As forecast, Friday 10th January was cold. According to the BBC, much of the UK had below-freezing temperatures into Saturday morning, with -11c recorded in Shap, Cumbria and Heathrow recording -5C.
With such temperatures, parkrun events may be cancelled. The safety of volunteers and participants has to be paramount; ice can be lethal.
As I was about to leave home my phone pinged informing me that my local event, Burgess parkrun, had been cancelled. I called our friends, who were travelling to complete their 250th run. We did a quick search, saw Brockwell parkrun was still going ahead and changed plans to meet there. Aislin’s 250th parkrun milestone was back on!
Our bus arrived like clockwork, navigating the roads and depositing us at Brockwell Park for 0901.
Brockwell parkrun recently changed its start to Brockwell Hall in the centre of the park. We had a lung-busting dash up the hill to reach our friends and we made it! There was a sea of 481 participants looking like the Riders of Rohan ready to charge the Pelennor Fields. It was a stunning sight as people set off to do their 5k.
I had previously attended Brockwell parkrun in September 2014. On that occasion, I had been shell-shocked by the amount of elevation. This time, well prepared for the cold, I could marvel at how thrilling the views were. It was magical, ethereal with the mist rising and glimpses of Canary Wharf in the distance.
I was able to complete this event with Aislin and hear about some of her memorable parkrun stories since starting, as a New Year’s resolution, back in January 2013. Since then Aislin has attended parkruns in 8 countries including France, which is now suspended. At one of her parkruns in South Africa, attending a friend's wedding, she’d convinced the bride’s father to come along. Unfortunately, he tripped and fell, resulting in a black eye! He had to escort his daughter down the aisle with sunglasses on!
Aislin spoke about how amazing Mole Valley parkrun, in Denbies Wine estate was, her satisfaction in completing the Alphabet challenge, running around a volcano for Etna parkrun, completing the Unity Day parkrun in Germany and of course several Southwark Slams 🙂
For today there were no incidents, no black eyes, just beautiful views across the park and with 70m of elevation and the sun now high cutting through the mist we had memorable views across the city.
With 250 parkruns completed Aislin then served up a treat for the ages, bringing out tins of homemade chocolate chip cupcakes with 250 icing! Aislin is a seasoned parkrunner and great baker. Volunteers and participants alike enjoyed the cakes including Andy Griggs, who we’d met at Mole Valley parkrun back in 2023!
A huge thank you to all the volunteers who made today’s event happen.
Next week, I'll hopefully be back to Burgess parkrun.
Stay well, stay safe and happy running.
Wonderful
Great read, well done guys! Happy celebrating in the frosty sun!