Haigh Hall Parkrun

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 22nd April 2023. A very special day for myself. I’d finally got the chance to make my way over to Haigh Woodland Parkrun! This Parkrun was down as my ‘NENDY’ (Nearest Event Not Done Yet.) After attempting to get over here last year for a friend's 50th Parkrun and getting an event cancellation due to a fallen tree, I was very excited to see what Haigh was all about. ‘Be careful what week you go, it can get very muddy.’ 

‘It’s all downhill and then uphill to the finish, be warned.’ 

Let me tell you, this is the last time I’m ever going to listen to people’s Parkrun reviews. 

  1. We live in the North West of England - What is a bit of mud?

  2. My ‘home’ Parkrun is Preston. So do not ever talk to me about hills.

I LOVED Saturday, and I will be back!

So, why Haigh now? 21 Lions (Lion’s Running Community) decided after months of hard marathon training to do a bit of tourism to Haigh Woodland Parkrun. After a week of glorious sunshine could it possibly be? That we would get a dry week and no mud on the trails? Evidently not. I do not know what time it started but as I opened the curtains my heart sank. Rain. Not just a splattering. Cold, hard, northern rain. (Well, if you’re going to do it. Go hard or go home!) And honestly. I’m so glad that we got to visit Haigh on a rainy day because I never thought I’d say it, but, running in the rain and mud, I really did feel like I was in a happy place. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very grateful that the rain started to ease off but trail running just seems to hit completely differently. Endorphins high, we always know that rain tends to mean people run faster.

There were 24 PBs on course this week, so well done to each and every person who set themselves a PB. Amazingly 60 people decided to do Haigh for the first time this week. I know that a lot of those were Lions and we certainly will be back. Thank you so much to the volunteering team for making us so welcome! We do hope that we can return the favour if you ever visit Preston. Just look for the pride of Lions on the pavilion. 

From marshalling, guide running, barcode scanning, tail walking and run directors, the event quite simply could not go ahead without you! 

An extra big thank you to the team at Haigh who also volunteered their time last Sunday at Manchester Marathon on the water stations. We were lucky enough to reap the benefits of this with the gift of SiS gels at the end of the run this morning! You really are all heroes! 


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