Maidenhead parkrun - event 527

Maidenhead parkrun

On the 15th August 2026 I ran Maidenhead parkrun, which was the 527th event held at the venue, my 300th parkrun and 211th different course I'd attended.

A common theme across these posts is about geography and how without the power of parkrun I would never have visited the places I do. Maidenhead can be added to that long list. Previously a place I'd pass on the way to a football ground in the west country along the M4 corridor or the birthplace of Nick Hornby and Peter Jones. I never thought back in 2014 after my first parkrun event that I would be celebrating my 300th in a Berkshire market town.

But that's exactly where I found myself, on a yellow field, parched due to the lack of rain and intense summer temperatures at the rare of a leisure centre ready to enjoy whatever a new parkrun course had to offer.

The leisure centre is actually Braywick Leisure Centre on the outskirts of Maidenhead itself. An impressive building, only 6 years old looked like a modern and excessive facility that caters for all types of recreational needs. At an estimated build cost of £33m, you can see where the money has been spent. Walking through the building from the car park to get to the start line you get to see just a few of the many facilities on offer.

But if course you don't need a leisure centre to take part in parkrun which is free forever. You just need a space 5k long in fact which to run it.

Maidenhead parkrun is one of those courses which from the start doesn't give anything away. You cannot see 95% of the course from the meeting point as the course is mostly run in the woods that run behind the leisure centre grounds alongside the Cut which is an artificial waterway that leads to River Thames.

From the start line, on the pale grass of the leisure centre back lawn participants head south behind the tree line until the furthest point. From here they enter into the woods and turn 180 degrees back into the woods along the woodland trail all the way back up to the northernmost point of the park.

This completes the first part of a two lap loop which circles the woodland area, running south alongside the Cut before taking in a short segment in the more ornamental area of the park. The course is generally flat, on mostly firm paths, except the start and finish which took place on the grass. The ornamental park of the course consists of a short loop which has a sharp upward path as part of it which caught me out second time around 

Once the lap has been completed a second time the start line appears on the grassland at the rear of the leisure centre on the opposite side to where the start line was situated.

I might not have originally envisaged taking part in my 300th event, but once I knew I was heading that way I had certain aspirations for it. Not running the full distance and part walking didn't feature at all in those, but that's what eventually transpired.

I finished in 250th place in a field of 401 participants in a time of 33:15, which kept up my poor run of running from.

A mix of recurring ankle/foot problems on a hot morning didn't help, but mentally I lost my mojo and was quite happy to walk as opposed to run. I find in the school holidays when I'm not walking the school run of a morning that I lose fitness quite quickly and running becomes more of a challenge. It's very much something that I am going to have to overcome as with Hayden going into secondary school now the school run is very much a distance pleasure that I used to do back in the day.

A plan B is definitely required.

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