parkrun Tourism Guide

For me one of the best parts of parkrun is the element of tourism. With over 2,000 events across more than 20 countries, no matter where you go, invariably you are not far from a parkrun. If I am travelling anywhere and will be away over a weekend, one of the first things I will check is how far to the nearest parkrun.

The great thing about parkrun tourism is that you can take it at your own pace. For some ultra tourists this can see you waking up at the crack of dawn just to tick off a new run hundreds of miles away; for others its just a chance to explore more of the local area when on holiday.

It’s also something that lends itself perfectly to parkrun challenges. Be it running each letter of the alphabet or completing the pirate challenge (complete parkruns starting with 7 C’s and and R) there is definitely something for everyone.

So how to find your next parkrun fix.

• The obvious first place to check is the parkrun events page. Personally I’m not a big fan of the map they use if I’m trying to search an area I don’t know.
• One of my personal favourites is to use the Running Challenges plugin. With this plugin you can see the events map laid out as polygons so if you are looking for your closest event, then just see which polygon you fall into. They turn Green once done.

• The newest tool to my repatoir is the 5K App. On both Android and iPhone, the app allows you to both search the map (which also warn if events have planned cancellations) but also click anywhere on the map and it will list the nearest events to that point which is useful in more built up areas.

Once you have settled on your event, it’s then just a case of preparing for it. Make sure to check the official parkrun page to make sure its not planned to be cancelled when you are visiting and to get details on both the course and often more importantly, how to get there and park. Also, keep an eye out on the Facebook page for the event as often this is where you’ll find last minute changes (a couple of times when I have thought an event may be cancelled then I have been refreshing wildly!). Finally enjoy yourself and why not add a comment to say where you went and how it was!

I have currently run at 20 different locations which I’ve listed below along with links if I have written a review.

England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

• Alice Holt parkrun
• Barnsley parkrun
• Dalby Forest parkrun
• Dewsbury parkrun
• Fountains Abbey parkrun
• Huddersfield parkrun
• Huntingdon parkrun
• Millennium Country parkrun, Forest of Marston Vale
• Monsal Trail parkrun, Bakewell
• Nostell parkrun
• Penistone parkrun
• Pocket parkrun, St Neots
• Pontefract parkrun
• Rothwell parkrun
• Roundhay parkrun, Leeds
• Storthes Hall parkrun, Huddersfield (no longer exisits)
• Temple Newsam parkrun, Leeds
• The Pastures parkrun, Alnwick
• Wakefield Thornes parkrun

Wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

• Penrhyn parkrun, Bangor