Peckham Rye parkrun - event 391

On the 11th February 2023 I ran the Peckham Rye parkrun which was the 391st event held at the venue, my 117th parkrun and 47th different course I'd attended.

Saturday morning parkrun events are, as mentioned previously on these pages dictated by obscure challenges relating to some numeric sequence of some kind, or alphabetically connected to the name of the event. This week it was slightly different as it was linked to an invite.

Since my project manager at work found out about my parkrun tourism exploits he has been urging me to join him in his part of London for a run and breakfast catch-up. Which is how I found myself getting up at the crack of dawn and heading up to South East London by train to run Peckham Rye parkrun.

From Gravesend there are no direct trains to Peckham Rye, so I had the choice of changing at Dartford or Lewisham, with the former being the better option in terms of timings. I was met by Matt, whose arrival had coincided with mine demonstrating the efficiency one would expect from a project manager and we head down Peckham highstreet towards 'the rye' where parkrun was getting ready to take place.

Peckham highstreet was a hive of early morning activity with shops getting ready for a busy Saturday trade. Produce from all over the world catering for a melting pot of cuisines was being laid out ready to be sold - including plenty of Carribbean delicacies such as saltfish and others I had no idea the name of. 

Matt was on the hunt for coffee, which we found from an artisan coffee shop just up the road from a pub called the Nags Head. Whilst we were in Peckham I was looking for as many Only Fools and Horses links as possible, even if the series was filmed in Bristol and the Nags Head was an immediate reference even if it bared no resemblance at all to the one filmed for television.

As we headed towards the Rye Matt pointed out areas of interest and added context. Normally on a standard parkrun day I arrive somewhere, look around admiring bits and pieces but have no knowledge about what it is I'm looking and miss all of the things I know nothing of, so having a local tour guide was a welcome treat.

We arrived at the park in good time and I acquainted Matt with the rituals of parkrun. He wasn't participating, but was planning on watching from a safe distance. The course itself is a three lapper, starting at the southern end of the park. Participants head north before turning right in an anti-clockwise direction. The entire course is on tarmac paths and takes you on a winding, twisting loop around the arboretum, adventure playgrounds, Japanese Garden, duck ponds, bowling green and twice over the River Peck.

The twisty nature of the lap makes it an interesting and enjoyable loop around the park. There are also ever so subtle gradient changes to add another element of interest. I'd also imagine that this is one of those parks that changes significantly throughout the course of the seasons. With much of the course containing tree cover, the spring and autum months I'd imagine to be very pretty indeed and worth a repeat visit to see if my hunch is correct or not.

Having recently completed three very fast parkrun times (by my standards) I came to the realisation quite early on that my streak of PB times was over. With the twisting nature of the course and the subtle elevation changes I could feel it my legs. It was with a little bit of surprise therefore when I checked my Strava time at the end which registered a time of 27.10 - more than a respectable time given my history.

I finished in 181st place out of a field of 310 participants in a confirmed time of 27.08.

Normally that's where things tend to end. I go home and start planning for the next week. But instead I was invited back to enjoy the company of Matt and his family.

Rather than take the direct route home after we'd eaten back to Peckham Rye I was walked back via a circuitous route through Dulwich and three local pubs. Despite converging there was a definite contrast between Dulwich and Peckham with the former being more gentrified and 'hipster', with boutique shops along the highstreet and a village feel in places.

I'd very much like to thank Matt for the invite and the warm hospitality. As well as a delicious breakfast it was great to visit a part of London that I'd never visited before. A day that wouldn't have been possible without the involvement of parkrun!