Hackney Marshes parkrun - event 593

On the 25th March 2023 I ran the Hackney Marshes parkrun which was the 593rd event held at the venue, my 123rd parkrun and 52nd different course I'd attended.

When I was a kid, I had a t-shirt made by Nike, or Adidas - one of the two. It was black with distinct football pitch markings across it and other related football messaging. But it was the distinctive football pitch markings that would always prompt a question from people whenever I wore the t-shirt as to what they represented. I didn't think that they represented anything until someone answered the question for me. They were representing the football pitch markings at Hackney Marshes.

Since then, I've been fascinated by the thought of an area of parkland devoted to over 80 football pitches and have read books, watched movies, documentaries and television programmes about football in this part of East London and its impact upon the culture of grassroots involvement in the national game.

In the 1960's and 1970's heyday, there were 120 full-size football pitches on four areas of the Hackney Marshes playing fields, each of the North, East, South and West fields were alive on Saturday and Sunday mornings with amateur footballers from all over London enjoying participation in the Beautiful Game.

Whilst those numbers have fallen, there are still 80 pitches of various sizes for the varying age groups from Junior to Adult. Hackney Marshes still retains its image and legacy of grassroots football with the worlds greatest players visiting the venue to film TV commercials and other advertising collateral. In 2010 it became home to a free timed 5k parkrun event and has been held consistently for the past 13 years.

Hackney Marshes parkrun is actually one of the easiest events to get to from home. A quick 15 minute shuttle from Gravesend to Stratford International and a ten minute walk through the Olympic Park and I can be on the start line. Walking through the Olympic Park first thing on a Saturday morning was a pleasurable experience. We've been plenty of times before as a family, but on those occasions the park has always been incredibly busy, so having the park to myself bar the odd jogger/early morning walker was rather enjoyable.

The course is an out-and-back starting from the south west corner of the east field of the marshes. Facing north participants circumnavigate the entire eastern field, keeping to the outside of the football pitches that are located there. Travelling clockwise around the field, all on grass the route comes back around and passes the finish line on the right hand side. 

I knew from research that much of the course was flat and majority takes place on grass. With the recent rain we'd been experiencing I was expecting a lot of mud and puddles and so wore my trail shoes in preparation. Whilst trail was the better choice of shoe, you could have ran in road shoes as it was nowhere near as muddy or saturated as I thought it would be.

Once you've passed the finish line, the course exits the eastern field and crosses the River Lea by footbridge, picking up the tarmac path that runs alongside the meandering waterway. From the wide open expanse of soft, spongy grass, to hard paths enclosed by trees makes a nice contrast and did take a little getting used to. 

Eventually, after a wide sweeping bend of the river and a few minor turns the marshall point is reached and you are directed back onto the much larger western field where majority of the 80 football pitches are located. As above, going from grass to tarmac, there is another adjustment exercise to contend with but in reverse as you follow the field around, behind goal post after goal post heading towards a goal of your own - a gap in the treeline which takes you back onto the riverside path and back to the bridge across the River Lea and into the eastern part of the marshes.

From here you find yourself directly next to the finish funnel, but you are still someway from the end of the run as you have to circumnavigate the field in an anti-clockwise direction retracing your footsteps from the way you came from the start. I thought Bedgebury Pinetum and Royal Tunbridge Wells had evil finishes with uphill ascents hidden away at the end. But Hackney Marshes was a big fat tease, poking its tongue out at you and blowing a raspberry as you ran on by whilst laughing as you make your way around the long drag around the field.

I finished in 158th place out of a field of 294 participants in a time of 27.06. It was also another event ticked off in London which means slowly ticking off each of the events inside the M25 - still a long way to go, but getting there slowly!