Crane Park parkrun - event 644

On the 17th January 2025 I ran the Crane Park parkrun which was the 644th event held at the venue, my 272nd parkrun and 187th different course I'd attended.

I had it all planned out. Crane Park, followed by Ingrebourne hill. And I would have successfully visited all 65 parkruns in Greater London. But then up popped Greenwich Peninsula parkrun and made it 66 events. Which might just be another one to add to the list, but my self-imposed rule of not running the same event number more than twice means that I'm not going to run the new parkrun in Greenwich for at least a year. LonDone status is going to have to wait.

There is also the risk here that the day before I eventually run Greenwich Peninsula parkrun another new venue appears and the whole wait starts over again.

Oh well! Me and my silly rules.

Anyhow, we can't control the future, so let's make the most of today. And today was the turn of Crane parkrun, where once again I was joined by Foordy who had his first taste of an event where the start and finish where in totally different places.

Crane parkrun take place in Crane Park, which is a belt of land in or near Hanworh directly under the flight path of Heathrow airport. Hanworh parkrun is a stones throw away and I'm sure if you were athletic enough, and parkrun allowed it you could complete both courses in the same morning!

The park is split from North to South by the River Crane which runs through the full park and beyond either side. The finish lies on the North bank and the start on the South. At Eastern and Western ends are roads where on either side the park continues in either direction.

With a nicely constricted section around the river and between the two roads the organisers of the event have done a great job in creating a one and a half lap course that is contained within it's geographically challenges space.

We parked on the northern end of the course, on a residential street due to the park not having any public car park. I'm fact, this event is one of the more natural varieties where not only is there no parking facilities, but there is no cafe and no toilets either.

As we entered the park from the northern end we had to decide what to do with our coats. As it was still incredibly parky, we didn't want to lose our coats just yet. So walking around to the finish, dropping our coats there for the end and walking around to the start was dismissed. Instead we decided to make our way to the start, run the first half of the lap and drop our coats off as we ran by the finish.

Evidently we weren't the only people with the same idea. As we made our way around after the first half of the lap coats were being flung in all directions which the volunteers on the sidelines did an admiral job of gathering for our safekeeping.

Heading anti-clockwise from the start, the course on the southern end is taken on gravel paths and weaves it's way through ever so slightly undulating terrain in a primarily woodland environment. There is a housing estate to the south and some small open spaces where a play park and mini-football pitch can be found.

At the eastern end the path comes out of the park onto the Chertsey Road for a short dash across the river before coming back into the park to take in the northern section which is as per the south but all on tarmac paths instead.

After the finish line, which is the first half of the course, the full second lap carries on in a similar vein as the first. Coming out on the western side and coming out on the Hanworh road for a short stretch and coming back into the park on the southern side.

Being under the flight path we had multiple planes fly overhead, feeling almost in touching distance. Loud, imposing and a distraction it must be quite something to live close by and I wondered whether people just get used to the noise after a while.

Still feeling the effects of whatever illness I had been carrying for what feels like forever I approached this event with a similar feeling to my other events during this period. Slowly, with an emphasis on just being out there and enjoying it.

I finished in 138th position out of a field of 209 participants in a time of 32:19. It might not have been much but was still the fastest time this year.

That would have been 64 out of 66 parkruns in Greater London completed, but sadly Victoria Dock has decided to close due to.not being able to consistently find volunteers to put on the course safely each week. So that brings us back down to 65 venues. Still two more to go!