Dodder Valley parkrun

🌙 Twas the night before parkrun…

Final checks made. Bag packed. Change of clothes. Overnight oats. Welsh leggings. Flag.
Euros and passport ready —

Passport & parkrun… What is this combination you speak of?!
Only an extreme day trip to Dublin, of course.

⏰ Alarm set for 12.45AM.
🚗 Meet the gang at 1.30AM.
⛴️ Off to Holyhead for the 4AM ferry.

Comfy seats found and three of the crew — Anna, Lucy & Elin — drifted off dreaming of parkrun.
Me? Not a chance. Too excited. Too much caffeine. Who knows.

A wander around the ferry, two brews, a tub of overnight oats, and before long we were pulling into Dublin at 7.30AM. The crossing wasn’t exactly a cruise ship, but it did the job considering the weather rolling in.

🇮🇪 A brand‑new parkrun flag collected.
🔤 The letter D secured for the alphabet challenge.
📅 And of course for — D Day

Our destination: Dodder Valley parkrun.
And what a welcome. Honestly, we couldn’t have been greeted more warmly if we’d turned up at our home events. Every single person made us feel right at home — especially Tony with his brilliant one‑liners.

The course itself is beautiful: looping paths, a few crossings where you spot the super‑fast runners flying back, and plenty of points of interest along the way. The first‑timers’ briefing was expertly delivered by Keith — who then went on to complete his 100th parkrun. Da iawn Keith — well done!

Every marshal and volunteer kept the cheers going all the way round and back to the finish. It was also brilliant to see so many walkers on the course — we highly recommend walking it to take in all the lovely views.

Post‑parkrun, we followed the core team across the road to Aherans Pub for a well‑earned brew, homemade cake, and a proper natter about all things parkrun & was given some excellent tourism ideas for our day in Dublin before heading home on the last ferry. We were truly immersed in Irish generosity, joyfulness, and overwhelming warmth.

Diolch yn fawr pawb — thank you everyone.

📊 Dodder Valley parkrun — Event #185 (06/06/2026)

Rest of report to follow in the comments

1000 parkruns! Wow! What an outstanding achievement! Well done and congratulations Darren! 👏🏼

This weekend, Darren Wood will become the first person ever to join the 1,000 walk/run milestone club 💛

That’s 5,000k covered over 22 years, a milestone that would still take around 19 years to achieve even with perfect attendance every Saturday 🤯

Darren tells us more about his journey 👉 parkrun.me/76zkv

🌳

Tomorrow looking good… prepare well… 9.20 for 1st timers briefing with Kathy…. 9.28 RD briefing … see you soon😀🏃‍♀️🏃

If tomorrow is as good as today be prepared!!!