Congleton parkrun

Congleton parkrun A free, timed 5k run or walk at Astbury Mere, Congleton every Saturday at 9am. Register via https://www.parkrun.org.uk/register/

Congleton parkrun is a weekly free timed 5k run at beautiful Astbury Mere Country Park, Congleton. The run is three laps of the Mere and held at 9:00 am each Saturday and is suitable for runners of all ages and abilities. Children under 11 must run with an adult. Parkrun is a run and not a race and therefore is a really fun way to get involved in running. Our aim is to create a happier, healthier

planet and therefore walkers are just as welcome to take part as runners. Runners should park and meet at the visitors centre from where the start is easily accessible. We would request that all runners show due consideration to all other users of the Mere and local residents when they come to take part in our parkrun. Parkrun is only possible due to the volunteers who make it happen. We always welcome new volunteers. If you fancy getting involved then please see our website. We look forward to seeing you soon!

*** PARKRUN EVE UPDATE ***🙌 It’s parkrun’s one millionth event this weekend and we are proud that we will have contribut...
12/06/2026

*** PARKRUN EVE UPDATE ***

🙌 It’s parkrun’s one millionth event this weekend and we are proud that we will have contributed 641 to that total!

☁️ Cloudy and breezy in the morning with a temperature around 12 degrees.

🚙 Detailed info on parking can be found on our pinned post, but if you want to use the main or church car parks our advice is get there early, you will not get a space after 8.40 and may end up missing the start. A reminder the church car park gates are locked at 10.15.

🏃🏽🏃‍♀️ Congleton is a 3 lap course. If you take more than 25 minutes to complete it you will be lapped! Please keep to the left and allow faster runners to pass on the right. Faster runners please be courteous towards other participants. If you can seed yourselves on the start line with the faster runners towards the front then that would help.

🎧 Headphones should be removed to listen to the run briefing and ensure you adjust the volume on your run so you are still aware of other participants.

📱 Please remember to bring your barcode, on your phone, watch, wristband, printed, tattoo - all are fine. If you are coming to parkrun for the first time then please register to get a barcode which you can do for FREE here… https://www.parkrun.org.uk/register/

☕️ 🍰 post run drinks and snacks are available from GG’s Coffee Hub@ please pay them a visit afterwards.

🚽 situated in the Main Car Park next to the visitors centre.

🌳We hope you have a great parkun! Please email us at [email protected] with any details of milestones, interesting stories or photos including your ‘Bear Behinds’ from the morning that you’d like us to share here.

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*** UPDATE - ROLES NOW FILLED ***A big thank you to Caroline, Sue, Ellie and Charlotte for stepping up to help with the ...
12/06/2026

*** UPDATE - ROLES NOW FILLED ***

A big thank you to Caroline, Sue, Ellie and Charlotte for stepping up to help with the barcode scanning 👏👏

*** VOLUNTEERS NEEDED ***

As it stands we only have one barcode scanner on the roster. This would mean a very long queue to get scanned!

We need 3 more people to come forward and help with scanning. Faster finishers welcome, if you are under 25 minutes then you can run first and jump on scanning afterwards.

If you can help, reply here, message us or email [email protected]

SATURDAY 6TH JUNE - EVENT #640 The first parkrun of June felt more like something from late October when we arrived aro...
07/06/2026

SATURDAY 6TH JUNE - EVENT #640

The first parkrun of June felt more like something from late October when we arrived around 8am to get everything set-up. Fortunately, the showers stopped and the wind dropped and by 9 o'c;lock conditions were a little better for RD Caroline MCCRACKEN'S briefing and the 358 participants who completed 3 laps of the Mere. The event achieved it's own 'Groundhog Day' challenge as there were 358 here last week as well!

At least 73 of those were different to last week as that's now many were taking part at Congleton for the first time and these included 16 complete 'newbies' to parkrun. A warm welcome to you all and your new Saturday morning obsession! Someone who is definitely in the parkrun habit is 11-year-old Joey REYNOLDS who completed his 250th parkrun and collected his green t-shirt at the end (pictured). Tasmin BURLEY joined the 50 club and Neil SKELLERN and Oliver PATEMAN completed their 25th parkruns. Well done to all our milestone achievers.

First finisher was Finlay MCCANCE in 17:23 and first female finisher was Sara-Nicola BARRON in 20:33. JM10 runner Jax TOMLINSON was second overall in a new PB of 18:26 which gave him the highest age grade of the day with 85.62%. In all there were 54 PB's smashed at the Mere, well done if you were amongst those and thank you to the pacing team from Congleton Harriers who no doubt helped with a few of those.

Finally thanks also to all of our volunteers and especially Hazel DOUCE who reached the 50 volunteers milestone. If anyone can help out by volunteering this week just get in touch by messaging us or emailing [email protected]

Words: Steve REYNOLDS
Pictures: Lizzi REYNOLDS & Stolen from STRAVA

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*** PARKRUN EVE UPDATE ***☁️ Light rain expected to clear by 9am leaving a cloudy and breezy morning.🚙 Detailed info on ...
05/06/2026

*** PARKRUN EVE UPDATE ***

☁️ Light rain expected to clear by 9am leaving a cloudy and breezy morning.

🚙 Detailed info on parking can be found on our pinned post, but if you want to use the main or church car parks our advice is get there early, you will not get a space after 8.40 and may end up missing the start. A reminder the church car park gates are locked at 10.15.

2️⃣0️⃣ - 3️⃣5️⃣ Congleton Harriers will have you covered with their pacers between these times.

🏃🏽🏃‍♀️ Congleton is a 3 lap course. If you take more than 25 minutes to complete it you will be lapped! Please keep to the left and allow faster runners to pass on the right. Faster runners please be courteous towards other participants. If you can seed yourselves on the start line with the faster runners towards the front then that would help.

🎧 Please remove headphones to listen to the run briefing and ensure you adjust the volume on your run so you are still aware of other participants.

📱 Please remember to bring your barcode, on your phone, watch, wristband, printed, tattoo - all are fine. If you are coming to parkrun for the first time then please register to get a barcode which you can do for FREE here… https://www.parkrun.org.uk/register/

☕️ 🍰 post run drinks and snacks are available from GG’s Coffee Hub please pay them a visit afterwards.

🚽 situated in the Main Car Park next to the visitors centre.

🌳We hope you have a great parkun! Please email us at [email protected] with any details of milestones, interesting stories or photos including your ‘Bear Behinds’ from the morning that you’d like us to share here.

💛 🌳
💛 🐻

*** VOLUNTEERS NEEDED ***It’s been a long, long time since we’ve had to put out one of these posts, but we are VERY shor...
03/06/2026

*** VOLUNTEERS NEEDED ***

It’s been a long, long time since we’ve had to put out one of these posts, but we are VERY short of volunteers for this weekend.

A lot of our regulars are missing for various reasons and our recent cohort of DofE volunteers have mostly completed their volunteer stints.

So we are in need of the following roles to be filled:

⏱️ 1 x timekeeper (NOW FILLED)
🎟️ 2 x people to give out finish tokens (NOW FILLED)
📱 2 x barcode scanners (NOW FILLED)
🦺 1 x tail walker (NOW FILLED)

If you can help, comment here, message us or email [email protected]

Many thanks

A quick round-up from a rather warm parkrun morning at the Mere on Saturday.3️⃣5️⃣8️⃣ participants 🏃‍♀️ 🏃🏽 8️⃣8️⃣ first ...
01/06/2026

A quick round-up from a rather warm parkrun morning at the Mere on Saturday.

3️⃣5️⃣8️⃣ participants 🏃‍♀️ 🏃🏽
8️⃣8️⃣ first timers at Congleton 🐻
2️⃣0️⃣ first timers at parkrun 👏
2️⃣6️⃣ personal bests ⏱️
2️⃣3️⃣ thanks to our volunteers 🦺

First finisher was Harry BOND (16:41)
First female finisher was Amanda STERLING (22:41) who also had the highest age grade of 82.41%

We also had some runners in fancy dress who were supporting Visyon, well done to all who took part.

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*** PARKRUN EVE UPDATE ***🌤️ Sunny intervals and around 16 degrees expected at 9am.🚙 Detailed info on parking can be fou...
29/05/2026

*** PARKRUN EVE UPDATE ***

🌤️ Sunny intervals and around 16 degrees expected at 9am.

🚙 Detailed info on parking can be found on our pinned post, but if you want to use the main or church car parks our advice is get there early, you will not get a space after 8.40 and may end up missing the start. A reminder the church car park gates are locked at 10.15.

🏃🏽🏃‍♀️ Congleton is a 3 lap course. If you take more than 25 minutes to complete it you will be lapped! Please keep to the left and allow faster runners to pass on the right. Faster runners please be courteous towards other participants. If you can seed yourselves on the start line with the faster runners towards the front then that would help.

🎧 Please remove headphones to listen to the run briefing and ensure you adjust the volume on your run so you are still aware of other participants.

📱 Please remember to bring your barcode, on your phone, watch, wristband, printed, tattoo - all are fine. If you are coming to parkrun for the first time then please register to get a barcode which you can do for FREE here… https://www.parkrun.org.uk/register/

☕️ 🍰 post run drinks and snacks are available from GG’s Coffee Hub please pay them a visit afterwards.

🚽 situated in the Main Car Park next to the visitors centre.

🌳We hope you have a great parkun! Please email us at [email protected] with any details of milestones, interesting stories or photos including your ‘Bear Behinds’ from the morning that you’d like us to share here.

📷 Last week we had Matt GRIIFFITHS (pictured, loving the t-shirt!) joining the 50 club along with Charlotte JONES and Mandy WHITEHURST. Whilst one of our core team members Chris MORETON completed his 100th parkrun!

💛 🌳
💛 🐻

As you know our parking options were limited this week and we needed your help in managing the parking situation.We are ...
17/05/2026

As you know our parking options were limited this week and we needed your help in managing the parking situation.

We are delighted to say everything passed off very smoothly and so we just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who attended (and those who didn’t and went elsewhere) because you all contributed to ensure we had no issues. We actually received some messages from local residents thanking us for how well it was managed!

There were 273 participants including 42 who were new to the delights of parkrunning at the Mere and 12 new to the delights of parkrunning in general!

King of the Mere was JM11-14 runner Alfie KINGS in 18:18 and first female was Charlotte ALSTON with 20:46. Top age grade belonged to Paul SCHOFIELD with 82.12. There were also 42 PB’s at Congleton achieved.

Official milestones were registered by Darren TAYLOR (50) and Jennifer FALKNER (25). Richard BLANKLEY completed his 150th parkrun.

Finally a big thank you to RD Chris MORETON and his team of volunteers. We have had a large cohort of DofE Award volunteers this year most of whom have now completed their stints, so we need to delve back into our regular community for volunteers. If you can help out in the coming weeks then please get in touch.

Here’s a few ‘Bear Behinds’ from this week.

*** 🚨 IMPORTANT - PARKRUN EVE UPDATE 🚨 ***Ok so the main thing you need to know for tomorrow’s parkrun is the parking si...
15/05/2026

*** 🚨 IMPORTANT - PARKRUN EVE UPDATE 🚨 ***

Ok so the main thing you need to know for tomorrow’s parkrun is the parking situation.

We have limited options as the Church car park at the water sports centre end of Astbury Mere is not available for us to use this week.

We are therefore asking you to do the following…

✅ walk, run or bike to the Mere
✅ car-share if possible
✅ arrive early (by 8.30 if driving) and park away from the Mere.
✅ follow the instructions of our parking marshals

We recommend parking in Greenfield Road off Back Lane, a short jog or walk from Astbury Mere. What3words: ///level.trains.swordfish

Please don’t do the following…

❌ arrive after 8.40 and expect to park close to the Mere
❌ attempt to park on Sandy Lane, The Mount, Galbraith Close or Newcastle Road (the main A34)
❌ park anywhere where you are obstructing junctions or access
❌ ignore instructions from our parking marshals

Just for this week we won’t mind if you visit another parkrun! There are lots of lovely ones to choose from nearby in Cheshire and North Staffordshire.

Thank you in advance for your co-operation.

*** VOLUNTEERS REQUIRED ***We are in need of a couple of barcode scanners for tomorrow.Can also run first if finishing u...
15/05/2026

*** VOLUNTEERS REQUIRED ***

We are in need of a couple of barcode scanners for tomorrow.

Can also run first if finishing under 25 minutes.

Reply here, drop us a message or email [email protected] if you can help.

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Cheshire

Opening Hours

9am - 10am

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