Worden Parkrun

A rare weekend when we’re not off in our campervan. I made good use of it by running my NENDY parkrun at Worden Park in Leyland just south of Preston.

A little history, there used to be a parkrun called Cuerden Valley only a couple of miles from Worden. Unfortunately, when lockdown ended the landowner decided that they didn’t want parkrun, which is their prerogative. At the time there was a junior parkrun in Worden Park, and the idea was that the volunteers from the defunct Cuerden Valley parkrun would set up a regular parkrun at Worden. It took a few years, but towards the end of 2023 Worden parkrun began.

As expected, I arrived at Worden far too early, so I went for a run in the park. First impressions were that the park was amazing as well as being huge. I ran around the perimeter along a trail adjacent to a stream with a number of small wooden bridges. However, I knew that the parkrun route didn’t use this particular path, which was a shame. As I ran into the main part of the park I ran past a large children’s adventure play area, a miniature golf course and a miniature railway. Is it me, or is any park far more exciting if there is a miniature railway. See also Agnew parkrun in Stranraer (read about it here) and Haigh Woodland parkrun (read about it here).

I lined up at the start and waited for the run briefing, which was a little late and couldn’t be heard due to a very noisy dog. There was also a large contingent of runners from Lostock Athletics Club. At the start the run director warned us about muddy sections of the course. She wasn’t wrong!

The route was two laps with about half of it on paved paths and the other half on grass which was very muddy due to it being winter and having had lots of rain. I was wearing road shoes, which I just about managed in as some of the muddy sections had dried and were only claggy.

Amazingly, I finished in 16th position and was 2nd in my age group, although there were only 132 finishers. I guess that the low numbers is partly because there are another ten parkruns within 15 miles, and probably because of the mud.

Overall it was an interesting parkrun even though it is highly unlikely that I will return. My new parkrun is now Muncaster Castle, which even though is only 50km as the crow flies, it will take at least 90 minutes to drive there. If only there was a National Trust campsite where people could stay if they had a campervan in the nearby Eskdale Valley.