Beckton parkrun - event 548

On the 16th March 2024 I ran the Beckton parkrun which was the 548th event held at the venue, my 174th parkrun and 98th different course I'd attended.

The beauty of parkrun tourism is seeing places that you'd never normally see by any other means. By visiting and trying to visit all of the parkruns inside the M25 you are guaranteed to see parts of London you'd never normally visit outside of the key tourist areas. Like Beckton for example, just a stones throw from the London ExCel centre.

London has a rich variety of parkrun events, some vastly more popular than others.The two closest events to Beckton are Victoria Dock and Thames Path Woolwich which average 200 and 250 participants each week respectively where as Beckton is a much smaller event with and average of only 64.

It's nice to visit a smaller event as there is much more of an intimate, community feel about it. The first timers meeting and race brief at Beckton were taken at the same time for example, and the run director can make eye contact with all participants as she was talking. There was also tea and coffee made available at the end of the run which was another nice community based touch.

We were advised during the pre-event formalities that we were to run a slightly alternative course due to work being carried out on a part of the course. The original course took a route around the lower field of the recreation ground, but the local authorities are trying to bring it back to a more wild state and therefore preventing access to let nature do it's thing.

The course starts from the Will Thorne pavillion on the corner of an urban green space where children were at football training and locals using the play park and the apparatus. The green space is split into two by what's known as the Beckton Corridor, a former railway line that is now a public football. The stretch of path that bisects the playing fields is lined on both sides with trees and I'd imagine in the spring, summer and autumn it looking all rather pretty. But in winter with the trees empty of any leaves it still looked aesthetically pleasing.

From the start line, beside the play park participants head east, over the Beckton Corridor footpath and down onto the playing fields.

I wore trail shoes thinking we'd be in for a lot of mud due to another week of rain. But it was reasonably okay underfoot and I think road shoes would have been fine. 

Following the outer perimeter of the field in an anti-clockwise direction participants head around the back of goalposts and football pitch markings, reminiscent of Hackney Marshes. As we were on the alternative course we kept to the outside of the first field and ignored the footpaths leading you into the second field which lay beyond a copse of treea.

The field was flat and a little squishy in places, but eventually you reached the perimeter path and turned left heading back towards the middle of the park and the Beckton Corridor. The pathway was tarmac, but not in great condition. Originally built with a camber the path had rutted and warped with roots making the ground quite bumpy and challenging in places to run on.

Turning right, the course reaches the Beckton Corridor and you head out along it on an out-and-back stretch which is slightly better underfoot. This area was quite atmospheric with people running in both directions and I was able to high-five Foordy on both my visits. 

I'm not great when it comes to estimating distances so you'll have to take these figures with a pinch of salt. But after 250 metres or so there's a lampost and a concrete roundabout structure on the floor which signifies the turnaround point, where we swung around and head back the way we came.

Once back at the edge of the field is a marshall directing the flow of participants depending upon where they are on the course. For the first two laps you are directed right where you zigzag through some gardens and come out on the far side of the park. On the third lap you are directed westward down the Beckton Corridor instead of east. The finish is on the right hand behind the avenue of trees just short of the start line.

I finished in 33rd place out of a field of 61 participants in a time of 27:57. It felt like a slightly trickier parkrun than what I was expecting. With virtually no elevation at all I was expecting a quicker course. But the changing surface from grass to tarmac always needs a little adjustment time, especially as the pathways weren't in the best of conditions.

But it's definitely a parkrun that more people need to visit. Even if like me, it's to visit a place you'd never normally go to.