Southwark parkrun - event 409

On the 25th February 2023 I ran the Southwark parkrun which was the 409th event held at the venue, my 119th parkrun and 49th different course I'd attended.

I may well sound like a broken record, but I'm going to say it again anyway. I was going to be doing a particular parkrun this week, but couldn't due to car woes and that living in Gravesend we are incredibly lucky to have multiple routes into London via rail.

It certainly feels like a rinse and repeat story of these parkrun encounters and so it was again this week when the in-laws car broke down rather than my own. As we are reliant upon borrowing their car on Saturday mornings it meant I was unable to travel to panshanger as planned and had to find an alternative via public transport. I could have just ran locally but I wanted to hit my goal of completing my 50th different venue at York next week and so had to find a plan B.

Southwark parkrun ticked a few boxes, it was a prime number event (409) and it also ticked off an element of the compass challenge. Having already ticked off 'East' with East Grinstead, I still had three more to do.

It should have been a simple journey from home. The 7:45 high speed train from Gravesend to Stratford International and then the Jubilee Line down to Canada Water. Except when I arrived at the train station in the morning no high speed trains were running due to signalling issues further down the line in Medway.

There was a 7:34 running to London Canon Street which would have gotten me into London Bridge at 8:34. I only had a few minutes to purchase my ticket and so I did, jumping on the train to enable me some planning time en route. Essentially Google Maps was telling me that from London Bridge Station it would be a 28 minute walk to Southwark park. I'd have to either jog or run to get there ahead of the start and it wasn't something I was particularly relishing. 

I changed tact completely as there was an alternative option. From Abbey Wood I was able to transfer to the Elizabeth line which has recently opened. From here I could head west three stops and change at Canary Wharf for the Jubilee Line where I needed to travel south one stop to Canada Water.

What was seemingly easy on paper was nothing but in reality. The exchange at Abbey Wood was fine and in no time I found myself at Canary Wharf. Time was still on my side, but what I thought would be a simple exchange of platforms at Canary Wharf ended up being an expedition from one side of the docklands to the other! 

The two stations, one for the Elizabeth line and the other for the Jubilee line were miles apart. Up escalators, down escalators, through shopping centres and across boulevards. It was all very swish and modern and I caught some great views of the skyline but the longer it took me the less time I had in reaching parkrun for 9 o'clock! It didn't help that I was busting for a pee and allowed myself to get sidetracked trying to find the bathroom in the underground shopping centre.

Finally, after what felt like the longest time I found myself on the Jubilee Line and alighting at Canada Water tube station. From there I was able to find the park a short distance away and join the other eager participants in another parkrun Saturday!

I normally arrive early and take a bit of a wander, taking some pictures along the route of the course as a familiarisation exercise, but as I'd arrived too late I went straight into the first timers meeting and listened in as the volunteer gave us a description of the course.

Essentially a three-lap course around the southern part of Southwark park, where the first lap has a little extra 'leg' to help make up the distance. The start and finish line are both on grass and are separate from one another. The start is on one side of the playing field and the finish on the other.

The lap itself is all on tarmac with the first half winding it's way around the play area, through a gap between two buildings, one of which was a cafe with the toxicating smell of bacon and the other I believe a museum of some kind. The second part of the lap is an almost out and back with a long sweeping run around the perimeter of the playing fields.

I'd classify this course in the 'flat' category with virtually no elevation of note along the route. 

I finished in 175th position out of a field of 344 participants in a time of 26:49. I was actually given the 174th finishing token, so not quite sure what happend with the results processing, but I'm not too fussed as there was virtually no difference between the times.

After the event, I made my way back again to Canada Water, via a scenic route around the park to capture the photos I'd missed out on before. I had a quick look at the state of the trains and it looked like the high speed service was back up and running again - which was a huge relief as I had to be home in time for Hayden's big day. He was due to be a mascot for the Gills which is a whole other story!