Where it all began... The first ever Parkrun event was held in Bushy park, Teddington, UK, where just 13 parkrunners got together on 2 October 2004 - now the numbers at Bushy are 1300 upwards...
Bushy Parkrun (stylised Bushy parkrun) is a free running event that takes place every Saturday morning at 9am in Bushy Park, Teddington, London.
As an avid Parkrunner, I wanted to visit Bushy - it's not far for me, so I got up just a little bit earlier and made my way there. First tip: It is a big park, right next to another big park, so make sure you are heading for the Diana Fountain, then you will be in the right area.
Allow a little time to walk over to the start from the car park - (and if you arrive by public transport or foot, allow enough time to walk over to the finish to drop your bag - the finish is about 100m from the start, so if you want to leave your bag near the funnel - ALLOW TIME!).
A bit unusual for a Parkrun start, but there is no lining up in the order that you might finish (fastest at the front) - at Bushy, everyone gets in a long wide start line, about 100m wide and a few people deep. There are a couple of announcements and then a manic dash forwards - it was quite mad!
The course was a nice lap around the park, there are deer, a bridge (or maybe two) - paths, grass, a few muddy bits and it is generally flat.
I managed a really good time of 25:31 - 79th female out of 1330, (442nd) - and I was 7th in my age category. Not bad!! I attended event #900 on 29 October 2022.
There is an APP for Parkrunners called "5km" where you can earn yourself some badges for doing multiple Parkruns and volunteering at different locations, or on multiple occasions etc - I will do another blogpost about the App, but Bushy Park is "where it all began" on the App, so I have received a 100% rating for that challenge!
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