Harrow parkrun - event 467

Harrow parkrun

On the 6th September 2025 I ran the Harrow parkrun which was the 467th event held at the venue, my 252nd parkrun and 169th different course I'd attended.

My recent parkrun adventures have taken me far and wide with recent trips to Oldham, Ruthin and Accrington separated by nearer trips to Fulham and my milestone run at Leybourne Lakes. So it was quite nice to tick off another London venue and continue to slowly chip away at my goal of visiting all parkruns in the region.

As Harrow (or it's vicinity) is home to a work colleague, it was another opportunity to meet her and enjoy another parkrun event together. We last ran Canons Park parkrun together over two years ago. In-between those two dates, I've been virtually ever present, whilst she hadn't ran at all so I was secretly hoping come the end of the event she'd been bitten by the bug like I have!

Harrow parkrun takes place on Harrow recreation ground and is surrounded by housing on all sides. The venue is home to a small carpark of around 40 spaces and so I made a deliberate effort to arrive as early as possible to bag myself a spot - and had I arrived any later than the 8:15 I arrived at I'm not sure that I'd have found a space available. Parking around the recreation ground is limited with many areas permit only so I'm grateful plan A worked out as I hadn't quite formulated a back-up!

The course is three laps on the perimeter path that circumnavigates the entire park at it's far edge. All on tarmac and all in reasonable good conditions. The route travels in an anti-clockwise direction and as the three laps doesn't quite make up the mandatory distance the first lap.contaoms a short inner lap around the interior of the park part way into the first lap.

Looks can be deceiving, as at first glance you'd be forgiven for describing the course as flatz but as you make your way around the lap there are some subtle undulations which make for a slightly more challenging run than I was first anticipating.

I finished in 175th place out of a field of 366 participants in a time of 30:15. It was my 60th event in the Greater London region which leaves me with just five left to complete the set.

As the weather was still warm and the sun was out it was a perfect opportunity to enjoy a post parkrun ice-cream and catch-up with my colleague. Just as it's never too early for a beer it's never too early for a white chocolate magnum either!

Saturdays, that's what it's all about.

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