The parkrun Regionnaire status used to be a major part of parkrun tourism. Changes in the parkrun website in 2019 removed the regions making it harder to track completion status. All is not lost though, as here’s the complete parkrun guide to what’s in and what’s out of the counties of North West England.
The North West of England is a diverse and heavily populated region of the UK, bounded to the west by the Irish Sea and to the east by the Pennines, serving as a major economic and cultural powerhouse in Northern England. The region is composed of five ceremonial counties: Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, and Merseyside. Geographically, the North West is characterised by its dramatic transition from expansive urban areas to rugged upland terrain, most notably across the Lake District: a mountainous National Park spanning much of the length of Cumbria. It contains the prominent, sweeping ridges of the Forest of Bowland (predominantly in Lancashire) and the vast, scenic estuary of Morecambe Bay. Landscapes across the region are varied, ranging from the flat, agricultural expanse of the Cheshire Plain to the towering peaks of the Cumbrian fells and the rich, historic river valleys of the Mersey and the Irwell.
The administrative map of the North West underwent a significant transformation following the Local Government Act 1972, which came into effect in 1974. Prior to this, the region was defined by the ancient historic counties of Lancashire, Cheshire, Cumberland, and Westmorland. The 1974 reforms sought to modernise local government, particularly to address the sprawling urban growth around major industrial cities. This led to the creation of the metropolitan counties of Greater Manchester and Merseyside, which absorbed large, heavily populated swathes of historic Lancashire and Cheshire. Further north, the sparsely populated historic counties of Cumberland and Westmorland were merged, alongside the Furness area of Lancashire and a sliver of Yorkshire, to form the new county of Cumbria. These boundaries were later solidified for the purposes of appointing Lord-Lieutenants by the Lieutenancies Act 1997, firmly establishing the modern "ceremonial counties" we recognise today, even as the region's historic identities continue to hold deep cultural significance.
parkrun event numbers per county
There are currently 78 parkrun events in the counties of the North West England region.
Notes and exceptions.
Birkenhead was in historic Cheshire and is now in Merseyside.
All other Merseyside parkrun events were in the historic county of Lancashire.
Widnes was in historic Lancashire and is now in Cheshire.
Bramhall Park, Cheadle Hulme, Hyde, Marple, Sale Water, Woodbank and Wythenshawe were in historic Cheshire and are now in Greater Manchester.
Fletcher Moss was in historic Lancashire and is now in Greater Manchester but a small part of the course crosses into present-day Cheshire.
Barrow, Fell Foot and Ford were in historic Lancashire and are now in Cumbria.
Rothay Park was in historic Westmorland and is now in Cumbria.
All other Cumbria parkrun events were in the historic county of Cumberland.
Alexandra, Bolton, Burnage, Chadderton Hall, Clarence, Fletcher Moss, Haigh Woodland, Heaton Park, Kingsway Park Urmston, Oldham, Peel, Pennington Flash, Philips Park, South Manchester, Stamford Park, Stretford, Watergrove and Worsley Woods were in historic Lancashire and are now in Greater Manchester
Crosby, Croxteth Hall, Kew Woods, Knowsley, Princes, Southport, St Helens and Sutton Manor were in historic Lancashire and are now in Merseyside.
Warrington is in Cheshire but the route cuts through a small part of Lancashire.
Centre Vale straddles the border of historic Lancashire and Yorkshire but is currently fully in West Yorkshire.
The North West England Counties parkrun pages
Click on each of the images below to go to the page with details of the parkrun events for the county.
More parkrun posts
parkruns are free, weekly, community 5k events all around the world. I started in December 2012 and have been obsessive about it ever since. See my parkrun Collection page for details.
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