Revamped trails and garlic tales - Medina I.O.W. parkrun #519 - 17/08/25

The Garlic Festival; https://www.garlicfestival.co.uk/

Black garlic beer, to garlic ice creams, these are just a few of the delights that are produced from the 15 varieties of garlic that are grown at the Garlic Farm, based on the Isle of Wight. A family-run business which has been creating a range of garlic-infused products for over 50 years. Its success inspires the Garlic Festival, our weekend destination with the added bonus of some parkrun tourism 🙂 

Previously, I visited Medina I.O.W. parkrun in August 2021, but unlike most parkruns that stick to a fixed location, Medina I.O.W. parkrun relocates! On my previous visit, the course was at Newport, but this year, from 7th June, the course moved to Appley Park in Ryde, and boy, were we in for a treat. We walked through the car park and up the hill towards the start, where we found a throng of people limbering up, 443 would be the eventual number with 126 parkrunners new to Medina, perhaps they were on the island for the festival too 🙂

Lots of milestone shirts and veteran runners could be seen, and when we turned around, there were the stunning sea views!

The course starts on the green with an anti-clockwise loop on the grass before picking up a path which then goes down through a small cluster of trees and down to the promenade. Running through a cafe (literally), towards the Appley Tower, past beach huts. There’s a 180-degree turn on the promenade bringing you back still on the sea wall, all the time offering fantastic sea views.

And then there’s the 1k climb, affectionately called ‘The Big Hill’. It starts on a path before the course moves onto the grass to wipe out any remaining stores of energy you have. There’s a small loop on the grass which takes you back to the start, where the finish funnel awaits. Relocation means this event is totally revamped. 

The Newport course might be faster, but at Appley my breath was taken away. This is a beautiful event. 

The course takes you past The Appley Tower.

Starting at the back of the course, I made my way through the field, which had wonderful camaraderie. At about 2k, before reaching the promenade, I caught up with a clutch of runners from the Hampshire Vegan Runners, including Alice, who was pushing her husband Dave in their Delichon Delta Run wheelchair as a result of Dave having Motor Neurone Disease (MND).

With Alice, Dave and members of the Hampshire Vegan Runners club.

Alice shared that they met at work, “we were both theatre nurses and then both went to work in research nursing… before MND, David ran 127 parkruns and was then diagnosed in July 2023. After that, he continued to run and then walk another 27 before we got the chair, and Dave now being pushed around 49 times in the chair across 20 different parkrun locations. Dave holds 17 male wheelchair parkrun course records in the Male Wheelchair Category (MWC)”.

I marvelled at learning how they completed the London Marathon this year and have the Great South Run in October in their sights. You can follow them on their blog at MND can get in the sea. It’s an insightful and uplifting running companion. 

As I was cheering in finishers, I got speaking to the Run Director of the Medina I.O.W. junior parkrun. It currently takes place here too, their 2k courses does not include the hills but does provide the sea views.  

With our runs completed and air back in our lungs, we thanked the volunteers before heading back to our friends to shower and then make our way to the Island’s biggest summer show, the Garlic Festival, just outside Newchurch. With live music, stalls, businesses, a fun fair and children’s activities, there are things for the whole family and of course, there’s LOTS of garlic-infused and inspired products to delight and consume. 

I discovered the 'dark destroyer', fudge with garlic and chilli, it was amazing!

Garlic has many health benefits and so a festival to celebrate it gets my vote. But if you can’t get to the festival, the garlic farm has an online shop where you can buy garlic for planting or their garlic-infused products. So you can gain from those health benefits or protect yourself if you have vampires to keep away. 

A huge thank you to the 36-strong volunteer team, who set the tone for a wonderful weekend away and all the entertainers at the Garlic festival. 

Stay safe, happy running or walking, rain or shine.

www.nuhorizons.uk

You can read more about the Garlic Festival by clicking here

You can read more about the health benefits of garlic by clicking here

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