Adventures in the Wirral with Adventure Bear! - Birkenhead parkrun #425 - 03/05/25

aqasanu
May 4
2 min read

Updated: Jun 2

Birkenhead parkrun, May 2025 — Adventures with Elijah, Sarah and Adventure Bear!

Another work trip to Liverpool provided an opportunity to complete another part of what I have coined as the 'Miracles of Mersey challenge', which is completing all the parkruns in Merseyside.

Elijah chose today's location. He had been given ‘Adventure Bear’ from school, and I’d asked him to choose which parkrun event we’d attend. He chose Birkenhead parkrun and it didn’t disappoint.

Birkenhead parkrun takes place in Birkenhead, a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside. It is on the Wirral Peninsula along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool, and connected to it by the world's first railway tunnel beneath a tidal estuary!

Birkenhead Park was opened in April 1847. Joseph Baxton designed the park with curved paths, separate lawns surrounded by trees, and added asymmetrical lakes. It includes hills, rockeries and several buildings from styles from around the world, such as the grand entrance arch, Roman boathouse and the Swiss bridge. Designated a conservation area in 1977, it was declared a Grade I listed landscape by English Heritage in 1995, and it’s easy to see why.

The park was visited by Frederick Olmsted in 1850, who used the design of the park as the foundation for his competition entry for Central Park in New York; which he won. Central Park is widely heralded globally as a spectacular park. One of my cousins who lives near it regularly sends me pictures of its beauty. I hope my cousin will take inspiration from this story to bring parkrun to Central Park. I’m confident that Olmstead and the parkrun community would approve.

This Saturday was Jan Mcard of Wallasey AC 250th parkrun, 202 of them completed here at Birkenhead parkrun. Wallasey AC club runners were out in force to celebrate her milestone.

Bire — Jan was completing her 250th parkrun!

Additionally, Mark Pritchard was completing his 250th parkrun and 50th volunteering stint. I found myself chatting with his wife, Ruth, who, on learning where my home parkrun was, asked if I knew our very own Josephine Ocaka, who had visited them in July 2019. Josephine is like an unofficial Burgess parkrun/parkrun/general running ambassador who always leaves a positive impression. You can read about Josephine by clicking here; she’s a Burgess parkrun legend.

The park covers 140 acres; however, the course is a two-lapper. My Strava recorded 40m of elevation. With its wide, curving paths providing stunning park vistas, even with 915 participants today, it never felt too congested or constricted. The 51-strong volunteer team cheered everyone on, and I was captivated by the park's beauty.

With the Run completed and volunteers thanked, we made our way to Marino Lounge in New Brighton, with views over the Mersey for some well-earned pancakes and blueberries.