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Osterley parkrun - event 544

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On the 25th October 2025 I ran the Osterley parkrun which was the 544th event held at the venue, my 259th parkrun and 176th different course I'd attended. Over the course of the year I've steadily been ticking off the Greater London venues, so that by the time Saturday morning had come around I had ticked off 60 of the 65 venues across the region. Having visited almost all of what Greater London has to offer I could say that I've seen it all. From venues with over 1,000 participants. Venues with multiple laps, multiple hills or in the case of Thames Path Woolwich a Walnut Whip/Curly Wirly feature slap bang in the middle of the course. Across a size of 607 square miles the 9,000,000 inhabitants of London are spoilt for choice on Saturday mornings, but those living in the west are fortunate in that they will.have slightly easier access to Osterley, which until Saturday was to me just a stop on the Piccadilly line. But it is of course much, much more than that. A national tru...
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Thonock Lane Farm parkrun - event 104

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On the 18th October 2025 I ran the Thonock Lane Farm parkrun which was the 104th event held at the venue, my 258th parkrun and 175th different course I'd attended. This season's league two lineup once again consists of a large northern based majority. Not quite as strong as recent seasons but as an away supporter it has meant many miles travelling to north to watch the Gills.  The fixture list is computed randomly, and in spitting out our away fixtures majority of the longer northern based trips are this side of Christmas. Which has meant achieving Hayden's goal of watching every League match this season has eaten out of his prospective Christmas budget! As per my previous posts, my go to parkrun venue of choice on our away day travels is the closest one geographically from the stadium that we intend to visit. On this occasion that would have been Cleethorpes but they were running an event number which I've already ran and so therefore doesn't meet my rather arbitr...
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Maldon Prom parkrun - event 555

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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 YouTu...
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Houghton Hall parkrun - event 330

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On the 4th October 2025 I ran the Houghton Hall parkrun which was the 330th event held at the venue, my 256th parkrun and 173rd different course I'd attended. The first named storm of the season, storm Amy brought with her weather disruption all across the UK with forecasted winds up to 100mph and caused a series of parkrun cancellations across Friday and into Saturday morning. Being well trained by now in the art of the last minute weather related detour, I needed to keep my wits about me and show some of the agility skills I barely get the opportunity to display out there on the course. Although it wasn't just the weather that was causing me logistic challenges. First it was the football calendar, then it was bacon rolls long before Amy came along. Gillingham were scheduled to play MK Dons at Stadium MK which meant that I'd have time to do parkrun in the morning and have time to get to the game by 3pm with one of our more local away games. But the powers that be at Sky t...
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Rickmansworth parkrun - event 378

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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...
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Severn Bridge parkrun - event 279

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On the 20th September 2025 I ran the Severn Bridge parkrun which was the 279th event held at the venue, my 254th parkrun and 171st different course I'd attended. There are over 2,000 parkrun events worldwide, with just over 800 in the UK. Each event is unique, but there are some that stand out in the crowd and dare I use the term, grown to become 'iconic'. Events such as Bushey for the spectacle of 1,500 stampeding across the start line like a scene from Braveheart. The painful sand dune ascent as Woolacambe Dunes or the scenic beauty of Fountains Abbey. These are events that tourist groups on Social Media have popularised and so visiting them not only becomes visiting a parkrun event it becomes a badge of honour. When the football fixture list came out and Gillingham were scheduled away at Newport County on a Saturday morning, I knew straight away what my weekend was going to look like. There's an abundance of events is easy reach of Newport, but the one I really want...
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Barclay parkrun - event 466

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On the 13th September 2025 I ran the Barclay parkrun which was the 466th event held at the venue, my 253rd parkrun and 170th different course I'd attended. As well as trying to complete all 65 parkruns in Greater London, all 24 in Essex to match the 24 I've done in Kent I thought I'd pay a visit to my 6th event in Hertfordshire to go someway closer to ticking off all 14 parkrun events in the county. If it all sounds rather obsessive then you are correct and I've made no attempts to shy away from it either. There are plenty worse obsessions and what could be any better for me than running for my health? Barclay park lies on the outskirts of Hoddesdon, another place that I would never have visited if it hadn't have been for that niche obsession of mine. A short drive north of the M25 in what looked to be a rather affluent commuter town. Upon arrival I knew straight away that I was going to be in for a tricky morning. The park revealed in its full 3D glory away from Y...
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