Finsbury parkrun

We can confirm we’re now cancelled for seven weeks over the summer. We’re looking forward to seeing you again on the 15th August and hope you have a good summer break! 🏝️

😎 SUMMER CANCELLATIONS 😎

Our confirmed cancellations this summer due to events in the park are as below:
- 27th June & 4th July (concerts in the park)
- 25th July, 1st August, 8th August (Krankbrothers festival)

We may also be cancelled on 11th July and 18th July subject to availability of the core team. We’ve struggled to get volunteers during these weeks in the past so please keep an eye out on our event page.

Our neighbours and other large London parkruns will also be subject to cancellations over the summer - please check before travelling.

Urgently seeking finish line volunteers this Saturday to avoid cancellation. Please email [email protected] if you can help out!

Huge thanks to our Duke of Edinburgh Volunteer Coordinator Chris for all the work he does with our young volunteers - read his blog on the parkrun website to find out more.

And huge thanks to the volunteers themselves - we couldn’t sustain the event without them 🧡

At Finsbury parkrun, DoFE volunteers aren’t just volunteering – they’re leading, learning, and shaping the event in ways no one quite expected.

From battling stormy weather to running their own pre-event setups, these young volunteers are proving that parkrun is all about growing confidence, teamwork, and community spirit.

Find out what makes them all one in a million 👉 parkrun.me/z6tyi

🌳

We’re back from festival season and currently aiming to go ahead this Saturday, counting on the Krankbrothers festival set up having been taken down as expected by Friday evening.

We also have a slight course change that will involve a few more bollards - please be cautious of fellow parkrunners and park users, especially on the overtake. We recommend you don’t run with a double buggy this week. The course may be slighter longer than usual.

Looking forward to seeing you all again, if you’d like to volunteer please email in at [email protected]

☀️SUMMER CANCELLATIONS☀️

Summer is just around the corner and so are our annual cancellations due to events in the park.

This year our event date cancellations are:
- 28th June
- 5th July
- 12th July
- 19th July
- 26th July
- 2nd August
- 9th August

Our neighbours Ally Pally parkrun will also be cancelled on the 5th, 12th and 19th July.

Please check on event pages for other cancellations before travelling!

Walking is for everyone at parkrun, and parkwalk is here to prove it!

New to parkrun? Coming back after a break? Just looking for a relaxed way to get active? Whatever your reason, this is your moment.

And don’t worry you’ll never finish last — we have a volunteer Tail Walker for that.

Thank you to all our volunteers this past Saturday, including our run report writer Ruth, who visited us from Huddersfield:

A first visit to Finsbury Park from Huddersfield in Yorkshire. Rather hillier than we expected but with fabulous views of iconic buildings such as The Shard in the distance. Apparently 2 football stadiums can be seen as well as you navigate the course. Like many parks, it is wonderful to see them in full use with many groups juxtaposing each other - Parkrunners; children training on the run track; boot camp participants as well as dog walkers, families on the swings and those just out for a calming stroll.

The weather was ideal, warmish with no breeze and our first with shorts instead of longs this year. Over 700 runners appeared on the start line of this 2 lap course with the first runner, Sam Macaulay completing the 5km in 16 minutes 55 seconds. The last runners being just under the hour mark.

Interesting to us, is that London parkruns do seem to have a lot more younger runners than our local Yorkshire ones. This is reflected in Finsbury having a field of 112 SM 25-29 runners, whereas Huddersfield had only 35 males in that age range. But double the numbers of VM 69-64 runners with 35 at Huddersfield and only 15 at Finsbury. Possibly a reflection of the general demographics of the local populations?

I always like to know a bit of history about all the different parks we visit. Finsbury Park has origins back to the mid 1700’s when a tea room was sited in the remaining part of a larger woodland. This was developed around 1800 to become a tavern with the actual park being landscaped in the Victorian era. Like many parks, it fell into disrepair in the latter 20th century but was regenerated by grants in the last 20 or so years and now is the vibrant place we found this morning.

A lovely run that will stay in our memory for the friendly welcome and rather long hill. Thank you to all the volunteers on this 676 event at Finsbury Park.

This week we were joined by 827 parkrunners, making us the 7th biggest event in the country. Thirty people did their first ever parkrun and we welcomed 161 tourists from elsewhere, with numbers bolstered with quite a few visitors planning to take part in this morning's Winter 10km: we hope you had a great time! There were 32 high-vis heroes on the roster including first time marshal Jess, who enjoyed it so much she's already booked in to volunteer again next month!

Tokens 0-99 weren't handed out due to a hanger malfunction, so you've all been moved up 99 places in the results - aren't we kind!

Alas the PA battery died so not everyone got to hear the announcements. We are delighted to celebrate the following milestones:

100 events: Henry Cullen
50 events: Dan Brew, Stephen Barrand, Elspeth Hayes
25 events: Gerald Tarr, Ben Merrell, Ellie Cowls, Diane Konnerth, Flora Curzon

We also had three 'specials' this weekend. Michael Spicer, one of our tourist participants, was celebrating his 50th volunteering stint and 100th different parkrun location with a turn round Finsbury park as parkwalker. Thanks to Michael and Donna for visiting us, and for the chocolates!

Finsbury Park regular Barry Dwyer celebrated his 300th run, with 296 of those being at Finsbury park! During the week Barry told us he'd never actually run a 5k before his first parkrun back in Jan 2016. So if you're just starting out (or you haven't quite made it yet) don't think we're just for established runners: come join the gang and let our positive Saturday morning vibes carry you round.

Our final long-service award goes to Lorna, who celebrated her long-awaited 250th volunteering milestone. Lorna has volunteered not just at Finsbury Park but at 25 parkrun events, including stints as supply-Run Director in Fort William, Cally Juniors and Lordship Rec and holds an elusive volunteer credit as lead bike at Finsbury park, from that time when she had to try and keep up with Sefyu during festival season. The only volunteer job Lorna hasn't done is car park marshal (two reasons why: pop your guesses below!) Lorna and her very able executive assistant offered up some of the world's stickiest chocolate cake to anyone who could be persuaded to take a slice - thanks team!

We forgot to take any other photos this week, so enjoy some photos of Lorna from the archives. If you missed this week's celebration remember there will be more cake next week as we say goodbye to Event Director duo Andrew and Lorna (and welcome in New Event Director Duo, El and Rebekah). If you can't stay after parkrun, you can join us in the Naturalist pub in Woodberry Down from 7.30 onwards.

Bringing your dog to parkrun this week? We love to see it, but please remember the following rules:
- One dog per runner, walker or volunteer
- Use a short, handheld, non-extendable lead
- Dogs must be in control and by your side at all times.
We know waist harnesses are popular, but there have been incidents where a dog on a waist harness has suddenly changed direction, causing injury to other participants. As a free community event, parkrun cannot justify the additional insurance costs or the additional risks to other participants of dogs on waist harnesses. This is why we we require handheld leads. Please speak to the event team if you would like recommendations of local races where waist harnesses are allowed.

We're still looking for volunteers for this week's event: contact [email protected] if you can help out.