After the previous two attempts at group tourism were scuppered by our wonderful north-east winter, it was third time lucky for a Claremont octet down on Wearside today. Lena Lou was thrilled to be on the tour-path once more:
“8 Claremonters ventured over the river to Silksworth parkrun in Sunderland. The first-timers briefing caused a slight bit of panic when the volunteer cautiously told us the course started with a ‘downhill’, and concluded with a grimace that it’s back up the hill to the finish line.
I set off with the intention of enjoying the course. The middle section of the course remained rather flat taking in 2 laps of the pond, on a somewhat chilly morning. Competition got the best of me, and I couldn’t help but chase down some peers, whilst reminding myself of the hill to come.
I actually enjoyed the ascent back to the finish, and it was nowhere near as bad as anticipated (although I’m sure others would disagree), but this may have been due to running Jesmond Dene the week prior!
Most of all, I’m happy that the curse of the parkrun tourism cancellations has been broken!”
It was a good showing from the merry band of tourists. Lucy Ward stormed to 2nd woman, with her fastest parkrun time in nearly 10 years, Sonja Fenske just behind in 3rd with a course PB, and Tara Hipwood only a few seconds further back. On the other side of the river, Catherine Young rounded off the podium with 1st woman at Fulwell Quarry, and back on Tyneside, Jamie Armstrong set a new parkrun PB at Rising Sun, taking 1 second off his previous best from Jesmond Dene in November.
There was also a course PB for Sophie Ellam, back at her most frequented home parkrun in Barnsley, while Mark Anderson claimed both 1st place, and our most southerly runner of the week award, on a cross-country-esque course at Wetherby.
In the opposite direction, a couple of couples doubled-up on north-of-the-border adventures this week. Aoífe Monaghan edged closer to ‘Alphabeteer’ status, at Vogrie near Edinburgh with Jack Shawcross. Cate Walker and I were up beyond the Firth of Forth, at Camperdown Country Park in Dundee.
Another one to be added to the list of ‘picturesque’ courses, a not-too-chilly morning saw us traverse a mildly trail-y route, through woodlands and around and across wide fields. Less aesthetically pleasing was a seemingly never-ending, winding hill, that started about half-way through. A curio of note that I haven’t come across anywhere else: it was first Saturday of the month, and pacer week. Not unusual in itself, but there were not just whole, but half-minute pacers available (e.g. 27, 27:30, 28 etc.) I ran alongside Mr 27:30 for a bit, and he claimed “I have no idea what I’m doing”. As he finished more than a minute inside the time on his back, I guess he wasn’t exaggerating as much as I’d assumed!
