Erdigg parkrun - event 277

On the 11th November 2023 I ran the Erdigg parkrun which was the 277th event held at the venue, my 154th parkrun and 81st different course I'd attended.

Last weekend my touristing plans came to an abrupt halt. It was my friend Marks birthday and he'd arranged to run Shorne Woods parkrun and was being joined by Reaso and George. Weather in the lead up to the weekend has been horrific and wasn't much better on the Saturday morning. I didn't have a car and so wasn't relishing a train trip to North London and Oak Hill as I had planned. Instead I decided to remain local and joined the others at Shorne Woods where I ran for the fifth time and proceeded to set a new PB of 27:52 which was just shy of three minutes better than my previous best.

This week was a return to new experiences and for me my first parkrun in Wales as we head to Wrexham to watch Gillingham and complete another weekend double.

If I could and if my budget was able to stretch that far I'd visit every away Gillingham match and would travel up Friday after work, stay overnight and get up in the morning to run a local parkrun event before the game on the Saturday afternoon. It's what Hayden and I did in August on the first game of the season with Stockport County and Woodbank and despite the awful rain was a great weekend.

I've been to Wrexham twice previously and if it hadn't been for the Hollywood takeover I'd have not been too fussed about going again, but as Ryan Reynolds and co had put Wrexham truly on the global map it was a ground Hayden was desperate to visit. Not only he, but Reaso, George and my brother in law Richard who has recently joined us as a season ticket holder wanted to make the visit to Wales as his first away game of the season. He's also been a frequent visitor of Cyclopark parkun this year and so was well up for following my format of a footballing weekend.

Heading up Friday, we picked Hayden up from school and drove up the M1/M6 and arrived on the outskirts of Wrexham at our Travelodge for the night. Cheap, comfortable and easy açcess for parkrun in the morning but short on amenities. I wrongly assumed that the budget chains were attached to some form of pub chain, but it wasn't the case for this particular hotel. Upon arrival, instead of enjoying a couple of late night beers we all retired to our rooms and caught up on sleep instead!

Erdigg parkrun takes place in the grounds and estate of an old 18th century mansion. It was a short ten minute drive in the morning and we arrived in good time. The car park is a good five minute walk from the start and the entrance roads are at the mercy of being blocked by flocks of sheep, so always good to give yourself some extra time!

The start takes place in front of the main house which was impressive to stand outside of. It's an imposing property with views for miles around which you can see the appeal of why the house was chosen to be built there.

An out and back route, it's slightly more convuluted than a straightforward out leg and a subsequent return. Starting from the house participants run a short loop at the same level of the house through woodland which was wonderfully squelchy and muddy underfoot. There was also a fair amount of groundwater, but the skies were clear and perfectly blue making for perfect weather to enjoy the views and scenery.

Part way around the woodland route is a short out and back section which is taken strictly in single file with no overtaking permitted. This was a little bit of a challenge with Hayden as he clearly wanted to stop and walk but I told him he wasn't allowed to and used it as an excuse to push him into running!

Once the loop is complete, participants run back past the house before turning right down a sharp hill and turn back on yourselfs below the level of the house which you can barely see the top of as you look up towards it.

This path continues deeper into the Erdigg estate and you get to enjoy the changing scenery as the path crosses over a meandering river and weaves around a mixture of woodland and open fields.

At this point Hayden had been busting for a pee and was no longer able to run despite my continued encouragement. I tried to get him to pee into a bush besides the path we were running on, but he got stage fright and nothing happened. I wasn't too bothered if I'm honest as it gave me more time to enjoy my surroundings and admire what was a truly spectacular place to run, walk or jog a 5k course. Richard, George and Reaso were all ahead of us running their own events and so there was no competition for places this week.

At the end of the pathway, you met a bridge which humped over the river which was full and flowing coldly beneath. Other faster runners were heading towards us on their way back, but we had to turn left and stay on the southern bank of the river and take the large loop which would eventually bring us back around to the bridge in which we'd just passed.

We made our way along the river and towards the end of the Erdigg estate dodging puddles and potholes, where a single file wooden bridge took us over to the other side and into the woods. We'd lost all of the running pack and were enjoying the peace and solitude of our surroundings. I managed to convince Hayden to try and have a pee again, which was more successful this time. But had less joy convincing him to pick up the pace.

We made our way out of the woods, across a wet and very squelchy field to the humped-backes bridge where our ascent back to the house began.

Known fondly as 'vomit hill' the route back, following the way that we came was generally fine for the most part. The real severe gradient came right towards the last 100m, but as you knew it was going to be short and sharp well within the realms of being runnable. Although I had the benefit of walking most of the course and had I ran around I'd be cursing the hill as much as the next man!

Once vomit hill in conquered, participants turn left and follow the short route back to the start where the finishing funnel is now set up and in place.

I finished in a time of 47:39 and was 128th out of a field of 136 participants. It was of course not an event for speed, but another event where I ran with Hayden encouraging him to be outdoors and enjoy his surroundings. I had absolutely no interest in running at 8 years old and don't expect him to either. But we can all enjoy and admire a beautiful location with incredible scenery can't we?