Running, walking - milestones and memories for a lifetime - Burgess parkrun #609 - 11/04/26

Today we said goodbye to one of our regulars, Sigrun. Sigrun started her parkrun journey back in September 2017 at Rickmansworth parkrun. However, following a move, she became a regular at Burgess parkrun, where she first started volunteering, in a range of roles. Following her successful appointment as Associate Dean for Education and Student Performance at Bournemouth University, Bournemouth’s gain will be our loss. Fittingly, doing the course check and first timers welcome today, Sigrun joined the volunteer 25 milestone club, a milestone way to say farewell. Bournemouth parkrun has now been added to my parkrun tourism list, as it’s always great to combine tourism with seeing friends, making memories.

Sigrun has completed all 25 stints as a volunteer at Burgess parkrun. Photo credit Sigrun.

I started out ambitiously today, caught up in the exuberance of the Burgess start. Initially, it felt good, and then I realised I still had 4k to go! With about 1k to go, I heard ‘them’, two guys fast on my heels about to overtake me. A primordial urge was triggered, and I increased my already uncomfortable pace to stay in front of them. With no words uttered, we locked into a shared understanding that we were now ‘racing’. 

Keeping this new pace meant everything inside was starting to ‘burn’, but stubbornness kept my nose in front; competition can help me access different reserves. With about 100m to go, the chap on my left 'kicked', and I couldn’t go with him. It was all I could do to keep ahead of the other chap. Friendly competition can be fun, even if I did have jelly legs as I finished. It resulted in a current season's best. This helped take the edge off being overtaken at the end 😀

I went to congratulate my ‘comrade’, Ireneusz, on his strong finish and learned that he was visiting from Gdansk, Poland. Situated on the baltic coast of northern Poland, this was where we’d stayed when visiting in 2019 to complete the parkrun Alphabet challenge at zamek w malborku parkrun. We swapped stories about what a great city Gdansk is. I recalled the fantastic hospitality and generosity we had enjoyed. Ireneusz was equally impressed with our course, bananas at the end and great vibes in the air.

Ireneusz has his barcode printed on his shirt so that he never forgets his barcode! Photo credit Shveta Shah.

Due to being very close to the centre of London Burgess parkrun always attracts a multitude of tourists, and today one of these was Heather. Heather only discovered parkrun 3 years ago, when her brother challenged her to do an event while she was on holiday in Queensland, Australia. Fast forward to today, and Heather was completing her 151st parkrun, across 117 locations with 86 volunteer credits, accumulating 11 different country flags! Heather shared that she currently has Planta fasciitis, which is characterised by a sharp pain in the heel or arch but her doctor has said that walking won’t aggravate it, hence why she was a park walker today. It’s a great example of how park walking can enable people to still get out and get those all-important ‘steps in’ and the social wellbeing that parkrun provides (take that Nike).

Guarilia advertising by Nike at Peckham Rye parkrun last week. Photo credit Kristy Woodbridge.

Heather is a member of the Lonely Goat running club. It’s a virtual running club that supports and connects people who run on their own. You can check them out by clicking here.

Heather captures the inclusive nature of parkrun. Photo credit Shona.

Heather said she “loves parkrun’. She left with the core team for coffee/tea, token sorting and a chat, making memories for a lifetime. We love it too. 

Happy running, walking, or volunteering.  

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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.