Parkrun Tourism Part 09 - 2025, Epilogue

All over the place. January to December 2025 - Epilogue.

So in summary: this year we managed 53 (Mark, A3228002) / 52 (Mary, A4975813) parkruns in 32 locations of which 27 were new to us, plus 5 countries of which 3 were new to us. That means over 50% touristing!

So much tourism this year I have broken this summary into chapters.

• Parkrun Tourism Part 09 - 2025, January to March. New Year's Day to our New Zealand trip
• Parkrun Tourism Part 09 - 2025, March to July. Up to my 100th venue
• Parkrun Tourism Part 09 - 2025, August to December. Up to the end of the year including Mary's 100 / 250
• Parkrun Tourism Part 09 - 2025, Epilogue. And in conclusion

Although we missed two weeks due to events with Friends of Carlisle Victorian and Turkish Baths we still managed 53/52 parkruns thanks to the special days: New Years Day (Penrith), Ascension Day (Copenhagen) and German Unity Day (Munich).

Highlights of the year:

• Mark: Cowell Club (100 locations)
• Mary: 250th parkrun
• Mary: Cowell Club (100 locations)
• Both: completing all parkruns in Cumbria
• Mary: Namely (GALASHAN)
• Both: Old MacDonald (E-I-E-I-O)
• Both: Snakes (10 "S")
• Both: Special Events (Munich and Copenhagen): the special event trips were great fun; exploring cities we had not visited before, and meeting lots of fellow mad tourists.
• Parkrun in a prison was unique and a great experience
• Three more countries (Australia, New Zealand, Denmark)

Full list of all touristing in 2025:

January to March Tourism:

• Faskally Forest (Scotland)
• Greenock (Scotland)
• Hackney Marshes
• Barrow
• Fleetwood Promenade
• North Sydney (Australia)
• Hagley (New Zealand)
• Greytown Woodside Trail (New Zealand)
• Ōrākei Bay (New Zealand)

March to July Tourism:

• Muncaster Castle
• Crosby
• Black Combe (HMP Haverigg)
• Leazes
• Milano Nord (Italy), not new
• Fælledparken (Denmark)
• Amager Strandpark (Denmark)
• Southampton

August to December Tourism:

• Skipton
• Riemer (Germany)
• Westpark (Germany)
• Whinlatter Forest
• Victoria (Scotland)
• Rising Sun
• Ingrebourne Hill
• Levengrove (Scotland)
• Edinburgh (Scotland)
• Strathclyde (Scotland)

I have posted the following before but smugness demands I repeat here:

Mark's performance by year.

Someone in the parkrun discussion group on FaceBook asked, “What have older people's thoughts been about seeing their performance drop off? How do you feel when you look at your times from a few years ago and notice a decline?”

Of course I had to do an analysis of my average time and age percentage by calendar year.

I looked back and my average time is the same in 2025 (age 73) as it was in 2017 (age 65) and the age grading has correspondingly increased. Feeling Smug!

The improvements in 2018 and 2019 are attributable to training for the London marathons. The improvement in 2021 was thanks to twice weekly runs with Nigel around Penrith during lockdown when you were allowed to exercise with one other. Looking at the two parkruns bracketing the lockdowns I improved by two whole minutes, from 29:07 to 27:07.  

Mary's performance by year.

The same analysis for Mary would show slowing down with age and injury but would not really be worthwhile as she occasionally volunteers as tailwalker or parkwalker which would skew her results.