I started taking part in Parkruns on the 22nd of August 2015 and have since then completed 108 parkruns. Most of my parkruns have now taken place in Billericay and the beautiful Lake Meadows Park.
As a geography teacher, it is sometimes hard to switch off and not see the world through my geography glasses, and doing parkruns is no different. In this brief post I shall explain how I see the Billericay Parkrun through the eyes of a geographer!
Cresswell (2015) says that places are spaces that people have made meaningful or have an attachment to in some way. This builds on the work of Agnew (1987) who said that place includes three things; location, locale, and sense of place.
Location is where the place is in the world – the coordinates of the place. For Billericay Parkrun that start is at 51°37’56.9″N 0°25’09.1″E while the finishing line is roughly here 51°38’01.0″N 0°25’06.9″E – Next time I shall get the GPS out and make a note of the coordinates. The Billericay Parkrun website makes use of location, for example through the map of the course and also the directions to get there.
Getting there on foot
Billericay Parkun website
The park has five points of access. The main entrance and nearest to the start / finish area is via Radford Crescent. Access is also available via the following residential roads surrounding the park: Lake Avenue, Hillhouse Drive, Perry Street and Knightsbridge Walk. The gathering point for the run is on the main field, just 25m from the cafe.Getting there by road
Lake Meadows Park is situated in the heart of Billericay accessed via Radford Crescent. If using SATNAV, the nearest postcode is CM12 0BW. The town lies between the A12 and A13 arterial roads and is approximately 9 miles (14.5 km) east of the M25 (nearest junctions J28 or J29).
Locale is seen as the physical shape of a place – the natural processes that have shaped the area. Billericay Parkrun can been seen through this lens as a 3.8 lap run (not a race) around a lake – the run is mainly on tarmac paths but also on grass. The locale would also include the gradient of the course. At Billericay Parkrun tha course is not flat, there are gradients – and according to my Garmin watch, the maximum elevation is 80 m and maximum elevation gain is 43 m. The course passes different trees, ranging from oaks and beech to Cherry trees.
Sense of Place – This is the attachment to a space that people have. The emotion that the space generates. From my geographical perspective there is lots of evidence of this taking place in Billericay Parkrun. One such example is the naming of a particular corner of the course “Sophie’s Corner” after Sophie, one of the young volunteers who week after week helps dad and gives everyone a high five! During the week, this part of the park is just a bend in the path, but come a Saturday, mention to any of the runners Sophie’s corner and they all know where it is.
Then we have the “hill” Thankfully we only need to climb the “hill” three times, but again, if you mention the “hill” to Billericay parkrunners they know where you mean. There is the shared emotion of the “hill” being hard and draining, but once you have done it that third time, it is overcome!
We can then see another type of place that has recently developed – a media place – Where the world of TV and parkruns combine. The world of Gavin and Stacey where Gavin and Billericay boy meets and falls in love with a Barry Island girl named Stacey. It just so happens that both places have a parkrun, and now in both parkruns there are signs that tell you how far each run is from the other, using the catch phrase from the show. Get a photo which each sign and you have just earned a Parkrun Tourist Gavin and Stacey badge!
Above all, as I run each week, the sense of place I get from running here is best described as fun and family. People in all shapes and sizes, all speeds fast or slow from runners to walkers and able to come together as one big parkrun family and enjoy the park and each others company. Achievements are recognised – not through speed, but just by taking part and being there. People wear their T-Shirt achievements with pride.
That’s how I see Parkrun as a geographer!
Geographical reflections 