Andy Potts
Bio
Community focused sports fan from Northeast England. Tends to root for the little guy. Look out for Talking Northeast, my new project coming soon.
Stories (98/0)
Pints & Parkruns: Riverside, Chester-le-Street
This wasn’t the plan. However, with storm Ciaran prompting me to look up the designs for Noah’s Ark, it didn’t feel like a weekend for a course with grass or trails. Riverside, I hoped, would be relatively unaffected. Although this Chester-le-Street event once had an old route that cut across the grass, the last time I ran here it was all on paths.
By Andy Potts7 months ago in Longevity
Pints & Parkruns: Queen's Park, Glasgow
Before Glasgow’s Queen’s parkrun, everyone is invited to drop into the nearby church for coffee and a biscuit afterwards. Eyes are irresistibly drawn to the rather elegant late Victorian spire of Queen’s Park Baptist Church on Balvicar Street. What they don’t mention is that each of the three laps ahead involves a climb that brings you close to the top of that 200ft spire. That’s why this is Scotland’s steepest parkrun, with a total elevation gain of 113m, according to Strava.
By Andy Potts10 months ago in Longevity
Pints & Parkruns: Jersey
It’s on an island, but Jersey parkrun is far from insular. It’s always been popular with tourists – for a long time it was the only ‘J’ for alphabet hunters, and it can claim to be the southernmost in Britain. Plus, with the start a 20-minute walk from the airport, it could hardly be better located for a flying visit.
By Andy Potts10 months ago in Longevity
Pints & Parkruns: Crichton, Dumfries
The Parkrun family will find you, whether you look for it or not. I’d only spent a couple of days in Dumfries, and pretty much the only people I’d spoken to in that time were connected to the ice hockey tournament where I was working. The exception was one lady who I met at the Moat Brae Centre for Children’s Literature. So, knowing approximately one local, it was somehow improbable and inevitable that she was the first person I bumped into at Crichton Parkrun the next day.
By Andy Potts11 months ago in Longevity
Pints & Parkruns: Herrington Country
Running beneath Penshaw Monument is more fitting than many might expect. The mock Grecian temple that dominates views from Herrington Country Park commemorates a man nicknamed Jog-along Jack in his lifetime. True, that soubriquet stemmed not from Jack Lambton’s commitment to pounding the future pavements of Washington New Town, but from a typical throwaway comment that an English gentleman “might jog along comfortably enough on £40,000 a year”. That was in 1821; in today’s money it would be close to £4 million.
By Andy Potts11 months ago in Longevity
- Top Story - July 2023
Pints & Parkruns: Cosmeston LakesTop Story - July 2023
It doesn’t look it today, but Cosmeston Lakes is a reclaimed industrial site. Once, a series of cement quarries dominated what is now a country park. Today, though, it’s transformed. No hint of heavy industry remains and on a crisp, bright autumnal morning the birds emerge from the mist rising from the lake. It’s a scene to inspire thoughts of Celtic mysticism; Wales is the possible birthplace of King Arthur, and it’s not hard to imagine Geoffrey of Monmouth’s legends of Ladies in Lakes playing out right here.
By Andy Potts11 months ago in Longevity
Pints & Parkruns: Wynyard Woodland
Running around the northeast continually turns up routes the lead back to the region’s industrial history. Wynyard Woodland, the latest event on the list, is no exception. For all the sylvan idyll of a tree-lined course, this follows the path of a goods railway that delivered County Durham's coal to the Tees at Stockton.
By Andy Potts11 months ago in Longevity
Pints & Parkruns: Fountains Abbey
World Heritage Parkruns. Is that a thing? If not, it should be. We certainly have contenders, from Durham where views of Cathedral give runners a lift through the final kilometre, to Conwy, a North Wales route in the shadow of the historic castle Then there’s Fountains Abbey, a beautiful course around the ruins of a medieval monastery in the North Yorkshire countryside.
By Andy Potts2 years ago in Longevity
Pints & Parkruns: Hackworth, Shildon
If you’re the type of runner who likes to channel your inner locomotive as you pound the course, Hackworth Parkrun could be the one for you. After all, it’s not every route that includes a stretch of one of the world’s oldest railway lines.
By Andy Potts2 years ago in Longevity
Pints & Parkruns: Tampere
Tampere is a town of unlikely firsts. Back in 1984, it reportedly got Finland’s first ever branch of McDonald’s, some time ahead of the capital, Helsinki. Given the impact of fast food on public health, that might explain why, decades later, this lakeside university town also became home to Finland’s first Parkrun.
By Andy Potts2 years ago in Longevity
Pints & Parkruns: Tychy
I picked a good day to visit Tychy parkrun. It was the 200th edition, so there was a celebration in the air. For a first-timer, especially one who doesn’t speak Polish, that meant a reassuringly large turn-out. There was no danger of getting lost, even though the signposts around the park refer to an earlier version of the parkrun route.
By Andy Potts2 years ago in Longevity