Pints & Parkruns: Town Moor

Newcastle’s Town Moor is as much a part of the city’s identity as the Tyne Bridge. Sure, being a fairly flat piece of grass, it doesn’t make for the same kind of spectacular photos. But as the starting point for the Great North Run, the home of the annual Hoppings fair and a former venue for various great exhibitions of the north, it’s indelibly tied into Tyneside history.

Not surprisingly, then, it’s home to Newcastle’s oldest parkrun. The first edition was on Jan. 10, 2010, so it wasn’t entirely clear why today’s mid-August event was treated as an anniversary. On the bright side, anniversaries mean cake, so who’s going to quibble about a date or two?

The occasion brought a 500+ field to the moor, numbers boosted by a few visiting Southampton fans heading to St James’ Park to see their team’s return to the Premier League that afternoon. With the stadium visible on the horizon, it was nice to see some others of a red-and-white persuasion here.

The first-timers briefing alerted us to the possibility of cows on the course. Sadly, this didn’t happen, although the other oddity (and minor health & safety concern) did feature: unusually, Town Moor parkrun features a short stretch along a road. No harm done, but for runners used to the splendid isolation of park life, it was a bit different.

Something else a bit different: this is a single lap course, a relatively rare beast in parkrun world. OK, technically there’s an overlap of start and finish, but in a world dominated by multi-lappers or out-and-backs, having a space big enough to create a 5km circuit is something to enjoy. Better still, it’s fairly flat and runs entirely on gravel or tarmac. That would give it PB potential were it not so busy. The start, sensibly, is divided by likely times, but Strava tells me my fifth kilometre was a full minute faster than my first. That suggests congestion slowing people down (although my time was exactly in line with the two-minute band I picked at the start). It’s tempting to assume I could run it faster on my own some day, but that would also mean finding the willpower to keep pushing at the end when it was sheer bloody-mindedness that stopped me from dropping to a walk (nobody else around me is walking, I’m not going to be the first).

At times, to be honest, the route felt a bit featureless. The first kilometre, apart from being crowded, didn’t offer much visual stimulation. But things improved about 1500m in when the path doubled back on itself and rewarded runners with a view of the city: Wylam Brewery, City Hall and, more welcome to locals than visitors, the football stadium appeared to give the course a sense of identity.

Practicalities: given the general horrors of driving into Newcastle during the Tyne Bridge renovations, plus the cost of parking in the city, this was a public transport mission. It’s a short walk from the bus and metro station at Haymarket to the start, and a not impossible walk from Central Station if you arrive by train. Once up and running, road shoes are fine. The Urban Green café is a good bet for post-run refreshment, although queues can be long if you’re not among the faster runners.

The pint

When a parkrun starts within sight of a brewery, this bit gets much easier. So, with all respect to devotees of Newcastle Brown (and leaving aside its current, improbable provenance in Tadcaster, a mere 90 miles down the A1), the Toon’s oldest event is toasted with a pint from the Wylam Brewery. Since 2016 it has been based at the Palace of Arts from the 1929 Great North East Exhibition, breathing new life into an art deco building with a combination of good beer, live music and an enjoyable tap-room. However, this is effectively the second incarnation of the brewery, which started life in the Tyne Valley village of Wylam, famed for its George Stephenson connections. The rail ale theme of old has run out of steam, though, and today’s core offer trades heavily on the impressive Jakehead IPA and the Hickey the Rake Limonata Pale. It won’t be a surprise to learn that I’m partial to a drop of the Imperial Macchiato Hazelnut Praline Coffee porter, which probably isn’t compatible with fast running! The taproom doesn’t open early enough for immediate post-parkrun refreshment (doors at midday on a Saturday) but is well worth considering for the night before or after a Newcastle trip. Wylam’s beers are also widely available in the city, including from the bottle shop on Central Station.