Not to be confused with Harlow parkrun or Harrow Lodge, Harrow parkrun is another of the north London ones that really isn’t that far from me. Dad was away and I only had work plans for the weekend so fancied some tourism.
Thankfully some people in my club also wanted to go there and so a little band of 5 of us set off in Saturday morning. We drove and one thing I would say is that the post code on the website does not take you to the car park. The car park is tiny and we ended up using street parking, but some of those streets had restrictions (including Saturdays) so it is best to research before you go. (I don’t want to put information here as that sort of thing can date very quickly).
The park looks fairly small and as soon as we got inside we could see signs, high viz and the flag- always good. Some of our group popped to the toilets and I was photographed while waiting! We missed the first timers welcome but we had seen it was 3 laps (plus an extra mini lap)- I’d rewatched the A Little Adventure Time video of when they visited to give me an idea of what to expect.
The start area in the park, running up the “secret hill” and the purple pop up photo.
Very soon after arriving we heard the main briefing- the RD told us that as it was the football clubs’ party later on, by the time we finished their might be a bouncy castle by the finish area and they might even put the scanners in there! A fair few people had milestones and they were all called to the front for photos. It had a really friendly vibe. Then we walked to the start and began. As we walked to the start another participant mentioned my socks (the orange parkrun ones)- she was very impressed by how coordinated I was with my orange top (it’s my I Love Ellenbrook Fields top). I would say that the secret hill was not that secret- it was a long drag up one side of the park and even on the first lap I found it tough. I had to remind myself that I was just over my cold and had not run that much in the past two weeks.
The map of the route- you can see the extra mini loop in the middle.
The park was really varied with some wildlife areas and some more manicured parts. It had a really busy feel, with loads of people out being active in so many different ways- tennis, cricket, football, outdoor exercise machines, walking… it reminded me a bit of Brighton in that there are great outdoor exercise facilities and people are always using them. I think it’s crazy that you can be in such a built up area and then suddenly be in a park, particularly one like this that was bigger than it initially looked. The volunteers were amazing too- I was thanking them on each lap and wondering if some people just thanked them on their final lap. They were all calling out “great running”/” have an amazing weekend”/ “looking strong”/ “one more lap to go” etc- and did not stop. Even though we arrived relatively late (close to the start time) we had so many interactions with the team and this was just so welcoming.
Three of us being photographed at the end/ our purple sign photo/ up the hill again/ finish token.
I actually felt a bit wobbly when I finished and had to sit down for a minute before I was OK. Then the same lady who had complimented by socks came over with a camera (she was wearing a volunteer vest too) and asked to take some photos of us, and then of my socks!
Always good to see the new map once the result has come through!
So that was location 114 for me. One that in paper would not appeal particularly, but actually the volunteers made it fantastic, and the park was really varied so it didn’t feel monotonous like laps can sometimes. Once again, thanks to parkrun I have experienced a new place which I would not have been to otherwise.
How do you choose which new events to visit? Have you ever been really surprised by an event compared to the description?
Back in 2018 we had a December trip to Berlin, and as we were flying there on a Friday night, I’d planned to go to a parkrun on the Saturday morning. However, once we had checked in and dropped off our bag, our flight was cancelled (and you would not believe how many hours it takes to get back a bag that only 5 minutes ago was in your hand…)- anyway, the next flight was not until the Sunday, so although this meant I got to go to Ellenbrook Fields parkrun on the Saturday, it meant I had not managed a new parkrun country.
Fast forward to 2024 and the German flag was going to be mine! We were heading to Europa-Park, a theme park in Germany, and happily there was a parkrun about a 25 minute drive away.
A few pictures from Europa-Park
We had a good few days in the park, plus one day where we hopped back into France to visit Colmar. We’ve been there before for the Christmas markets, so it was wonderful to visit in the summer. There are loads of good markets in that region- Strasbourg, Mulhouse as well as Colmar (and all reachable by train which is what we did each time), and then Saturday morning came around.
Beautiful Colmar and a pretzel
Andy had agreed to drive which I was very relieved about. We had driven our car and the roads were all fairly empty, but I am just so bad at interpreting the satnav if I am driving somewhere new. As we drove I kept looking at the maps thinking that if I had been driving, I would have taken that section of the exit- I would have gone wrong twice and one of those would have been driving back up the motorway in the wrong direction. He drove because we had to check out and then were driving to Disneyland Paris on the way home, so it made sense to go from parkrun rather than wait for me to get back and then leave.
The parkrun sign to direct you from the car park, the briefing and more of the signs.
The directions on the website were excellent- the car park was pretty empty as I think lots of people walk or cycle from the town centre (Freiberg), and there were instructions to leave the car park in the direction of the park (rather than walk towards the road), walk right and then next left, but as soon as I left the car park I could see the parkrun sign, and some little signs with arrows showing which way to go. As I took a photo of the purple pop up someone offered to take my photo. She commented on all the green, and I thought she meant all the greenery behind me, but she meant my top and hat!
Purple pop up photo and the foreign parkrun signs never get old!I love trying to guess which one means finish, which one means start etc.
I wasn’t there really early, probably around 8:40, but at that point there were only volunteers setting up the finish funnel. One volunteer came over to me straight away and began talking to me in English, saying he knew I was a visitor because of my 250 shirt! He talked me through the course, pointing out the part where we share a cycle lane so to watch out for bikes, and showing where the one marshal would be on the two lap course. He asked about how many people my local parkrun had, and when I said a couple of hundred he was almost apologetic that they didn’t have so many, and said that the weather would keep some of the sunny day runners away (the fair weather runners or the sugar people of Bushy Park…)- I said that some in the UK were much smaller but that I liked visiting them all. The RD then spoke to me, asking if I could give him some feedback after as they like to welcome visitors, and then checked if I was OK if they did the main briefing in German (which of course I was!). I always feel a bit sad that I can’t speak German. My paternal grandmother was Austrian (but she died before I was born) so my dad speaks pretty good German, but in school we learned French, and then we moved house mid year and the school I joined had German lessons, but as I’d missed the first half year I just never got the hang of it. I feel like I know a few nouns (Kartoffeln), but even words like ‘thanks’ I have to think consciously of because I automatically go to French when abroad.
Anyway, the run briefing was very baffling, even though I know what they will say, the only part I worked out was when they thanked the volunteers as the RD read out the names of every one. He also mentioned “UK” and pointed to me. Before the briefing a few more tourists had turned up, and another volunteer had shown them the course map and then shown everyone their visitors book. I recognised one of the people as Jürgen Krauss from Bake Off. At the briefing once they mentioned I was from the UK, he walked over to me and asked whereabouts, so we began chatting. I asked him and he said he goes to one in Brighton, and as I’ve done all 5 there, we could chat a bit about them. I was so sure it was him, but by that point it felt too late to actually say anything, plus if you know me at all you know I feel super awkward around anyone remotely famous (and even get starstruck meeting Disney characters) so I just kept the chat to parkrun. He ran with me for a bit but thankfully soon sped off. I felt like I was struggling a bit- I’d not run all week as I’d had a cold, and although my cold had cleared up my legs felt so heavy. (Look below to see my spectacular positive split with each mile being slower than the previous one!) But this wasn’t about a time, it was about enjoying the run which I certainly did.
The route was fab- two flat laps of a really varied park. You took in some open grassland, ran around a lake and then had an out and back section under trees and amongst long grass.
The well-signed course (and Jurgen heading off in the distance), and me being very happy to be running after a week off!
The parkrun route was very well signposted, with lots of arrows and cones marking off corners. They seem to have a spread of participants, not just loads of speedy runners, with a few people walking as well. It wasn’t busy, with 48 finishers on that day (and around double that the week later when I checked), but I could always see people up ahead, and on the out and back part I could see people behind me too.
After I finished a few of the volunteers asked me how I had enjoyed it, and then I ended up chatting to another tourist from the UK who had been in France but had persuaded her husband to detour over the border to take in a parkrun- sounds familiar! I made sure I signed the visitors book and then briefly spoke to the RD before heading back to the car because we had to hit the road! I’d packed a jumper to wear straight away, and made a tea to have in the car, and then later on we stopped at services and I changed properly. We didn’t get to our hotel at Disney until the afternoon so I didn’t have a shower until then- that’s the longest I’ve been parkrun fresh for!
Tea for the journey, finish area, finish token and change of clothes.
You don’t get a text result with an overseas parkrun, and the email didn’t come through until around 7:30pm, so I was a little relieved when it came through and I could finally claim my German flag! But of course it isn’t just about ticking off a country, it was a really enjoyable place to visit and the team were so friendly, I’m so glad I got to go there.
The gorgeous drawing on the cover of their guest book, my new flag and my message- It was raining so I was trying to write quickly so I could put the book back in the box!
And the updated Vonoroi map! I love looking at this so much.
So, that was parkrun country number 8 for me. I’ve sort of got them in pairs- UK and Ireland, USA and Canada, Denmark and Norway, and now Netherlands and Germany. My next parkrun country is going to be even more challenging with the language barrier than Germany was, so we shall wait and see if I end up getting there.
Do you like visiting different countries for parkrun?
PS a few Disney pics! One by the castle, the castle rainbow coloured at night, the main mice and then the vegan burrito which was the best dinner after no lunch as we were travelling all day.
We were all set to head to Jersey Farm together, and then on Friday night Dad messaged to say that his NENDY was Canons Park, which he knew I’d been to last summer. I was very happy to go back as I really liked the route (laps around a park and through a lovely wooded area), and the community feel (including bring your own reusable cups and donate via a QR code to have tea and coffee at the end). I checked with a friend in my club (Mel, who had driven us last time) to see where to park (Canon’s Drive), and after I drove to Dad’s he drove the rest of the way. It only took around 25 minutes- lots of these north London parkruns are really not that far away at all.
The start by the folly/temple, finish token, mid run photo and of course purple pop up photo.
We missed the first timers welcome due to queuing for the toilets, but we knew it was laps (I remembered two but it turned out to be 3)- never mind- we knew we would just run until my watch said 3 miles, only after one lap I checked my watch and it turned out I had started it and then it had paused straight away. I started it as we began the second lap, and as there are no variations to each lap, just the final turn to the finish, you can get the idea. It’s mainly flat but a bit of an uphill section in the woods, which felt much steeper on the third lap! I’d packed my new parkrun hat (thanks Vinted, and thanks Branka for sending me the link- it’s from New Zealand and lovely and thin fabric so good for a rainy summer day) and it was drizzling a bit at the start so I kept it on and was glad of it.
As always we enjoyed running together, and as we got close to the finish I told Dad to sprint off so I could try and catch him- he shot off and I managed to finish in 28:41 which was a course pb- hooray! They had a photographer at the start area so we even got a few photos of us running together which is always a bonus. They seem to have lots of walkers there which I really like. In the wooded section it is fairly narrow and we had to keep left, but in the end only got lapped by one person, which was another indicator that we were going pretty fast.
After finishing we headed back to the sign to get the obligatory photos, and then walked back to the car as Mum was making us breakfast at home. So there we go, Dad’s NENDY ticked off! Next week we knew we’d be at Panshanger as it was Mel’s 200th (the same Mel) so it was good to get in some touring while we could.
Then onto more parkrun and tea related chat! On the Sunday I was volunteering at Birchwood and when I checked the rota I saw that Branka was also going to be volunteering. As mentioned last week, she had gone to Oxford and bought some of the store special for me (Oxford Comma) so she brought it along. One way to make junior parkrun even better is with Bird and Blend tea!
Happy when marshalling- even happier with tea!
While taking the photo of the tea, a person walked through the gap in the hedge (by my marshal point) and gave me a very funny look!
Do you keep an eye on your NENDY (nearest event not done yet)? I think mine is now Walthamstow, but Harrow which is close to Canons Park is also on the list, so could be visited soon.
If you have the 5k app (the purple one) then as well as keeping track of things like the alphabet challenge, you can also create your own challenges. A few members of my running club had started tracking the Bedfordshire parkruns, after completing all the parkruns in Herts, so I added it to my list of challenges. At that point I only had a couple left, Bedford and Great Denham, and visited Bedford last summer.
This April was finally the time for me to head there, as Dad fancied doing some tourism too. In fact my brother even joined us which was lovely, as he often plays football on Saturdays so then doesn’t do parkrun as much as he used to.
I was a little worried about the parking situation, as there is a car park right next to the start, but they ask parkrunners not to use it, as it is used for things like kids football matches, and instead they ask you to use a park and ride car park 1km away. We left a little later than I would have liked, but the traffic going up there was fine, and in fact the walk from the park and ride to the park didn’t take long at all (it was 0.6 miles according to Strava) so definitely a good option. We were a bit late for the first timers welcome, but at the main briefing they mentioned they are trying to get a junior parkrun agreed, but it wouldn’t be if the residents were upset with the parking arrangements, so it is important to adhere to their requests. (If you go to the parkrun page and look at the course map, you can expand the map and it opens google maps, you can then click on the green start pin and navigate towards it)
The course itself is two laps of the park, it’s very flat and all on paths. It was a beautiful day with blue skies, although there was quite a strong wind, which of course you never feel when it’s behind you, but as soon as you turn and run into it, it’s there!
Scenes of the route plus the pop up at the start.
I really enjoyed the route- the park was quite varied with grassland, a few wooded areas, some ponds, and at times you ran past a row of trees and could glimpse the river through them.
I ran with Dad and as usually chat and don’t look at watches while we run (he doesn’t have a GPS watch or anything, and I just press start and stop and that’s it) but he commented that we were going pretty quickly. I think he said more than me in the second lap. I don’t look at splits much but when cropping the route map it was pleasing to see a royal flush negative split (each mile quicker than the previous one), particularly as I felt I really slowed in the final section as we ran into the wind towards the finish line. My time was 28:23 so a fair bit quicker than I have been running recently.
The finish funnel bunting, obligatory token photo and purple pop up picture.
On that note, I loved their finish funnel! It reminded me of Clermont Waterfront, which has flags from around the world decorating their funnel. This one had bunting made from old high viz jackets- it looked so pretty fluttering in the wind.
Photos of my brother with me, and then Dad joined us. I was glad of my sunglasses as my eyes would not have been open for any of the pictures otherwise!
Time for some photos before we walked back to the car and drove home, as Mum was at home ready to cook us some breakfast.
New and old Vonoroi map! Before- that green triangle was Great Denham, and now it’s purple because I’ve been there.
The 5K app also had an update where you can now select Vonoroi when you look at the map of events. This was available if you use the google chrome extension- parkrun challenges- still the original way to track challenges. However even if you have chrome on your phone, it wouldn’t work, but now you can have the fun of looking at the map on your phone instead.
So, Stay in Beds complete, and here are the dates I visited first:
Bedford- 8th July 2023
Dunstable Downs- 2nd March 2019
Great Denham- 20th April 2024
Henlow Bridge Lakes- 27th November 2021
Luton Wardown- 4th September 2021
Houghton Hall- 27th January 2018
Millennium Country- 13th April 2019
Rushmere- 22nd September 2018
(Complete until of course another one starts in Beds…)
Have you been to any of all of these events? Are you as taken as I am with the Vonoroi map? Which challenges are you working on if any?
