Diaspora calling and parkrun calling! - Brockwell parkrun #690 - 08/08/26
- aqasanu
- 12 hours ago
- 3 min read
Having attended the Diaspora calling festival at the Milton Keynes Bowl on Friday, at 0020 on Saturday, I found myself stood outside Milton Keynes station with a few thousand people waiting to see if I’d be able to board the last train back to London. It occurred to me that if I’d been thinking strategically, I would have booked to stay in a hotel in Milton Keynes, enabling me to do the Milton Keynes parkrun, sadly, I hadn’t been that tactical.
Fortunately, the amazing train crew got everyone on the last train to Euston, then an Uber got me home at 0200. I woke up sluggish but determined to make the Brockwell parkrun start line.
The 126-acre Brockwell Park is located in South Brixton, next to Herne Hill. I made my way up the steep hill to the Grade 2-listed Brockwell Hall, where the event starts, grateful not to have a heart attack as had befallen Thomas Bristow MP in 1891 at the official opening of the Park!
Whilst waiting for the event to start, I got talking to Margaret Fletcher from Airedale Dodgers, down from Yorkshire to complete her 500th parkrun! Achieved over 15 years across 75 locations and 5 countries. On this journey, Margaret has also accumulated 538 volunteer credits, giving her an incredible 107% volunteer ratio! A HUGE thank you to Margaret for her contribution and happy continued running.
Today’s Run Director was Kathy Chambers, who gave the morning address before the field of 448 participants headed off.
The course starts with a slight downhill and then a 90-degree right turn and loops back to Brockwell Hall. Then it’s effectively two laps all on well-maintained tarmac paths. You have a steep downhill to the Rosendale Road entrance before taking a right, joining the main perimeter path. There’s a soul-searching climb then a wonderful downhill, another right, up another hill passing the bowls field and tennis courts. At the end of the second lap you take a right turn back to the finish funnel just past Brockwell Hall.
The park is a Site of importance for Nature Conservation with mature trees, including ancient oaks, substantial lawns, meadows and a series of lakes. Your reward for the 70m of elevation are wonderful views of London’s skyline, including the old City of London and its iconic buildings.
From today’s 448 participants, there were 100 first timers.
The first female finisher was Emily Bannister at her first attempt!
The first male finisher was Ed Cotter, who equaled his personal best.
Amazingly, 36 participants recorded personal bests; congratulations to you all.
And a special shout out for today’s ‘Bride’ to be, Natalie. Natalie got her party started running with friends from her running group, Vegan Runners. Natalie started parkrun back in November 2019. With 127 parkruns, across 5 countries and 81 different events, getting married isn’t going to get in the way of a Saturday 5k. It’s truly wonderful to see how parkrun creates this social space to spend time with friends and collectively celebrate special occasions. May your wedding anniversaries always fall on a Saturday 🙂
A huge thank you to the 31-strong volunteer team. Freddie Roberts gave the new runners welcome, then did the run too, providing an example of one of the ways you can combine running and volunteering in one go!
Brockwell Park has a beautiful walled garden designed by JJ Sexby and a wonderful mini Big Ben Clock tower. With an art deco Lido, an open-air swimming pool and a miniature railway, there’s plenty to do and see in the park.
With the Park Festival Series at Burgess Park now finished, next week I’ll be returning to my home parkrun to see friends and to swap parkrun tourism tales.
Wishing you happy running, walking, or volunteering.
You can read about how parkrun was created by the founder, Paul Sinton-Hewitt, a care leaver, in his book ‘One Small Step’, The Definitive Account of how a run became a Global Movement by clicking here.
I believe you can plan that MK for next year but am glad you got to Brockwell. Sounds like a delightful one.