Maldon Prom parkrun - event 555

On the 11th October 2025 I ran the Maldon Prom parkrun which was the 555th event held at the venue, my 257th parkrun and 174th different course I'd attended.

A couple of years ago the parkrun organisers asked the maker of the 5k app to remove some.of the number based challenges that had caused some events to get overwhelmed on occasions that they weren't prepared or expecting it. One of those challenges was the 'nelson' challenge and involved ticking off events 111, 222, 333 etc.

My approach to touristing is to visit as many different events as possible and to try and ensure that I visit on a unique event number that I've not ran before. This approach does mean eventually I'll tick all numbers off irrespective of whether they are a prime, nelson or any other that people want to attach a label too 

Having already visited 17 of the 24 events in Essex I was keen to tick off yet another one. I had seen plenty of videos filmed at Maldon Prom as a running based YouTuber lives locally and has several videos filmed on the course on his channel.

Any course that runs alongside water in any capacity does it for me and so I arrived with high expectations.

Walking around prior to the start it was clear to me that Maldon Prom has so much to offer. Aside from it's free, weekly timed running event there were a variety of different play areas, petting Zoe's, model boating lakes and a variety of pop-up cafes, coffee shops and ice-cream parlours.

I made a mental note before I'd even started running that I needed to come back on a warmer spring or summer Sunday and enjoy a day out here with the kids - so much on offer and what Gravesend Promenade could be if it was managed and invested in properly.

Soapbox dismounted.

Maldon Prom parkrun is two laps and two laps of contrasting differences. You've got the first part which a section from.the start and around the edge of a flat grass playing field. The next section is a tarmac stretch which leads the avenue of remembrance. This next section is a trail stretch around a smaller field which around its perimeter and avenue of trees has long been planted to commemorate the fallen during the two world wars.

This stretch of trail is bumpy and bobbly and when I ran at the start of autumn was covered in leaves so you couldn't quite make out lots of the tree roots which lay underneath as trip hazards.

At the exit of this section you lead directly into the next which is ran firstly as a short out and back along the main promenade before running back towards the main park area and the central part of Maldon itself.

The out and back was interesting in its own right as at the end of the turn around point sits the Statue of Byrhtnoth. This impossing monument celebrates the 10th century warrior from the war of Maldon who fought against a viking army in the vicinity of where parkrun takes place.

Once at the opposite end of the promenade, the route runs around an ornamental lake where more huts selling coffees and other goods are dotted around. After the full lap of the lake is completed, the route swings around up a short sharp hill where the start line was located.

This little incline comes as a little bit of a surprise to the legs. Visually you can see that the parkrun course is on multiple levels, but there's no real feeling of running downhill so the gradient is gradual across the distance. Rising sharply it takes it out of you, but knowing it is short and sharp you can give full beams fully aware you've either got the second lap to recover or only have the short distance to the finish.

I finished in 192nd place out of a field of 385 participants in a time of 29:35 which was my third fastest time of the year.