves the other third as… I'm guessing "not paying attention" :)

The hill is significantly steeper than it looks in this photo

The route winds around the park with every turn giving something new and interesting to look at. It's clear there has been considerable investment recently, the main fixtures like the bandstand and fountain have been, or re in the process of being, renovated. Many of the flower beds and grass areas have that new look to them, and the cafe looks brand new (another award, best toilets I've ever used at a parkrun location - nicer than in my own house!). There's a stunning area that looks like it came straight out of a fairy tale illustration - I wouldn't have been surprised if it had a lemonade lake and footbridge made of chocolate.

The route is made up of these beautiful winding pathways

I walked a lap of the route afterwards to take these photos - apologies for the quality, the camera on my old iPhone 3GS is a little the worse for wear. As I completed my lap it started to rain - the sun had come out specially for Preston parkrunday.

Straight out of a fairy tale!

I have been doing a lot of parkrun tourism lately, and this is the first time I've got up and commuted by train specifically for a parkrun. I'm going to try not to do it too often - it's expensive, takes a large chunk of your Saturday, and gets in the way of training - but I'm so pleased I made the effort today.

Route out goes across the top, the Earl of Derby surveying all from his plinth

Thank you PSH and parkrun, thank you event director Michael, and thank you marshals - you all made my parkrunday wonderful.

All parkrun'd out - finishing chute and brand new café

Inaugural runs: Netley Abbey parkrun (17 March 2012)

I clocked up my 15th inaugural parkrun today at Royal Victoria Park in Southampton, and a very unusual inaugural it was too.

As a runner, it didn't really feel at all like an inaugural event. Eastleigh parkrun has been mothballed for a while, and most of the runners and volunteers were Eastleigh regulars. Familiarity abounded and the banter felt as though it was picking up where last week's parkrun at Eastleigh left off.

For the event team, experienced though they are, I suspect it felt very inaugural indeed. With only 10 days to get a new parkrun off the ground there were probably any number of last minute niggles to sort out. But sort them out they did, and the result was a treat. The rain stopped just before nine and didn't return until after eleven. No-one got lost. Timing and scanning devices behaved and there was even a home-made chocolate cake.

So what's it like? Four laps around the park, which come complete with an old chapel and great views across Southampton Water. To add a little variety, the first lap also has a bonus tree-lined out-and-back section halfway round.

The view from the back goes something like this:

Lap 1: Run to start of out-and-back section watching runners streaming away in front of you. Marvel at the steep drop along the right-hand-side of the "out" leg, taking a cautious step to the left to allow you to cheer on the faster runners on the "back" leg without tumbling into the ravine*. Rejoin the main lap as the faster runners re-reach it on their lap 2. Cheer them on as they lap you.

Lap 2: Continue to cheer on faster runners on their lap 3.

Lap 3: Continue to cheer on faster runners on their lap 4. Watch as they peel off into the finishing funnel. Think rude thoughts and mutter darkly under your breath.

Lap 4: Revel in the good-natured encouragement from the already-finished, regretting that you ever thought anything mean about them and their athletic prowess. Focus on the runner in front hoping that you can use their push for the line to inspire one of your very own.

Take your position token. Get scanned. Chat**. Eat delicious home-made cake*** courtesy of Barbara****. Go for a cup of tea*****.

Special mention also to @N0rm, who followed up his epic cycle-to-Eastbourne-parkrun-train-home with a train-to-Netley-parkrun-cycle-home, and to Becky and Rob whose encouragement on their lap 4 (my lap 3) went a long way.


*I may be overstating this element a little, but bear in mind that I can fall off my own feet while walking along a perfectly flat, perfectly paved section of pavement.

**To Ian, who needs only 4 more venues or 1 more inaugural to get (back) on the most events table, and to Lisa, a genuine first time parkrunner who seemed to enjoy her first taste of parkrunning.

***For one week only.

****Who was a first-timer at Eastleigh the week I visited. Isn't parkrun a small world!

*****With Robert, who unwittingly paced me around Eastbourne parkrun. I say again - isn't parkrun a small world!

Inaugural runs: Newbury parkrun (11 February 2012)

My marathon is nine weeks tomorrow. Take off the taper, and that leaves six weeks to train. So what training have I done since last Saturday's parkrun?

Nothing. Zip. Diddly.

But Saturday is parkrun day, and parkrun trumps sloth, so at 9am I joined 316(!) other freezing runners for the inaugural Newbury parkrun.

Yes. Despite snow and sub-zero temperatures, 317 people took advantage of the generosity of the volunteers and ran* around the flat, single-lap, hard-packed gravel** course with stunning views***.

And in the throng were plenty of familiar names and faces, including:

• the race photographer that I first met at Southwick parkrun


• a parkrun tourist who I've watched vanish into the distance at Ally Pally, Wanstead Flats, Hampstead Heath, Valentines and Wormwood Scrubs


• the parkrunner who gave me lifts between the longest parkrun's seven venues


• the chirunning coach from a great workshop I went to last March


• a posse of Basingstoke parkrunners I recognised from Eastbourne's inaugural run


• two of the touring party of Burnham Joggers


• and Chris and Linda Cowell, who are at 1st and 5th place on the most events table and who have clocked up a remarkable 77 and 63 different venues respectively.

*jogged gingerly. At least in my case.

**allegedly. Underneath the snow.

***so I'm told. I was too busy watching my step to look up.

Inaugural runs: Mile End parkrun (4 February 2012)

Another brand new parkrun today, this time in Mile End. It starts at the south end of Mile End park, and is twice around a lollipop. The design of the course gives you plenty of opportunity to see the other runners, to shout encouragement at your friends and to monitor the progress of your rivals. It's all tarmac, undulating and kicked off with a (male) course record of 15:23.

It is also situated right next to Regent's Canal, making it a perfect venue if you fancy extending your parkrun into a long run. I know this because I was meeting a couple of virtual running buddies and was in charge of finding a route. South along Regent's Canal, West along the Thames Path and then North into Hyde Park. Job done.

Inaugural runs: Eastbourne parkrun (28 January 2012)

Eastbourne parkrun started today, with a turnout of 120 people. Several experienced parkrunners had made the journey to Eastbourne to greet the dawning of a new event, though probably none quite as mad as @n0rm, fellow parkrun tourist and ironman-in-training, who got up at 3.57am to cycle down from London.

The route is a route of three parts:

1. a short anti-clockwise lap on grass


2. a long clockwise lap on tarmac


3. a short clockwise lap on grass (the reverse of part 1).

My top tip: "Remember part three".

Because at the end of part two, you can see the finishing funnel with lots of people standing around cheering. More than one person sprinted past me to the line...only to find out that there was still one bit left to run. If you know that, and don't sprint, then the cheering crowds of the already-finished will give you a wonderful lift to take you round the final part. But I imagine that if you don't know that, the last little bit seems to go on and on and on.

Thanks to two runners, Eastleigh regular Robert Spencer and parkrun first timer Victoria Heaysman, both of whom (unwittingly) paced me round and spurred me on to a sort-of-sprint finish.

And thank you, as ever, to all the volunteers who put on such a slick first event. It a great, flat course with a touch of variety to keep it interesting. Definitely one to try, if you're passing by.

Inaugural runs: St Albans parkrun (14 January 2012)

Wow! St Albans parkrun kicked off today, and [pauses to thank and congratulate the volunteer team] it's a cracker.

The course is flat. Not quite as-a-pancake flat, but you'd have to be pretty hill-averse to call it undulating.

And for two of its three miles, you're running around a rather picturesque lake, so definite pretty points for the route.



I also really liked the design of the route. You run around the lake three times, so have a great chance to see the shapely figures of the front runners on laps two and three. But by avoiding the start point on laps two and three, you avoid that feeling of 'O God, not again!' that multi-lap courses can provoke.

It was also bursting with familiar faces, including Danny Norman of parkrun show fame who clocked up the fastest time of the morning, the nomadic Burnham Joggers, Dave and Bob, and also Reggie who I first met at Ally Pally parkrun.

And I even had virtual running buddies for company in the shape of Jovial Gnome and Fortnight Flo. What more could a tourist want?

Inaugural runs: Ally Pally parkrun (3 December 2011)

There are three things that I love about parkrun: the courses, the people and the stats. Ally Pally parkrun started on Saturday, and its inaugural run ticked all three boxes.

The course...

...is at the challenging end of the parkrun scale. Underfoot is a mixture of tarmac, grass and mud and the course is far from flat.

You start in the centre of a bell-shaped loop, and begin by running out to the edge and round. This bit is fairly benign: a bit of up, a gentle down, lots of opportunity to chat, if you're that way inclined.

Then comes the hill, which runs from point 1 (sharp left turn which we nearly missed for chatting) up through some trees, across a road to point 2 (hello lovely marshals) and then diagonally up a steep grassy slope to point 3 (aaargh!) after which it's a gentle rise to point 4.



As you turn the corner at point 4, the road descends quite sharply leading to a welcome stretch of flat and the beginning of loop two.

The people...

...were strangely familiar, not because they were typical parkrunners, but because I knew so many of them. Tim and Rick (Grovelands and Oakhill), Danny and Rebecca (Gunnersbury), Roy (Nonsuch), Dave (Wormwood Scrubs), everywhere I turned there seemed to be a familiar face. Not to mention Paul and Joanne Sinton-Hewitt, who I recognised from Iceland but had never actually spoken to.

And there were also new people to meet. Vanessa, a regular volunteer and runner at Wormwood Scrubs, was indulging in a little parkrun tourism. Prashan was making his debut at parkrun, accompanied by Grovelands regular, Reggie. Stephen (the chap I was chatting to when we nearly missed the turn up the hill) is based at Oak Hill, but is now halfway to a place on the table of doom*. Helen, who kindly ran back to Finsbury park with me afterwards, showed me a couple of great running routes that were far, far more enjoyable than the road route I had planned.

The stats...

19 of the 49 runners were 50- or 100-club members, and between the 49 of us we have run 2,345 parkruns.

17 of the 49 runners are on the table of doom, including the unmissably fluorescent Burnham Joggers, Dave and Bob.

And 18 of the 48 runners have run at least one other parkrun on the same day as me. This, I will grant you, is really only of interest to me, but does show quite what a small world parkrun is.

*Old rules.

Inaugural runs: Elliðaárdalur parkrun (29 October 2011)

Iceland

I went to Iceland for the weekend. It's the first time I've been. I didn't see the northern lights, but I did lounge around in an outdoor thermal pool, marvel at a waterfall, cross from the north american tectonic plate to the eurasian tectonic plate, go 'ooooh' at a geyser and visit the blue lagoon. And I'm still in shock about the fact that Iceland is larger than Ireland and has a population of 320,000.

320,000. On an island that is larger than Ireland. That's essentially the same as the population of Cardiff. Or Wakefield.

Elliðaárdalur parkrun

Started this week. First in Iceland. It's a lollipop course. The out is downhill along a tarmac path alongside a river with a bundle of mini waterfalls. It's fast, it's pretty and the noise of the river is hypnotic.

The loop is on a gravel path and I think it's through trees. Though I'm doubting that memory, because one thing that Iceland has very little of is trees. I may have hallucinated the trees.

The back, strangely enough is on a tarmac path alongside a river with a bundle of waterfalls. I assume that it is as pretty as the out section and that the sound of the river is as hypnotic, but it's uphill, and I'm afraid that the only thing I was aware of was that.

Oh yes. And afterwards, you get to go next door and lounge around outside in a thermal pool. I very nearly didn't leave.

The parkrunners

I didn't go to Iceland alone. I went as part of a centrally co-ordinated parkrun posse. There were, give-or-take-approximately, thirty-eight of us.

I'd assumed, before we went, that most of the party would be obsessive nomads like me. After all, who else would be mad enough to travel to Iceland for a parkrun?

Turns out, the party was much more interesting than that. By a long, long way.

Kirsty, from Bushy, has only got 10 more runs to go until she joins the 250 club. Tracey, from Hampstead Heath, was clocking up parkrun number 3.

Neil, from Roundshaw Downs, races his parkruns, and was not only the fastest person round, but also clocked up the best performance by age grade.

Carol, one of the seven runners from Cannon Hill (the Cannon Hill mob?) was the first woman home and Mary (from Tiverton) topped the women's age grade table.

Another of the Cannon Hill mob, Lesley, made a perfect pacemaker on the parkrun, and put up with my random babbling for a significant proportion of the course.

Joshua, Helen and Peter were representing Cambridge parkrun. Joshua was the only Junior there, and now has an impressive 51 parkruns to his name.

Ingrid, David and Peter are Kingston parkrun regulars and all members of the Stragglers running club (the drinking club with the running problem). Early this year they all took part in a relay run from John O'Groats to Land's End, along with Paul, who I met at the inaugural Riddlesdown parkrun.

Jamie and Louise have recently set up Aberdeen parkrun, despite having run only 25 parkruns between them. Four weeks in, it has attracted 213 runners from 15 different running clubs, evidence, if any were needed, of the amazing appeal of parkrun.

Peter from Frimley, grilled me about other parkruns in his neck of the woods, and may or may not be checking out Basingstoke, Black Park and Bedfont Lakes in the not-to-distant future.

In return, I grilled Sheila and Melanie about Heaton Park, Karen and Andrew about Leamington, Kathleen and Mel about Ashton Court and Howard about Cardiff.

But I think the most telling comment of all came from Helen. She was part of the group, but has no connection to parkrun at all. Some late drop outs left some places available, and she thought the itinery sounded appealing. As we stood in the baggage reclaim at Gatwick Airport, I asked how she'd found the weekend.

"Brilliant!", she replied. "Everyone was just so friendly."

And finally

Huge, huge thanks to the Elliðaárdalur parkrun team. As usual, the organisation was exquisite, and I'm sure this parkrun will go from strength to strength.

Thanks also to Peter Fordham for co-ordinating the initial set-up, and for Jorunn Jonsdottir and the team at All Iceland for making it happen.

Roll on the next parkrun tour!

Inaugural runs: Gunpowder parkrun (22 October 2011)

The Gunpowder parkrun started up this morning (near Waltham Abbey, between 12o'clock and 1o'clock on the M25) and it's an absolute cracker. Its two and a bit laps are gently undulating, simple to follow but meandering enough to be fun. Underfoot is well-kept, buggy-friendly path, and if the thin layer of fine gravel isn't to your taste, then you can run the majority of the route on the grass verges.

As usual, the organisation is superb, and the marshals and volunteers are welcoming and friendly.

Icing on the cake? Crossing paths with Ron Hill and Tim Williams again, meeting budding tourist Rick Oliver, chatting to father and daughter team Marc and Nicole Bibaud (who are well on their way to joining the 50 club and 10 club respectively) and chatting to parkrun newcomer Liz Lord and her friend Tony Browne, who had persuaded her to give parkrun a whirl.

And what a whirl! Best woman by age grade. Not a bad debut at all.

After which I went home to make two lots of ganache, one of the few recipes I can do from memory. (Heat cream. Add chocolate. Stir. Pour into bowls. Put in fridge. Lick spoon. Lick saucepan.) The first batch went well. For the second, I experimented by adding alcohol, and I'm not sure whether it's going to harden. Unlike my arteries, which are hardening already in anticipation.

Inaugural runs: King's Lynn parkrun (10 September 2011)

Yesterday evening, I braved Friday night rush hour traffic in London (ugh!) to drive up north to the wilds of Lincolnshire where I had begged a bed for the night from a marvellous friend of mine.*

The traffic was as revolting as I expected, but the extremely scrummy dinner* and good company went a long to making up for it, as did the cup of tea in the morning* and the lift to King's Lynn parkrun*.

King's Lynn parkrun #1. Three brand new parkruns in as many weeks. I could make it 4 in 4 if I go to Nonsuch Park next week, but tempting though that is, I think I shall save Nonsuch Park for the 24th, as it's nice and local and I have to be in Windsor on the 25th for a half marathon [aaaaargh!].

So. King's Lynn. It's a flat, three lap course on wide tarmac paths. I wasn't sure about the layout of the course when I looked at in on the map, as it includes an out-and-back stretch with a 180 degree turn at the end.

Turns out that this is actually one of the nicest stretches of the course, not because it's the most picturesque bit (that would be the river with the ducks, or possibly the Red Mount Chapel or the rather impressive Gannock Arch).

But the out-and-back section gives sociable people the chance to wave at / encourage / be encouraged by their friends / runners that they chatted to at the start. And it gives competitive people the chance to see whether they are gaining on / being caught up by their arch nemesis / nemeses.

The volunteers were efficient, encouraging and friendly, and two even laughed at my witty banal banter.

The runners I spoke to were an interesting mix. There was a nervous first-timer who looked as though she was about to bolt and who was convinced that she would come last. (Sub 27. Wow!). There was a sub 20 veteran who'd run at Norwich, Milton Keynes and Cambridge. There was an old hand from Brighton, resplendent in her 50 club t-shirt, who had promised her brother-in-law(?) that if he got a parkrun going in King's Lynn she would come up to its launch. There were two local councillors who had been involved in getting the parkrun up and running, and there was a budding tourist who has only a few more runs to go until he's on the table of doom**.

After which it was back to my friend's for lunch* and fresh-out-of-the-oven flapjacks.* And I even got a goodie bag full of flapjacks to see me safely home.*

Life is good.

*Thank you, marvellous friend.





**Old rules

Inuagural runs: Southwick Country parkrun (3 September 2011)

100 miles is too far to travel for a 5km run.

But on Thursday, I got the fidgets and I booked a room at the Polebarn hotel in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, pretty much on impulse. I drove down on Friday evening, into a beautiful sunset and got to see Stonehenge silhouetted against the skyline. Oh, and I got lost. Several times. I really must get satnav.

The hotel guy was perkier than anyone has a right to be (especially compared to the perk-less-ness of me on a Friday night when I've been driving for over two hours). The room was lovely. The windows opened. The bed was comfy. The wifi was free. Perky guy agreed that I could grab breakfast early and check out late so that I could go for my run and then shower afterwards.

I went for a six-mile run round the Southwick Country Park and then chatted to the people who were there for the parkrun and then did the first ever Southwick Country parkrun. It's a great venue (2 3/4 laps, hard gravel course, gently undulating and extremely well organised). It has a statue of the spirit of the parkrunner (he has a name, but I can't remember it) that they unveiled this morning.

Afterwards, at the Squirrels Tearoom cafe , I got chatting to two experienced parkrunners, one of whom knows the wonderful Bedfont Lakes chap who gave me a lift around the longest parkrun and the other of whom used to share my surname. For all that it spans continents, parkrun really does feel like a very small community.

I then went back to the hotel to shower and nearly didn't leave, the shower was sooooooooo lovely. After which I pottered around Trowbridge doing the tourist thing for long enough to justify the journey and then came home. Incidentally, Stonehenge in the daytime with oodles of people around it is a far less impressive sight than Stonehenge deserted at dusk.

Is 100 miles too far to travel for a 5km run? Yes. Is 100 miles too far to travel to meet such wonderful people? No.

Inaugural runs: Oak Hill parkrun (27 August 2011)

Today, in North London, a new parkrun was born. For parkrun tourists, new parkruns hold a certain charm. For starters, they're new, so by definition will add to the all-important parkrun tally. But they also increase the chances of crossing paths with other tourists, offering up the possibility of chatting to other parkrunners in the grip of the same addiction.

Oak Hill parkrun did not disappoint. At least five other tourists turned out to sample its slightly undulating, three lap course.

• Mark A Jennings (84 runs at 45 different venues) and Paul Freyne (85 runs at 43 different venues) have been parkrun hopping for a while, and can tell tales of parkruns from the length and breadth of Britain.
  
• Ron Hill (87 runs at 29 different venues) started his journey at about the same time as me, in an attempt to add spice to his pursuit of his 100 club shirt.
  
• Danny Norman (222 runs at 16 venues) has four and a half years' worth of parkruns under his belt, and regularly places in the top ten at Bushy. I suspect he is a member of the elite group of nomads looking to win as many different parkruns as possible. To date, he has won seven different events and come second at another four.
  
• Timothy Williams (60 runs at 12 different venues) is showing the early signs of addiction, and may yet rise meteorically through the ranks.

I had been considering a break from my hunt for new parkruns, as I've pretty much exhausted the ones within easy reach, but talking to other tourists has inspired me. Now all I need is a plan.

Inaugural runs: Riddlesdown parkrun (2 July 2011)

I was feeling lazy today, so I opted for the brand new and relatively local parkrun at Riddlesdown near Croydon.

With 154 runners at its debut run, I have a feeling that this parkrun is going to be a stunner. And deservedly so. The two lap course is essentially flat (which came as a pleasant surprise after the steep hill I drove up to reach it), and the park itself is vast. We were warned to stay out of the long grass (skylark nesting territory apparently) so for parts of the course overtaking opportunities were limited, but a little patience and a few excuse me's took care of that.

As luck would have it, I ended up running most of the parkrun with Paul, an experienced (and usually extremely speedy) runner nursing an achilles injury whose idea of a gentle stroll paced me to my second best 5km time of 29.27. As an added bonus, I got to pick his brains about interval training, race pacing and various other running related matters.

Paul is one of 20 runners from the Stragglers running club who are taking part in a 24 hour baton relay from Lands End to John O'Groats to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support, YMCA London South West and the National Centre for Young People with Epilepsy. Good luck, one and all.

Inaugural runs: Wanstead Flats parkrun (21 May 2011)

The lure of a brand new parkrun for the second week in a row proved too strong to resist, and this morning saw me driving across London to Wanstead Flats parkrun.

If Wanstead Flats were a diy product, it would definitely be from the Ronseal stable. It's near Wanstead and it's flat, a welcome relief after the hills at Hampstead last week.

It's also one of the most well appointed parkruns that I've been to. The car park, loos, indoor bag dump, start and finish are all within a stone's throw of each other, and at the end you can help yourself to Finest London Tap Water (and probably tea and coffee on colder mornings).

It's also blessed with an extremely friendly local running club, the East London Runners, who chatted quite happily to anyone and everyone and who made encouraging noises to us stragglers at the point where the course loops back on itself 1km into the lap.

A special mention to the quick thinking volunteer team. Despite the instructions at the beginning, the lead runners missed a right turn at the end of the first lap, extending it by about half a kilometre. The rest of us, sheep-like, followed them unswervingly. Un-panicked, the race director sent instructions to the marshals to cut lap two short, bringing us home in just a little over 5.25km. PBs all round next week!

Inaugural runs: Hampstead Heath parkrun (14 May 2011)

You didn't know there was a parkrun on the heath? Well there wasn't. But there is now. It's a complicated (but well signed and marshalled) double lollipop with hills that go on for ever. At one point, I was beginning to think I was running round one of Escher's never-ending staircases, but just as I began to lose hope, the downhill section arrived. Will I do it again? Probably not, since the journey's vile. Would I do it if I lived nearby? Definitely.

Inaugural runs: Pymmes parkrun (9 Apr 2011)

The lure of a parkrun overcame my sloth this morning, and I headed off to north east London for the first Pymmes parkrun.

If you find yourself near Pymmes park on a Saturday, I'd recommend giving this a go. It's a three lap course on tarmac with very slight undulation and comes complete with trees, duckpond and kebab van. As ever, the volunteers are efficient and encouraging and the course was beautifully signposted. Congratulations all round.

I also bumped into an acquaintance from an earlier parkrun, who after doing 58 parkruns at Bushy decided to visit as many others as possible on the way to his 100th parkrun. He's being much more methodical than I am and has already planned next week's run. It's Finsbury Park. The one with the hill at 4km.

Inaugural parkruns: introduction

When parkrun revamped their most events table, they added a new column showing the number of inaugural events runners have attended. To my delight and amazement, I headed up the list. I suspect that I won’t do for long, but I’m enjoying it while it lasts.

I didn’t set out to attend lots of inaugural events. My goal was simply to do as many different events in a row as I could. I’m not a fast runner (sub 30 still comes as a shock) and as I only found out about parkrun in January 2011, there will always be runners with far more parkrun pedigree than me. But visiting different parkruns doesn’t require experience or speed. And as I found over the last year, even if you never visit the same parkrun twice, the parkrun community will still find you.