Swanning around with octogenarians! - Burgess parkrun #572 - 05/07/25

The park was alive with nature’s beauty as the Burgess swans graced us with their presence, proudly guarding their adorable cygnets. There’s something truly breathtaking about seeing these elegant creatures in the heart of the city, reminding us of the simple wonders all around us. 

The swans in Burgess Park are majestic.

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, an octogenarian is a person who is between 80 and 89 years old. To celebrate this constituency of parkrun participants, Bushy parkrun held their 8th Octogenarian celebration today. Today at Bushy parkrun, out of a field of 1,667, there were 177 members of this exclusive club, including 8 people who were over 90 years old, known as nonagenarians. All octogenarians received an ‘80+ bib label’, cakes, bubbly and a big medal!

Octogenarians and nonagenarian's at Bushy parkrun, photo credit Bushy parkrun.

At Burgess parkrun, we were able to celebrate several octogenarians and a nonagenarian, Kerry Bateman, visiting his nephew, a parkrun regular from his home in New Zealand! Kerry did his first parkrun in November 2024 and is now on a roll with this being his 20th parkrun, and this is his 3rd country!

Kerry Bateman is 2nd from the left, photo credit Shveta Shah.

One of the great things about parkrun is that it’s free; another is that you can walk it 🙂 According to the NHS, walking can be overlooked as ‘...one of the easiest ways to get active, lose weight and become healthier’. I’m reminded of how Sahil Bloom, in his book The Five Types of Wealth, discusses how financial wealth without health wealth is an undesirable outcome. Seen in this way, completing a parkrun every week is as important as contributing to your work pension/SIPP retirement plan. 

Kerry’s local parkrun, Neale Park parkrun looks like another beauty to add to my list of places to visit later in life. I hope I’m in good enough shape to complete it when I get there! And if you are planning to do a parkrun in New Zealand remember some of their events start at 0800. 

Neale Park parkrun, another parkrun for the bucket list. Photo credit Neale Park parkrun.

Stay safe, happy running or walking and happy volunteering.

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