Rest in Peace, Bob: Goodbye to the King of Northampton parkrun
Bob Emmerson thought of himself as an 'old jogger' but to hundreds of runners he was an inspiration and a friend
“I’m just an old jogger now”.
Bob Emmerson’s face would light up when he spoke about running.
This was a man who kept every single pair of his old trainers, souvenirs of miles and hours spent doing the thing he loved.
Bob clocked every mile he ran, carefully recording them in a little book.
He became known to me, and so many more people, as the unofficial King of Northampton parkrun.
A man who, throughout his 80s and into his early 90s, would turn up every Saturday morning to run 5km round the town’s Racecourse, bringing inspiration, friendship and veg from his allotment in equal measure.
Along the way, Bob became the oldest man to reach 400 and then 500 parkruns, earning himself an unexpected and unlikely bit of celebrity in his twilight years.
Yesterday, sadly, it was announced that Bob had run his last race.
The Northampton parkrun page posted that he had passed away peacefully in his sleep in the early hours of the morning.
Bob had slowed down in recent years, his times - which even in his 80s had hovered just above the 30 minute mark - steadily decreasing. Once he hit 500 parkruns, his visits to the Racecourse became more sporadic - although he could often be seen giving back to the community that loved him by volunteering as a marshall.
Breaking records and becoming Britain’s best:
Of course, the truth about Bob’s parkrunning career was that it was always part of the decline of someone who had once been far more than just an ‘old jogger’.
Bob’s ‘parkrun period’ came towards the end of a life in running that saw him post several sub-three hour marathons, break ultra marathon records in his first event of the kind, and go on to clock up more than 100,000 miles of running.
As a youngster, he had run for Gosforth Harriers and he continued to take part in the sport during his national service in Egypt, but when he returned to the UK a busy work life saw him put running aside.
That was until, at the age of 44, he entered an annual cross-country event at his work for the Nationwide Building Society.
Soon he was running every day, with races every other week. His first marathon saw him finish in three hours and two minutes.
The London Marathon followed, an event he was to complete 19 times, bringing the first of many sub-three finishes.
Transitioning to ultras, Bob competed races including the Two Bridges in Scotland and the London to Brighton Ultra.
It was at a Roadrunners Club of England 100k race at Crystal Palace where, in his own words, Bob realised he was “a little bit special,” although in true Bob style he would downplay his achievements as “old men’s records”.
Each time he hit a new milestone within the race - 30 miles, 50k, 40 miles and so on - he was told he had broken another age grade record. By the time he finished, in first place, Bob had five new world records.
He would go on to compete in 24-hour races, and was at one time was the British 100km champion.
As he got older, Bob’s eyes turned to culminative running goals. Even a hip operation couldn’t stop him racking up a grand total of 100,000 miles in his lifetime, all neatly recorded in a pocket log book.
Why parkrun community topped all Bob’s running achievements:
For Bob, though, none of his myriad achievements would compare to the community and celebrity that came in his parkrun days.
His smile lit up Northampton parkrun, his running achievements in completing that 5k every week wowing the hundreds of other runners. In the early days of his more than 11 years doing the run he shocked people with his pace, in latter times with his endurance and determination.
Bob would often tell friends how much he loved parkrun and the people who were part of it. He would say how he was shocked that despite everything he had done in the running world that it was as that ‘old jogger’ where he had found both the most acclaim and the best community.
Speaking to the Running Tales Podcast back in 2021, Bob summed up his affinity with the event: “I love it because I talk to everybody. And it's such a friendly atmosphere.
“You make hundreds of friends. I made a lot of friends when I was running proper races. But parkrun has been something else.
“I recommend anybody to come along. And if you can't run all the way, run a bit and walk a bit, which is what I do now.”
It is a testament to Northampton parkrun’s inclusivity that its hero ran 45-minute plus 5ks and wore the same slightly tattered Silverstone 10k t-shirt every week.
But more so, it was a testament to the incredible spirit, determination and sheer love of running that Bob Emmerson personified.
It made him loved and cherished by so many fellow runners.
Rest in peace Bob, you wonderful old jogger.