A cool and calm morning made for good running conditions this Saturday, though recent heavy rain redressed the balance somewhat at some of the muddier parkruns.
A steadily improving Anneliza Andreadi picked up another PB at Leazes, while across town at Jesmond Dene there was a Claremont near-photo finish, with Tara Hipwood, Clare McKitterick and Luke Woodend finishing within 7 seconds of each other.
Up by Alnwick Castle, Alex Harding returned to The Pastures a full 4 years since his last parkrun there, improving on his previous time by 10 minutes! Visting Alex’s home parkrun in Sheffield, Cate Walker greatly enjoyed her run out at Endcliffe. Notably, Francesco Carrer was attending his first parkrun in almost 5 years, debuting at Whitley Bay.
Mark Anderson was on a whole other continent, having a jaunt round Danehy Park in Massachusetts, before his run in the Boston marathon on Monday.
After a tip-off from –redacted-, 6 of us made our way down to Wynyard Woodland Park near Stockton, to take part in their inaugural run.
Arriving at 8:40am to an already heaving car park, it was clear this was not going to be the ‘quiet launch’ that parkrun advises for debut events (414 runners at final count).
The course proved to be both interesting and one of the most straightforward. Starting at the platform of a former railway station, the most out-and-back route ever takes you north in a straight line, following the path of the old railway through leafy woodland, before a 180 turn at halfway leads you back down the way you came.
The area next to the platform made for a tight squeeze at the start, but after a lengthy briefing, we were off up the woodland path. The warning of ‘unavoidable surface water’ soon came to pass, more fully than we were perhaps prepared for.
For the first quarter or so, it was fairly simple to skirt the puddles and boggier parts, especially as the faster runners were not yet funneling back down. But the mud level increased, and the puddles soon became impossible to dodge mini-ponds, at which point most of us surrendered to the fact our shoes were now waterlogged, and ploughed through the flooding with abandon.
The 2nd half back down was, amazingly, even more extreme. The side of the path we had hitherto avoided proved even wetter, with slicker mud that added the extra threat of slipping and falling face first into the quagmire.
Afterward it was agreed that the run had been enjoyable, once you submitted to the inevitably of soaked, muddy legs, with a cross-country-esque flavour to it. The quaint platform-side coffee shop seemed slightly overwhelmed by the influx of filth-spattered runners, but will surely be glad of the increased custom on a Saturday morning.
Amongst the thrills of witnessesing this new parkrun birth, Nikki Szlovák defied the sloppy underfoot conditions to record a fast time, finish as 3rd lady, and lay down the women’s record for her age group. May the record stand for ages to come!
