Hordes of parkrunners high hoved to Horton indeed, but friendly ones. Happy hordees if you will, gathering together for who? For Nelson, that’s who! It being all the threes, three, three, three, a palindrome But really mainly just getting together for parkrun day, to have a nice yomp around a lovely park with gorgeous people. What’s not to like? That’s right dear reader, absolutely nothing. Hurrah! No wonder so many of us rocked up for fun times in February.
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The RD is doing an ankle warm up by the way, niche, but might catch on.
You are wondering no doubt why it is that the number 333 rings a bell for you. Well dear reader, let me jog your memory, you will know of course when prompted that ‘Year 333 (CCCXXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Dalmatius and Zenophilus’ or the geologists among you (yes, I mean YOU!) might be ruminating on AL 333 – that is the unforgettable “First Family“, ‘a collection of prehistoric hominid teeth and bones. Discovered in 1975 by Donald Johanson’s team in Hadar, Ethiopia, the “First Family” is estimated to be about 3.2 million years old, and consists of the remains of at least thirteen individuals of different ages‘. Impressive as this finding undoubtedly was, we can beat that gathering of thirteen, with a stonking turn out of 151 parkrunners of different ages rocking up for event # 333 at Horton Park parkrun in Bradford. I didn’t bother to work out the estimated collective age of participants, but concede it might not quite be 3.2 million years – but I’d bet my parkrun buff that if you added up all the ages of parkrunners who have completed a parkrun it could reach that figure. Please don’t check though, I like my parkrun buff and would prefer to keep it. Also, I’m not great with numbers, so might not be quite a fair contest. The point is, 333 is a fun number, an interesting number, and a lure to many to seek out a particular parkrun destination.
It is especially attractive to those parkrunners invested in completing parkrun challenges, in this case the Nelson Challenge, which is to complete a parkrun event (or sequence of events) with a number that’s divisible by 111. I’ve covered the accuracy of this nomenclature before when I did a post about coming together at Concord parkrun # 555 so I’ll spare you that again, lets just say it’s somewhat contested, might come from cricket, yet for parkrun Challenge purposes a Nelson it is. It’s also getting a bit angsty over whether or not it’s ok to chase number challenges at parkrun. The argument being that it can impose a huge influx of new parkrunners at events that might not be able to cope with such attendances. I think for the lower numbers it’s less of an issue, as more parkruns keep coming on board, however it’s certainly going to be a challenge when Bushy parkrun hits 999 and then 1000 in consecutive weeks as the first to do so. Similarly the 888s are few and far between at present. I’m not sure of my stance on this. It feels like the challenge is out of the box. Short of ceasing to number the events at all (which some have mooted) I don’t think this is easily undone. I view all the challenges I choose to take part in as an aid to choosing where to tourist. I’ve got into the Nelson Challenge somewhat by accident as I found two close to home in Sheffield, had already completed one without realising it, got an offer of a lift to another, and then found very handily, Horton Park parkrun was offering up the missing link parkrun number 333 just an hour away from where I live. I feel ok with what I’ve done, but not gonna lie, it does make me now want to complete the set, and perhaps that is going to swamp events. I reckon Bushy parkrun will cope, I was there on Christmas Day 2019 when there were something like 2,600 – hang on, I’ll go check – yep 2,545, but with soooooooooooooo many funnel duckers who had to get away for Christmas stuff it was more than that. The event coped really well, but it is exceptional, then again, it’s likely it will mop up the early challenge seekers, and ease numbers for the parkruns that follow. We shall see. It can be a fine line to step at times, celebrating discovering parkruns that you might not otherwise be drawn to, but not destroying the very event you want to enjoy.
Still, back to Horton Park parkrun. Lovely. Nice gates. Not a euphemism, just an actual fact. Yes, I know, my camera can’t cope, I’m hoping to replace at some point, but for now you’ll just have to use the image as a taster to get the gist, and then shifty on up (or down) there to have a looksie for yourself.
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Let’s start though, with the official Horton Park parkrun blah de blah:
Where is it? The event takes place at Horton Park, Horton Park Avenue, Bradford, BD7 3BN
Course Description: This is a 3.5 lap clockwise course all on smooth, wide tarmac paths suitable for prams. The park dating from 1878 lies 1.6 km to the south-west of Bradford city centre and slopes gently up from north-east to south-west. The area is predominantly residential with some industrial development on Horton Park Avenue to the north-east. The start is on the broad central promenade at the top of the 19th century cast-iron bridge which carries the promenade over an irregular lake at the centre of the site, from here head straight up passing formal flowerbeds and the rose garden to the top of the park and turn right onto the perimeter path which gently rises to a peak before descending the entire length of the park past an avenue of poplar trees to the principal park entrance which is flanked by stone gate piers supporting two pairs of late 19th century iron gates. Continue on past the forecourt roundabout, where the path curves round to the right passing the play area and rising round past the bowling greens, an S bend round to the right offers a short reprieve from the climb. Continue on past the basketball court and now grassed former tennis courts where the path curves round to where you first joined it. To finish turn right at the bottom of the park after completing 3 full laps and head up the central promenade where to the right a stream from the lake winds alongside down a stone culvert with a number of small cascades.
Location of start: The start is on the broad central promenade at the top of the 19th century cast-iron bridge.
Getting there by road: Approximately 1.2 miles from Bradford City Centre, follow the A647 Great Horton Road, turn left into Horton Park Avenue, the entrance to the park is on the right. There is ample on street parking on Horton Park Avenue and Powell Avenue.
Post Run Coffee: Every week we grab a post parkrun coffee in our local Tesco café (Great Horton Rd, BD7 4EY) – please come and join us!
and it looks like this:
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Jolly good.
I’m still having to walk, so though I may as well get in touch and offer to be a parkwalker, and was welcomed for the role which is always a good sign. Also a good sign, from doing so it alerted one of the team, who is also a With Me Now (unofficial parkrun podcast) listener that I’d be going. They’d look out for me, we could have a mini meet up, it would be grand! I choose to think of their proactivity in noting I’d be there as being a good thing, a testament to reaching out. It was not at all that I had triggered some sort of public health alert scenario their end, with damage limitation and managing the situation safely being uppermost in their mind when reaching out. Yay for meeting fellow parkrun passionistas! parkrun people who live in your laptops but you’ve not yet had the joy of meeting up with.
On a more serious note, Horton Park parkrun had to cancel a couple of weeks back due to lack of volunteers. They’d done the usual multiple shout outs to no avail, and eventually had to make the agonising decision not to go ahead. There was some negativity about this along the lines of ‘why not do a shout out on the day’ but this response rather missed the point that some parkruns – increasingly since the pandemic – are spending hours and hours putting out appeals, begging almost for volunteers and this is demoralising and unsustainable. Last minute offers can be too little, too late, and waaaaaaaaaaaay too stressful for event teams to manage and it is very time consuming to keep on checking and making shout outs right to the wire. Ultimately, parkruns are community events, they need the communities they serve to get involved in delivering them too. Obviously not everyone is able to volunteer, and volunteering should not be compulsory, but events don’t happen by magic and so it’s important people think of stepping up now and again to keep them alive. For me, the tragedy is that volunteering at parkrun is not a sacrifice, it can be super fun, you see the parkrun from a different perspective and can get the whole parkrun joy without having to actually charge about. It astonishes me that some parkrunners have yet to embrace this, and it saddens me hugely that so many parkruns seem to be struggling of late. Maybe the awful truth is that it takes a cancellation for some to wake up to the notion that their parkrun needs them to volunteer too. Horton Park parkrun is a small event really. The average number of finishers being 62.6, so that’s not a huge pool to draw from. However, Endcliffe parkrun in Sheffield had to cancel last year due to lack of volunteers despite having 457.2 average finishers each week. It can’t just be about the numbers taking part, something else seems to be happening. This situation just makes me incredibly sad. Individual parkruns get cancelled but worse still, core teams burnout, jeopardising parkruns entirely. Saddest of all though, is that people are missing out on the joy that is volunteering at parkrun, it’s an actual FACT that volunteering makes you happy. The converse is true too. You know like in Peter Pan, when everytime someone says they don’t believe in fairies one falls down dead right then? Well it’s the same for parkruns too. Everytime someone declares ‘parkrun doesn’t need me to volunteer‘ or ‘volunteering is not for me‘ (without any particular reason why) a little bit of the parkrun spirit dies too, and core teams retreat, feeling battered. That’s what it can sometimes feel like anyway. Whatever, I just really hope people who maybe haven’t got around to volunteering yet at their event do so; or maybe introduce a non-running friend to parkrun so they can join in and be part of parkrun as a volunteer. Volunteering on a regular basis brings its own joy. You might even end up with your own corner on a course, and you’ll definitely get an appreciative round of applause at the start of every parkrun. Just do it! I mean look at the volunteers at this event for instance, jumping for joy and they’ve not even started the morning’s parkrun yet. Can hardly contain themselves. This could be you! Wait til you see how happy they are at the end. Those endorphins can last all week, swimming around your system powering you through.
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And you think that’s happy. You should have seen them buzzing with endorphins at the end.
This photo was taken by a rather excellent volunteer photographer by the way. He made a point of gathering the volunteers at the start and taking a photo of us all together by the Horton Park sign to show where we were. On reflection, it would have been good if one of us had been holding the day’s newspaper too, so we could prove the date as well. It is a nice touch, I love group photos of this ilk, it helps build the volunteer community. He did one fairly standard photo and then one of us looking altogether more cheery. Hurrah! Nice touch, great pic. Actually, there were lots of great pics from today, which is handy as my own photos were, erm, let’s go with ‘sub optimal’.
Oh, and by the way, if you need encouragement to volunteer, check out Sherwood Pines parkrun volunteer appeals, they are brilliant at expressing the joy! Give that Facebook communications person a cheer! Loving their work. Worth following their page just for a weekly chuckle, even if you can’t get to run their, though it’s a fab parkrun too for the record. High time I went back to Sherwood Pines parkrun for another yomp round, it was one of my favourite courses.
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Back to Horton Park parkrun though, because that’s where we were experiencing the parkrun love today.
I did my usual thing of setting off paranoically early so arrived at the park in good time. There was loads of parking, even allowing for it being a larger than usual turn out. I could have parked right by the very impressive gates, but wasn’t quite sure if that was allowed, so followed the actual instructions and popped myself on Powell Avenue, where, at that time, I could have the pick of positions. What joy!
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It was surprisingly nippy out, so I had the usual pre parkrun faffery of deciding what to wear, and then I ventured into the park to explore. As before when parkrun touristing, I was really taken aback but the grandeur of the park. It had mature planting, a huge, wide central avenue, little bridges and hidden gardens with fountains – switched off at present, but no doubt spectacular when going. Sadly, there were signs warning of bird flu in the area, and maybe that’s why some of the little waterways were empty, I wonder if they are trying to discourage birds from gathering too much. There was also a weird structure of tree roots apparently covered in tarmac. I can’t be sure, but I wondered if this was the remnants of a fossilised tree. The only time I’ve seen anything similar was at another Bradford Park, at the Precious and Rare Bradford parkrun in Lister park, so that would make sense. Gotta be honest, it looks a bit underwhelming as displayed at present, but if you think about it a bit more, what a mind blowing thing to have in your local park. 330 million years old potentially, if we decide it was actually 333 million years ago, and I think I have now decided that, what a brilliant segway back into Horton Park parkrun #333. Phew. And you thought I was getting distracted again didn’t you! Oh ye of little faith!
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Because of arriving early, I was before the volunteer team had set up, so I went for a little wander about, and then met someone who looked very much like – and indeed was – a fellow parkrunner, who pointed me back to from whence I’d come, which is the rendezvous point for volunteers. So basically, the volunteers meet near the main gates of the park, and then the first timers welcome and RD briefing is held a bit beyond the park steps. The start being a little further along again. It’s not a huge park to be fair, and there is very little chance of missing the parkrun unless, like me, you are there ahead of them 🙂
Very soon though, parkrunners started assembling, cones were being carefully placed, high vis handed around and the usual buzz of meeting and greeting as everyone gathered. Tourists too, I was found by my parkwalking buddy for the morning, another tourist along with the tailwalker. They were walking ahead of a 10k race not a run tomorrow so happy to walk at today’s parkrun not parkrace, so that was good. Oh, and I found or was found by, fellow With Me Nowers, and spotted the distinctive WMN merch on the RD too, so amongst friends, albeit ones I hadn’t met yet. Oh wait, and there was a Huddersfield parkrun buddy, not seen since Hillsborough parkrun #444, and another who was at Zielony Jar parkrun last week, the week after me and the others. Did I mention when we went, one of our party lost her barcode, so I choose to believe this other Huddersfield parkrunner made the trip particularly to see if it had been found and pick it up. It hadn’t been unfortunately, but she had a very nice time at the parkrun anyway, just so you know. So many stories to share, although annoyingly conversations were inevitably only half finished as is sometimes the parkrun way. That’s ok too though, it’s always good to leave your both a parkrun, and your audiences wanting more!
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Roles allocated, ‘official’ volunteer photo taken albeit not everyone could be included as some were already busy undertaking their duties, we started to wend our way up to the bridge. More meeting and greeting went on, I always feel a bit emotional at this point, so many connections being made or renewed. Oh, and also, a rather splendid barkrunner, with own bespoke hi-vis, always a win. And even time to pose for a few group photos. I never saw the pop up sign somehow though, probably too busy chatting. There is one there, perfect for that team shot if you are so inclined.
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I somehow missed the first timers’ welcome, I think because I was slow joining the throng from the volunteers photo. I know it would have been excellent though, how could it have been otherwise. Then the RD did his briefing. Welcoming people to Horton Park parkrun #334! See what he did there! Hilarious. Well, it should have been #334 if they hadn’t had to cancel, so just a reminder. That’s a With Me Now hoodie he is sporting there – you can see it in full glory on this fellow WMNer who did the first timers’ welcome, albeit it was a shame he had the wrong lettering on the back of his.
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A printing error surely? #sitdownnotcooldown. They say you have to respect the right of everyone to participate in parkrun in their own way I know, but just saying I doubt very much the RD would have made the same mistake, although maybe it’s just as well you can’t see that under his rather fine monochrome RD high vis… New blue RD high vis is no doubt incoming. Quite possibly at a parkrun near you too very soon, if not already.
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There were the usual thanks and milestones and loveliness, and then we gathered for the start, and everyone ready? Timers ready? Awf!
I tried to take some pics, and then joined as a walker towards the back of the pack, quickly drifting to the tailwalker. It is a weekly irritation that even my walk is so slow. I am generally very much better than I was, and almost sprightly at home and on the flat, but I still can’t walk very far or for very long time wise, and cold weather doesn’t help. I’m a little more hopeful than I was that the summer may bring some improvements, but I found walking this particular route felt a stretch. I think a combination of the cold, and a slightly faster walking pace than I can maintain. When spring finally properly is sprung, I plan to try to get out and test myself more, but I need to feel confident it is safe to do so. Back to parkrun though, Horton Park parkrun was go, and go we did!
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What a fine body of parkrunners in action we were! All of us. Yes, you too, if you were there, or even if you weren’t – all parkrunners are fabulous always and so are parkrunners yet to be. It’s only a matter of time before you join the happy throng I’m sure 🙂
The route is pretty straightforward, although it being a multi-lap course, you do need to be able to count to three preferably, which is harder than you think. Don’t worry too much though, there are lots of marshals around who as well as being exceedingly good at directional pointing and cheering, can also count to three – perhaps even beyond! There was no need to test the latter competency on this occasion, but I reckon they very possibly could. Stars, each and every one.
I tried to get photos of each of the marshals en route. The cheery top of the hill marshal who’d lost her signs but not her enthusiasm. The chilly duo who were good spirited despite having to bounce up and down quite a lot to keep warm. The ones at the bottom of the hill to cheer you round again or back up the hill to the finish funnel depending on your lap quotient, the solitary smiley marshals oozing enthusiasm and authority as they managed their spots solo. The ones not small but far away, and the close to the hive of activity at the finish funnel marshals at the end. Then there was the photography marshal, and the cheery marshals and everything and everyone in between.
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off we went, soon the two parkwalkers and tailwalker found ourselves in step. The rest of the pack being far ahead. It is a lovely park, and the snowdrops were amazing at this time of year. Mature trees abound, I saw catkins which are always a particular joy. We were cheered by passing parkrunners lapping us as well as the marshals at intervals on the course. It had a good friendly vibe, much parkrun positivity was bursting out along with the spring bulbs. I’d swear the sun even came out briefly, possibly also following the ‘always leave your audiences wanting more’ principle no doubt. The volunteer photographer was on hand to capture the whole occasion. All the photos for Horton Park parkrun #333 are up on the Facebook page but here is a smorgasbord to save you the exertion of having to click on the link. Oh, and I included a couple of mine too, but I don’t think you’ll struggle too much to work out which are mine and which are his.
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We walked and talked – twalked, and chatted and pootled – chootled round. Even though there were three of us we did get a bit discombobulated about how many laps we’d done, but don’t worry, completed the course most satisfactorily in the end. Don’t worry though, even though we were kept busy twalking and chootling, we were sufficiently alert to our surroundings to strike a pose for the photographer on our way around. I’m not even going to try to pretend we weren’t fussed about having our picture taken! Fabulous though aren’t we? Three volunteers for event #333 I like this photo, even if it does make me look like a jumbly. Or maybe I do look like a jumbly and the camera has just captured that reality, oh well, it’s still a fun shot, and jumblies have their own charm too. Plus, I’d happily go to sea in a sieve if I thought that sieve would take me to Bere Island parkrun, so we have much in common. More in common than divides us in fact, as the saying goes.
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The route goes round the outer paths of the park, and takes in some Yorkshire flat. It isn’t massively steep, but if you were running, as opposed to walking, I think it would feel like a fair old climb as it’s quite a distance up hill, but then you get to run down in on the other side of the park, so swings and roundabouts or ups and downs, it all levels out in the end. On our final lap, some of the marshals walked companionably along with us for a bit before they headed back down the central path to the finish funnel. Meanwhile, faster parkrunners sprinted home, captured with flying feet, flailing arms, smiles and grimaces all by our heroic photographer. Action shots are The Best! Not everybody demonstrated all these things, but there is always next week to complete the challenge, should you choose to accept it. Good luck!
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And so the time came for us to pass up the finish funnel to the chorus of cheers from the timers and finish funnel managers and scanners all still in place. There were a few stoical, supportive parkrunners still milling around, and enough volunteers for a further photo op. Hurrah!
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And that was that, time to pack up and go home, and think of ideas for the inevitable caption contest photos that would be incoming later on.
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All in all, a pretty fine parkrun. There was just one critical incident, which unfortunately probably would have had to be reported to HQ, but these things happen. It was bungate.
A kind parkrunner had some particularly impressive buns. S/he’d brought them along to share in order to celebrate either the 333, or touristing, or a milestone, or just to be nice – some people are. Anyway, because the photographer was busy with their camera, his special bun was carefully placed to one side, to keep it safe until he could step down from his duties, documenting the parkrun. At the very end, as close down was underway and high vis tabards were being gathered and cones and other parkrun paraphernalia collected together on a handy bench DISASTER STRUCK! His iced bun did a kamikaze topple, iced side down (isn’t that just always the way) tumbling over in slow motion to gasps of horror from onlookers. Gutting.
I think there was talk of salvaging the situation, or replacing the bun, but that must have hurt. Hopefully there will be future parkruns with future offerings by way of recompense. In the circumstances, it was most fortunate that the photographers blood sugar levels sustained him for as long as they did!
And so it was time to disperse. I did get a kind and sincere offer to join the team who would be gathering at their local Tesco up the road for parkfaffing purposes. Possibly results processing and all those things too. Alas, I couldn’t stay this time, but it’s always really nice when teams or locals do encourage people to join in for the post parkrun catch ups. After all, as we all know by now, parkrun was always about the coffee.
Thanks you Horton Park parkrun for the warm welcome to your lovely park. It was a great team and a friendly vibe. Your snowdrops are breathtaking and fossilised tree roots a one in a 333 million year spot. Yay you. Hope our paths cross again some day, but in the meantime yay for keeping the parkrun love alive, well done on you #333 parkrun, here’s to the next 333 million years. I wonder if any parkrun memorabilia will last that long. A golden barcode from a parkrun pioneer perhaps, or just the parkrun spirit, leaving it’s aura behind wherever a parkrun has been run, in perpetuity. That would be nice.
So there we go, that was that.
But only ’til next time. See you there! 🙂
Of course in the meantime you could always browse through all my parkrun related posts here. Or not. It’s up to you. You’ll need to scroll down for older entries though. And check out the Horton Park parkrun photos for event #333 in case you think I’ve missed out the best ones, which is quite possible, as it’s sooooooooooooooo hard to choose which ones to include!
Don’t worry though, I remembered to include this one of the WMN mini meet up, yay, I did spot another WMNer en route in the photos, but they had vanished by this point, we held the in our thoughts though, so that’s ok!
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