Hilly Fields 600th parkrun, 2025

Hilly Fields parkrun celebrated its 600th run today. Since the event started in 2012 nearly 16,000 different people have taken part at least once, and more than 1,000 people have volunteered to make it happen. The runners and walkers have notched up a combined distance of 607,020 km - all the way to the moon (384k) and most of the way back!

I started running there in 2013 and was there for their first birthday and their 100th run among other anniversaries. I have got to know lots of people, most of my contemporaries seeming to have gone through a similar trajectory - starting out and getting quicker and quicker, getting seriously into running and joining local club (Kent AC), taking part in lots of races from cross country to marathons, reaching a peak, running disrupted by Covid and then being injured. Most of us now seem to be have slowed back down and jog around Hilly Fields complaining about knees, ankles and other parts, but hey we're still going...

Still not everyone from my early days at Hilly Fields has slowed down - here's Olympian Alex Yee out front there in 2015 with me in the following group. Ten years later he's not doing badly is he?

Must admit I am not currently a regular a Hilly Fieldser as I have been in the past, but I have done 181 parkruns there as well as many other circuits in training. I know every divot in the course around the park and I would like to thank the trees along the way many of which I feel I know individually, including where to avoid their roots. On the Montague Avenue hill side of the park for instance there's a group of horse chestnut trees, currently in bloom, which cast a much needed shadow on one of the toughest parts of the course. Nearby there's a remarkable willow tree which split in a storm so that its main trunk is now horizontal - but still very much alive.  At the bottom of this hill there is a large London plane tree (I think) which marks the turning point on the winter course while another tree at the corner of Montague Avenue and Hilly Fields Crescent marks another turn.

What could the trees tell us about this place and its history? In his locally set novel 'Donkey Boy' (published in 1952 but set at turn of 20th century), author Henry Williamson refers to the 'socialist oak' on Hilly Fields where radical meetings were held, and indeed there was many such meetings at that time. On sunny days running up that big hill you can also see traces of the prefab houses built to replace housing destroyed in the second world war. And maybe one day future archaeologists will wonder about the origins of the compacted earth trackways around the park and their relationship to that mysterious stone circle... 

Tirzah Garwood Swimming Scene

Detail from 'The Four Seasons: winter, spring, summer, autumn', wood engraving by Tirzah Garwood (1927)

 

Tooting Bec Lido opens for 2025 summer season

Good to see Tooting Bec Lido open to the public again after the winter break. I have swum in various outdoor places throughout the winter, but this was the first time swimming this year with my face in the water. Had that 'swallowed an ice cream' headache, but soon recovered and was warmed up by the delicious falafels from the cafe.

Running at Camber Sands

The beach at Camber Sands stretches for around three miles in East Sussex and at low tide is also very wide.  It is edged by quite high sand dunes so if you want to add a challenge to your run you could try clambering up one, for instance from the path opposite the fine Owl pub in Camber. Alternatively there is level access on to the beach by the Camber Central car park.

Clamber up a sand dune to get to the beach

Early in the morning it was just me and a few pony riders on the beach, with the harder wetter sand of course being easiest to run on. Heading east there is more shingle on the beach as you pass over to Broomhill Sands. After a short stretch running on pebbles though there is a concrete path heading out of town with the sea on one side and the flat marshy landscape on the other. There are wind turbines on the horizon and as you head further out Dungeness nuclear power station can be seen in the distance.

The path continues for a couple of km, and actually goes on further but the path is blocked by a Ministry of Defence barrier - the is the Lydd firing range, still in use. So turning back my run from the middle of Camber to there and back was 7k (I could also have run on the beach in the other direction and there is a good path along the road heading out of Camber towards Rye - maybe next time).. I passed too the now empty Pontins holiday park, where I went on a family holiday as a child. It closed down in 2023.

Highlight of the run though was seeing my first swallow of the year, skimming the rocks along the coast path on the 11th April 2025.

A Camber mermaid

See also: Running at Dungeness

Mermaids Love Clean Seas

Had a quick dip in the cold sea last week at the Walpole Bay Tidal Pool in Margate. Like mermaids, I prefer the sea without pollution. 

The mermaid mural in Margate Old Town put me in mind of the similarly themed Sirens of Sewage sculpture by Jason deCaires Taylor on Whitstable beach (next to the Old Neptune pub) depicting SOS Whitstable campaigners for cleaner seas with banners saying 'Save our seas',  'Like the sea we rise' and 'people over profit'.

Glen River parkrun, Cork city

Ongoing injuries have forced me to really cut down on my running but on a recent trip to Cork city for  a family wedding I could not resist checking out a local parkrun.  Cork has a very well established running scene with lots of clubs as evidenced at the 'Running in Cork' blog. It is the home of many great athletes, perhaps most notably Sonia O'Sullivan who in the 1990s won a string of medals at Olympics, Worlds, and European Champs in the 3000m, 5000m and 10000m as well as winning world cross country champs on two occasions.

There are a number of parkruns in the Cork area but the most central is at Glen River park, about a mile north of the city centre. That's a mile of mostly steep ascent, so if your warm up routine involves running to the start line you might want to bear that in mind. 

I accessed the park via the Glen Resource and Sports Centre (where there is car parking) though the way is not obvious - basically go down stairs at side of building and make your way around the all weather football pitches to a gate on to the park. Go down the hill to your left and you will find the parkrun start and finish point.

The park includes a section of the Glen River, more of a stream really (at least on my visit during a very hot summer) and the parkrun course runs mostly along its banks in the river valley - three times in fact along each side of the river within the park. However as an extra twist on two of the three laps there is also a fairly steep hill - straight up and straight back down again.

The course is mostly tarmac/gravel paths, with plenty of shade. 

Glen River parkrun started in 2018 and has an average attendance of around 80. Like most parkruns it is friendly and welcoming - well apart from that hill maybe. More details at Glen River parkrun page

(Looking through previous results I can see that Sonia O'Sullivan has actually run a few times at Glen River parkrun)

 

Getting our Breath Back

Very pleased to have my piece 'Getting our breath back' published in Like the Wind magazine #24, accompanied by a fine illustration by Atul Vinayak and Jakob Owens. It is a short prose meditation on the experience of breathing in running which  started out as a spoken word piece at a 'Footnotes' runners open mic arranged by Vybarr Cregan-Reid a few years ago. In the time of Covid it has assumed a new relevance as we have all grown to appreciate the fragility of our breathing apparatus.

'Picture the start of a race on an icy winter’s morning – runners trying to keep warm, hands clamped under our arms, a few words, misty clouds of breath hanging above us in the air. The gun goes off and so do we. There is no more speaking, our mouths are occupied with taking in air and expelling carbon dioxide. Individually our respiration settles down into a steady pattern, part of a collective bodily polyrhythm of breaths, heartbeats and footsteps....

The French feminist philosopher Luce Irigaray talks of ‘the age of breath’:  breathing is a form of exchange between human, animals and plants, and amongst humans it is a fundamental shared experience that precedes any differences between us. She proposes recognising our breathing together as the basis of being together as an ethical community. To an extent that's what happens when we run together. The race is a mobile community of breath, sharing some moments in time and space, even if we are also competing against each other.'  

You can read the full article in the magazine, along with lots of other interesting reflections on running and Covid, Black Lives Matter and some great running challenges and experiences.