parkrundayparkrundayparkrunday

It never ceases to amaze me how parkrun continues to grow and grow. Even in areas where you think you might be hitting saturation point - like the South East - new events continue to pop up on a regular basis.

As a result, I've been involved in helping set up a couple of new events in the M4 corridor and had the benefit of seeing one such event get across the start line (geddit?) on Saturday.

The event in question was in Maidenhead and I first met the team back in October  - along with Kerri French and Ian Cockram we went along to check out their proposed venue and agree on the course route. Fast forward 5 months and I rocked up on Saturday morning wondering what it ould be like.

It was my first inaugural  - for those unaware, inaugural parkruns have become a big thing in parkrun world which has led to some issues. Just imagine that you're a new event director or first time volunteer at a new event. You've done the training, helped out at other events, done the test event and then.....

.....come inaugural morning you get hundreds of people turn up.


Yeah - it's a bit daunting. I get 150ish at my own event, so if I got 300 next week I'd panic, never mind a brand new team!

Maidenhead turned out to be a classic large inaugural with 303 runners in total. A large contingent of tourists (due to a 250 club entry), plenty of familiar parkrun faces and even King Danny of the parkrunshow podcast  - which this week featured Maidenhead and even included an interview with yours truly. You can listen here

Despite the crowds the team did a fantastic job (well trained, clearly) and it all ran smoothly. I even spotted one of the core team with tears in their eyes watching the masses of runners....seeing it come to fruition can be quit emotional, and I confess I felt quite proud to be involved in that.

 Happy event team (and a glowing laptop!)

Oh, wait - the course. Prob should mention that - it' s essentially a 2 lap course which loops through a little nature reserve on gravelly paths and includes a nasty little short hill. It's nice and sheltered for most of it and has a lovely section by the side of a canal that will be particularly tranquil in summer.

The event also benefits from a Toby Carvery pub on site with a £3.99 all you can eat breakfast plus £1.99 for unlimited tea. Needless to say I took full advantage :)

Me and co-ED and fellow Ambassador Ian

 

A triptych of Ambassadors - Ian, Kezza and me

 

 

That wasn't the end of my parkrunday though - oh no. That afternoon it was off to another new event (with Ian and Kerri French - ED at Woodley, Ambassador extraordinaire and fellow marathon blogger - check her blog out here) to do their test event in Bracknell (redacted for security reasons). Test events are critical parts of a new team's evolution. It's essentially a full dress rehearsal with 30-50 runners...checking the course is ok, no major issues with the route, getting the team familiar with timing, scanning and processing results just like a normal event. It was again good fun to do that and then relax in the café with bacon sandwiches (cos I hadn't eaten enough earlier!) running through training slides and talking parkrun

 

After leaving the house at 8am I finally got home at 4pm. A mammoth parkrunday but a thoroughly enjoyable one

 

P.S. Oh and I ran 20 miles the next day. Marathon training and all that...but parkrunday was much more fun to do and write about.