Marathons, parkruns and the restorative magic of running - Burgess parkrun #610 - 18/04/26

Shveta, Nisha and two members of the Skid Row Running Club.

In April, there are a host of marathons across Europe. For people travelling from far away, the marathon can be part of a bigger trip, and for some, the chance for a bit of parkrun tourism. This is exactly what a group of visitors from the Skid Row Running Club in Los Angeles had done. Fresh from completing the Paris Marathon (Tour de Paris Marathon, first done 1896) the previous Sunday, they were now in London to see the sights and sample our parkrun 🙂

The Skid Row Running Club was founded by Craig Mitchelll, a Los Angeles Superior Court Judge. Back in 2012, he had been invited to the Midnight Mission by Roderick Brown, whom he had previously sentenced to prison. When Roderick was paroled, he began living at the Midnight Mission, which works with homeless people. Roderick invited the judge to visit the mission to show what he and others were doing to get their lives back together and asked Judge Craig if he wanted to be part of the solution. Judge Craig knew about the positive impact running had played in his life, so he decided to start a running club. The running club includes ex-offenders, police officers, judges, the homeless and people struggling with addiction. There are sobriety sponsors and runners who remain sober and in the running program are supported to participate in an international marathon. 

This was like meeting Michael Buck the protagonist from The Street Lawyer by John Grisham: an uplifting, mystery, suspense-laden, humdinger of a read, which I’d recently finished. John Grisham is a best-selling crime thriller writer, but Burgess parkrun is where the magic is at.     

Shveta and Judge Craig. Photo credit Shveta.

With the third-highest attendance numbers at Burgess today, it felt like a dress rehearsal for the coming Saturday. The London Marathon, one of the world's major marathons, takes place on Sunday, 26th April. This tends to attract additional tourists in town who want to do a pre-marathon shakeout run or simply immerse themselves in a welcoming running community. 

Burgess regulars, Geoffrey, Pip, Callum, Madeleine, Martin, Sean, Alice and Josephine will all be on the London Marathon start-line; you’ll be able to wish them well at Burgess and collect their race numbers to track them on the day. 

Out with Pip, Madeleine and Calum for their last long run before London Marathon. Photo credit Pip.

Saturday will also be the opportunity to say goodbye to our Event Director Chris Raveney, who, after over 11 years in post, will be stepping down. I know many of you will want to thank him for his contribution to this incredible event where the magic happens.  

Happy running, walking and volunteering.  

www.nuhorizons.uk

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.

You can follow Skid Row Runners on Instagram by clicking here.

Sean is running for the Imperial Cancer Health Charity, you can read more and sponsor him by clicking here.