PARKRUN REVIEW: PEEL, SALFORD, ENGLAND
INTRODUCTION
I had wanted to do this parkrun for a while as I had heard it was pretty flat and it's also fairly close to where I live. Now that I have done a lot more of the local parkruns, it has become harder to find a faster course without any notable hills, so I was keen to see how I could do on this one.
GENERAL INFO ABOUT THIS PARKRUN
Parking:
You can park for free at Irwell Place Car Park if you display your barcode. This is located just over the road from the Park Entrance.
Once you cross The Crescent you will see the entrance to the park ahead of you which is next to the University of Salford Building and red Salford sign:
Route:
I liked this course as nearly all of the run was flat and the surroundings were nice enough, with a sunny morning to help too. It starts and finishes by the statue in the centre of the Park and is a two-lap course. The route follows the river and loops around the football pitch and park.
There are a couple of small inclines but I would describe this one as mostly flat. Since it was a sunny day in May, the small grass section over the football pitch was fine and not slippy, but this may slow runners down a bit in winter if there are bad conditions.
Below you can see the Joseph Brotherton statue where the run starts, and the right hand picture shows part of a small incline on the route.
MY RUN ON THE DAY
I was feeling in good shape for this one and I wanted to see where my parkrun time was at as I hadn't ran one since doing Stretford in September 2025. In the last few weeks I had been training well on the track so expected to be able to give this one a good go.
This was my first run on this course so I was pleased to get another local parkrun ticked off. My aim was 18:30-45 so I knew I would have to average below 3:45/km to hit this target. The course felt like a fast one and as the run went on I knew I had a good chance of getting a time I would be satisfied with.
Towards the end I was really starting to tire but came in at 18:39 which I was really happy with. I also had the added benefit of having my wife and son there to cheer me on which gave me a boost!
SPECIFIC INFO FROM THIS PARKRUN
Date - 09/05/2026
Time - 18:39
Position - 10th out of 594
Fastest times: Male - 17:01 | Female - 20:07
Distance on my Strava - 4.83K (think GPS had issues that day)
Shoes worn: Adidas Adizero
My Course Difficulty Rating - 2/5
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