The Explorer 100 challenge, previously The Cowel Club - Burgess parkrun #621 - 18/07/26

Liz was today's Tail Walker, I was aark walking and Nisha was learning about yoga. Photo credit Samuel Olara

As a very central parkrun in London, our event often attracts a number of tourists, with 148 first timers this week. One lady was from Barbados, and another was Liz, who was our Tail Walker. As I was parkwalking, we got chatting and learned why she’d chosen to come to Burgess. Liz, who has completed parkruns in 7 countries, explained it was all due to her partner who wanted to complete his 100th different event here and join ‘The Explorer 100 club’. And why Burgess, I asked, and she said, ‘because his name is Neil Burgess’. This is exactly the sort of quirkiness that makes parkrun such a fun and happy place. 

Neil and Liz were two of today's 148 first timers to Burgess parkrun.

Neil started his parkrun journey back in June 2023, and it’s already taken him to six different countries, completing the Alphabeteer, Christmas Day and Compass challenges along the way. Today he joined ‘The Explorer Club’ or, as he and Liz told me, The Cowel Club 🙂

Have you ever seen someone at a parkrun wearing one of these?

I am a proud owner of a Cow Cowll buff.

The first person to complete 100 different parkruns was Chris Cowell, with the term ‘The Cowell Club’ coined by Danny Norman, on the parkrun show back in 2015 and The Cowell Club/Challenge being born. 

To purchase this distinctive merchandise, you would join the UK parkrun Tourists Group on Facebook, request a code which would then enable you to buy the now legendary cow-headed buff and bobble hats. These have no parkrun branding. It was fun way for ‘parkrun tourists’ to recognise each other in ‘the field’ and swap parkrun stories. It’s a quintessential eccentric dimension of parkrun and I LOVE IT!

This year parkrun renamedTthe Cowell Club ‘The Explorer 100 challenge’ however now you know why there are people at events with distinct cow head buffs, skirts and hats on** 🙂

Whilst I love me some parkrun tourism, I also love being part of my home event for so many reasons which have nothing to do with running. This week Stephanie, a parkrun regular and a key member of the Banana Crew gave me a jar of homemade blackberry Jam. If that wasn’t enough she explained the blackberries were handpicked from Burgess Park!

With my jar of homemade blackberry jam made by Stephanie.

Burgess parkrun really is where the quirky and magic jam together with people from all around the world. 

There were 784 participants today with an astonishing 94 personal bests recorded!

The first female finisher today was Erin Withey, who was 3secs off securing a personal best

The first male finisher today was Hendrik Boury in a new personal best whilst pushing a buggy!

We were all looked after by a 47-strong volunteer team led by Stephen Waring, today’s Run Director. A huge thank you to the entire volunteer team for enabling the event to go ahead. And a special shout-out to Sigrun who returned to Burgess to give the first-timers welcome and then pulled out a season's best run as a birthday present to herself. 

Sigrun returned to Burgess today and treated herself to a seasons best! Photo credit Samuel Olara.

Due to the Burgess Park Festival Series, Burgess parkrun will be cancelled for the next three weeks. If you would like further information about the festival, you can email burgessparkevents@columbostar.com

As Burgess parkrun is cancelled, this Saturday I’ll be travelling to Austria to complete the Donaupark Parkrun in Vienna.

Wishing you happy running, walking, or volunteering.  

www.nuhorizons.uk

**Update - I have since learned there is a Cow Cowl which denotes membership in the Cowell Club, which can be purchased by clicking here. There are other fantastic accessories, the perfect gift for any parkrun tourist.

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.