Rickmansworth parkrun - event 378

Rickmansworth parkrun

On the 27th September 2025 I ran the Rickmansworth parkrun which was the 378th event held at the venue, my 255th parkrun and 172nd different course I'd attended.

After visiting as many parkrun events as I have, you'd think that I would be more than happy to skip over the first-timers briefing. But the first-timers briefing isn't solely for those new to parkrun, it's also aimed at tourists who are visiting the venue for the first time and important information about the course, it's route and general specific event details are provided.

Had I not stopped to listen to the first-timers briefing at Rickmansworth on Saturday I would have found myself incredibly confused and quite possibly lost, or setting myself a PB time I'd never be able to beat.

According to the course information page on the event website the course was two laps with a long start/finish straight at either side. But during the briefing we was informed that the website was out of date and that the course was in actual fact three laps instead, which also included a slightly modified start/finish straight.

Either way, both courses are both five kilometres long and it wouldn't make any difference to me as I'd not ran the previous route so would know no better.

Accompanying me on my trip around the M25 was Mark who is slowly nearing his 50th parkrun milestone and was chasing an elusive sub 25 time.

His goal was made slightly easier as the event organisers had made a concerted effort to seed people into their finishing positions. The idea being, that a 600 plus crowd, lining up in pace order, quickest to slowest would get away quicker and cause less congestion than a system that allows everyone free reign.

The problem with all forms of organisation is it relies on compliance. Majority of the people did appear to follow the guidance, but disappointingly there were a disproportionate amount who never. So starting off an the start/finish straight took a lot longer than it perhaps could have done with quite clearly faster runners having to navigate their way around much slower participants.

I get that it's not a race and times shouldn't be taken preciously, but it's about order and respect for those who run alongside you on a Saturday morning. Is it really too much to ask that you consider your fellow participants ahead of your own desire for a shiny PB?

Anyhow, we eventually navigated our way along the main path through Rickmansworth Aquadrome enjoying the warm autumnal sunshine. We made our way to the start of the three laps around Batchworth Lake and enjoyed making our way around them on flat tarmac paths that took us alongside the lake in places, through tunnels of trees in others and plenty of scenic eye candy along the rest.

Once the three clockwise laps had been completed it was back along the start/finish straight for a sprint to the finish line - although my legs couldn't quite muster the energy that my mind was willing them to.

I finished in 307th place out of a field of 544 participants in a time of 29:52.

Mark didn't quite get the sub 25 he was aiming for, losing like I did time at the start. But whilst he was more disappointed about it than I was, I shared with him his frustration and do will people to just stop for a second and be that little more considerate.

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