Fulham Palace parkrun - event 510

On the 9th August 2025 I ran the Fulham Palace parkrun which was the 510th event held at the venue, my 248th parkrun and 166th different course I'd attended.

Last weekend, once I'd got home from my trip up north Stephanie called me over and asked me just what the hell I thought I was doing. Dazed and confused I asked her what she was talking about. She explained that she'd opened the parcel that I had ordered by mistake and/or curiosity. It was a long cardboard tube and I was completely in the dark. I hadn't ordered anything and so was completely mystified.

I opened the lid and slid out the poster, unrolling it full of excitement as I realised what it was. It was a huge poster with a list of all the parkrun venues broken down into geographic regions. There were checkboxes next to each venue and a roll of 'tick' stickers so I could add stickers next to all the venues that I'd visited 

I spent a good hour working through my tick list, oblivious to the origin of the great gift I'd received. I took a photograph of it and put a post up on Facebook thanking the mystery shopper for their purchase.

A couple of hours later I received a text message from my niece Layla who has been living with us temporarily and is due to move out at the end of the month. She couldn't believe I'd opened my parcel without her permission and she wanted to give me the poster as a surprise! I was mightily relieved at the mystery being solved, but explained to her that the parcel was addressed to me so did what any normal person would have done had they also received something through the post with their name on!

But what has this got to do with Fulham Palace? Well nothing really, other than the fact that seeing a whole group of green ticks in a physical display of my parkrun achievements made things feel so much more tangible than seeing it on a screen on an app. Family who visited over the weekend were keen to see the poster I'd shared online and remarked how mad/devoted/dedicated/crazy I was.

Completing Fulham Palace was the 59th venue I'd visited out of 65 in the Greater London region, with just 6 more to go before I complete the set.

The event is held in Bishops Park, where the Fulham Palace is located and the venue is named after the building not the park. Sat on the banks of the River Thames next to Craven Cottage, home of Fulham Football Club.

I've been to Craven Cottage on a couple of occasions, both times a whole back and both times I believe in the evening so don't have too many recollections or the wider area or context or the park next door. Other than a story my Dad told me about his best mate getting thrown out of the ground by the police and watching the rest of the game from a tree behind the stand for the rest of the game.

The parkrun course is three laps, ran in an anti-clockwise direction. Starting midway through the park on the southern side the course takes in three laps around the perimeter, including a stretch down the riverside walk along the River Thames

Being event number 510, the organisers of the event are well versed in how to put on and organise everyone to help things run a bit more smoothly. With nearly 600 participants the start struggles to cope with the number of people and so the run director called people up in order according to their estimated finish time. This process seemed to work really well, but it did mean that for 30 minute runners like myself we.were quite far back along the start straight and took quite a while to a).reach the start line itself and b) eventually get a steady running rhythm going.

Of course, parkrun isn't a race and I'm not participating each week for time purposes. But for those who might be it may be useful to know. My experience of running different London venues tells me that they will invariably be busy and a flat course in a prime location in the greatest city in the world is going to be no exception.

Majority of the course was on flat tarmac paths, all apart from the stretch that runs east along the river. This is made up of fine gravel and so makes quite a racket as everyone is running along it. Road shoes would be perfectly suitable at all times of year.

I finished the course in 31.05, and came 393rd out of a field of 588 participants. Considering the number of people, and the slightly tight nature of the course people generally stuck by the guidance given at the beginning to run left and overtake on the right. Being 3 laps most people will.be lapped at least once and following the run directors instructions make the whole experience better for everyone.

After the run, I decided to take a walk along the river to check out the redevelopment at Craven Cottage. Since Iast visited three sides of the ground have been heavily redeveloped including the construction of an impressive Riverside Stand which offers some of the most expensive seats in the Premier League.

Whilst from the outside the new stand did look incredibly impressive, with the ground floor levels open to the general public offering a series of different eateries and places to drink and socialise. The ground was missing branding with not a single club badge anywhere on the facades of the three stands I could see. Aside from the George Cohen statue, celebrating the England World Cup winner, there wasn't anything that would tell you who the ground belonged to if you didn't know it already.

Not only was that my 59th London venue, it was my 248th parkrun overall. Just two more to go and I hit the 250 milestone which is something that continues to amaze me - not bad for someone who doesn't like running!