Wormwood Scrub parkrun - event 671

On the 1st November 2025 I ran the Wormwood Scrubs parkrun which was the 671st event held at the venue, my 260th parkrun and 177th different course I'd attended.

A week after ticking off Greater London event number 62, it was back up to the Big Smoke again for number 63. Although this time around I was a little unsure on the best way to get there. In recent trips to London venues it's been easy to drive, but with Wormwood Scrubs being located fairly centrally my first thought was to head in by train.

From Gravesend, or Ebbsfleet getting into London on Saturday morning can be a quick, if not expensive way of travel. Adding on the cost of car parking at Ebbsfleet and the connecting tube via the Central Line the cost of commuting to Wormwood Scrubs proved quite off-putting.

However, the scrubs has a fairly reasonable sized carpark and despite a route that took me through central London driving once again proved to be the more viable option. For an added bonus I even managed two trips through the new Silvertown road tunnel at Greenwich which appealed to the inner-geek in me.

Wormwood Scrubs is better known to me as the prison. Referred to in TV programmes and pop-culture when I was growing up. I hadn't realised the prison was accompanied also by an actual scrubland. And nor was I quite aware of just how close the prison and scrubs actually are. From the parkrun start line you can virtually touch the outter edge of the prison walls.

The course is two laps long and takes participants around an anti-clockwise route, all on grass and trails paths. The route cuts across the main grass area where football pitches and rugby goals are stationed, before taking the perimeter of the north western end of the scrubs and a series of paths through trees and bushland.

Wormwood Scrubs is around 67 hectares in size and ecologically diverse. There is a lot of bio-diversity and local groups are heavily invested in the maintenance and upkeep of the public space.

Around the park are other flashbacks to the past, with the Linford Christie athletics track and a building baring the name of Daley Thompson. Two athletes who represented the United Kingdom in Olympics when I was a kid growing up.

The trail paths when I ran were in reasonable shape. I had anticipated mud, which was another reason why I didn't fancy commuting by train. But with a fresh, chilly morning and not much rain the paths were good going, with the promise that these would be the best conditions over the next few months as the weather changes and more rain arrives.

After the second lap, participants carry on past the start line, a smell of weed drifting over the prison walls. Carrying on a very slight incline and turning right past the treeline where the finish awaits.

Coming home in 83rd place out of a field of 115 participants in a time of 32:02. I was a couple of minutes slower than I had hoped, due to needing a pee (again) half way around. I was able to find a nice thick clump of bushes allowing me some privacy but ultimately came at the cost of a few more minutes on my time.