Wednesday 1 July 2026 - Spunch Urmston

Whilst followers of England's World Cup football match were enduring a stressful but ultimately successful evening, Sue and I set off on a two hour Spunch event in Urmston.

Sue took the above picture in Davyhulme Park before we split up as I had to revert to walking pace due to a painful occurence of Ischia bursitis (aka A Pain in the Bum).

HQ for this event was the Bevano (after Aneurin Bevan) Lounge on Flixton Road near Urmston railway station. Aneurin Bevan opened nearby Park Hospital, now Trafford General, on 5 July 1948 - the first NHS hospital.

During the evening I'd bumped into parkrunner Frank Cordingley - "Just out for a run - never heard of Spunch". Well, he has now.

Back at HQ after two hours of exercise, beer and a meal, whilst we waited for Alistair Pooler, who we knew was out there somewhere. He and his mate Dan did very well, as did another parkrunner who lives close to us in Timperley, Paul Steane, who joined us after the finish.

Here are the 120 minute event results - click on the image for a clearer version:

The route I took - about 12km - is shown below in blue. I went wrong at the bottom left and at the end, but it was a reasonable effort considering I walked the last few km.