With a lot of club runners taking part in the Newcastle 10K, there were slightly fewer of us braving the cold at parkruns this morning. Indeed, the cold had led to Leazes and Denton Dene being called off due to icy paths. Up the coast, Newbiggin-by-the-Sea did survive the weather, allowing Chris Jones to clock up his 150th parkrun.
There was a trio of sky blue PBs – for Tara Hipwood at Jesmond Dene; Antony Darne at Durham and Sonja Fenske on the Town Moor, where Heather Steel finished as 3rd lady. Not a PB, but it is good to see Laurie Johnson continuing his comeback from injury with another sub-30 minute run, this time at Albert Park in Middlesbrough. Alex Taylor also finished 3rd in his first-ever outing round the lake at Druridge Bay.
On the tourist front, Niamh Garratt was back on familiar ground in Derby, while Julie Cross, no stranger to parkruns in North Wales, nipped over the border for a first outing at Chester. Gill Milne and I were also experiencing a new parkrun – down south at Buckingham, where we were applauded as having travelled furthest to get there! Another runner was then very keen to seek us out and say what a great time he had had when he did the Great North Run last year.
It was a very pleasant course, on good paths, mostly tarmac, in what they called a lollipop shape, i.e out on a path (the stick), round a loop twice (two ‘licks’ of the lollipop) then back the way you came along ‘the stick’. The park itself was on the banks of the River Great Ouse, so the course was largely along its banks, crossing it and a couple of its small tributaries over small bridges. I have been struggling a bit with injury, but decided to run with Gill at her pace – she always wants to dip under 30 minutes. We were on target for this when, with just a couple of hundred metres to go, a sharp pain down my right leg made me pull up – I told Gill to push on and she did make the sub-30, while I hobbled over the line some 30 seconds later.
I thought that the only negative was that some of the paths were a bit narrow for the number of runners, but I wouldn’t let that put you off a visit. A bit like at Morpeth, the park is just across the river from the town centre, so there was plenty of choice for post-run refreshments, though unfortunately we didn’t have time to make the most of the facilities.
In summary, a nice course in a pleasant park in a good location for parking, cafes and toilets!
