WRC Club Members 100 Best/Favourite Races/Runs – 8: Bramhall Park Run

I’ve held back from responding to Patrick’s plea for articles about our favourite race because mine, for good reasons, is clearly promoted as a run and not a race, so maybe doesn’t qualify. But at the same time I can’t deny that the most significant event in my running life has been, and still is, parkrun. In my case, Bramhall Parkrun. It’s what got me into running.

Well it does qualify under the favourite category.  So I’ll change the title now to reflect this. So come on you other runners – what are you made of?  Send me yours! Now back to Paul.

I first heard about the Bramhall Parkrun shortly after its inception from a colleague at work, the late and much-missed Sue Hool. I told her that it sounded interesting and then forgot about it. She subsequently asked me a few times if I’d been down to try it and I was fairly non-committal, saying at one point that it probably wasn’t for me. One Saturday I did actually jog down to run in the park at the same time as the parkrun, just to have a look. As I entered the park two young male runners shot towards me, with a grimace of effort and pain on their faces. I decided it definitely wasn’t for me.

It wasn’t until several months after Sue first mentioned it that, during my usual post-Christmas boredom, I resolved to go down and give it a try. With a certain amount of trepidation I registered on the website and printed off my barcode the night before, and on 27^th December 2008, jogged down to the park for about 8.30. A small group began to gather at the park entrance and I asked one of them how it worked and what I was supposed to do with my barcode. She kindly explained and, at 9.00, all 82 of us set off. I couldn’t imagine how a 5k route would fit into Bramhall Park but, as the run unfolded and I found myself climbing the hill to start a second lap, I began to think that maybe it was a long 5k. I had no idea how much time it would take me to complete the course (22:13 as it turned out). As I collected my metal position token and handed it to a volunteer so that my position and barcode details could be entered manually on a laptop, I reflected that on balance I had quite enjoyed the event and decided that I’d come back the next week.

And so the addiction began. The next week (partly through the confidence of knowing the set-up) I was faster, and this continued for a few weeks, so that by March my time was down to 20:13. As the weeks passed I slowly got to know people through the pre-run and post-run chats, and parkrun became a social occasion as well as a weekly run. I also got to know the regular volunteers (at that time particularly Nick, Janine, Claire, Jim, Martin and, of course, Rob) and at one point Nick suggested I try Wilmslow Running Club. It took another few weeks (maybe months) for me to work up the courage to do that but one summer evening I ventured down and, once again, became hooked.

Parkrun is rightly promoted as a run, not a race, and its growth and inclusivity are remarkable and admirable. But in one sense it is a race – a race against yourself as you try to better your PB or age-grade percentage. For me, the ultimate challenge became to try to get sub 20. On 24 July 2010 I managed an agonising 20:01, which I couldn’t then match until March 2013 when I clocked, once again, 20:01. This time however it was the springboard for a determined attempt and (possibly aided by beetroot juice, which was a craze at the time), I broke sub 20 in April 2013 and, in June got down to 19:31. That remains my Bramhall Park PB and, realistically, probably always will, but weekly times and age-grade details still provide the same motivation.

Since then the choice of parkruns has grown enormously and it’s been fun to try others, both locally and further afield. Like many other people, one of my first impulses when planning a trip in the UK or abroad is to check where the nearest parkrun is. There’s always the excitement of a new course but the reassurance of the same set-up. Over the years, parkrun contacts and friendships have flourished. And yes, I do still choose to run it weekly, even the day before another race. So in our current circumstances there’s a big gap in my diary at 9.00 on a Saturday morning.

Of course I’ve enjoyed and welcomed the many other races and challenges that membership of WRC has given me the opportunity to be part of. But I’ll always remember that the foundation for all of this for me was parkrun. 431 of my 484 parkruns to date have been at Bramhall Park and turning up at the start line on a misty morning on 27^th December 2008 remains one of the most significant – and best – decisions I have ever made.

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Interesting Malcolm won that day beating Tom!