A bit late but Niall Murphy (18) broke record on Saturday in Lees Road 15:13. He is running in the schools the weekend. Impressive given the (not) flat terrain and no one to push him on
Looks like we might get a few cancellations this weekend.
Great performance by Joe Hastings@Shanganagh Parkrun yesterday with course record 15:17 all on his own, in fairness when you see a quality athlete go off like a bat of hell you go WOW! 😀
50 people under 18 minutes at Dulwich today, 103 under 20 minutes, probably the fastest around
You have a few in London but accommodation not very cheap, I have ran around 40 of the Parkruns inside the M25, Burgess Park, Dulwich and Bushy are the fastest IMO, all practically flat with minimal bends with Dulwich a 3 lapper being probably the best, the top 30-50 there every week are well under 20 minutes, with something in around 15 minutes usually getting 1st place
I'm spotting two in Crawley which is basically the Swords of Gatwick Airport, of those two Tilgate Park looks promising.
Sorry I never updated on this. We went with Castletown in the end. Quite enjoyed it, it wasn't as far away as we had thought, and just off the motorway. I actually hadn't realised (and should probably brush up on my geography) that it went along by the Liffey, I enjoyed that bit along by the river. It was a little bit of an obstacle course that day as there were quite a lot of puddles to avoid. We had to hit the road straight after but we may return again in a drier season and explore the surrounds after.
If you were going over to the UK primarily for a fast parkrun course and it ticked the box of;
1 - close to the airport, ryanai cheap flight
2 - nice town nearby to stay and spend a weekend.
Where would you suggest?
Went out to Dodder Valley park this morning. They've changed the route slightly from when I did the first one in November. Much calmer weather today too.
24.20 makes it my fastest parkrun since 2019 :)
Dang, someone from boards knows who I am, pardon me while I shut this account down 😅
They've only had something like 4 events since October. They keep being cancelled at very short notice by the owners of the venue. Very frustrating for the event team and participants so an understandable decision.
BTW, best of luck with your 32 counties challenge. If I meet you again, I promise not to ruin your photo again.😝😝
Trouble in Waterford it would appear.
EVENT SUSPENDED—Dear parkrunners, today we’re taking the hugely difficult decision to suspend the Waterford Nature parkrun until further notice. Please help us to share this notice with anyone who likes to attend the event.
As many of you will be aware, the event has suffered from frequent cancellations in recent months. It has now taken place on just 4 of the past 11 weekends, and we haven’t been able to hold back-to-back events for about 3 months.
Most of these cancellations have been decided by our host venue due to concerns about people crossing the football pitch section of the course after it’s been wet and rainy. Given that we have many rainy months ahead, we’re forced to conclude that these frequent cancellations will continue to occur.
Our team has typically been informed of these cancellations less than an hour before the event is due to start. We feel it is unreasonable to consistently inform our wonderful volunteers and parkrunners of a cancellation this late, so we’ve been left with no option but to suspend the event.
We are enormously sad to have to take this decision. However, one of the core ideas of parkrun is that it provides a weekly venue where people of all ages and abilities can walk, jog, and run together. Parkrun is intended to be habit-forming and community-building. The frequency and unpredictability of these cancellations are incompatible with those ideals.
So, is this the end of parkrun in Waterford City? Absolutely not!
Our core team is committed to building a large, vibrant parkrun community in the city. We are currently working to move the event to a new venue, and we hope to be able to make an announcement about this in the next few months.
In the interim, the (not)parkrun option remains available. This allows you to log a 5K run with parkrun online and receive your parkrun credit. We would also encourage you to support our wonderful sister event Tramore parkrun Waterford, and other nearby events—New Ross parkrun, Kilkenny parkrun, Clonmel parkrun, Wexford Racecourse parkrun, Gorey parkrun, and elsewhere.
Finally, we would like to sincerely thank our amazing Waterford Nature parkrunners and the incredible volunteers who have made the event possible.
Since Waterford Nature parkrun was launched, we’ve held 80 events. A total of 1,290 people have run, walked, and jogged the course, completing a massive 4,478 parkruns. And 143 wonderful, kind, generous people have volunteered at the event.
Thank you so very much to you all, and we’ll see you all again soon.
Sincerely,
The Waterford Nature parkrun team
Kilcock over Castletown for me. On a windy day it can be a tough out or back though.
No worries, I ran Russborough in September 2021, the weekend parkrun resumed in ROI. They have a summer course (largely on trails) and a winter course which I think is all on paths.
Thanks, nearly didn't spot Russbourogh outside Blessington which also falls on the Wicklow side and looks handy enough. It'll probably be into the summer before I hit the east coast counties anyway so loads of time to consider. 🙂
That one's well inside Wicklow. Much easier terrain than Avondale.
And this is where the map puts them, well into Wicklow territory. I'd nearly let Wicklow have it as they are another county with surprisingly few Park runs for the amount of public parks in the county.
Their parkrun website lists their address as Rathwood Rat, Rath, Tullow, Co Carlow. I'd go with Avondale to be safe.
Was browsing the event map to get an idea where to go for my 32 counties of Parkrun challenge and it surprised me how many counties only have the one. Basically any county beginning with 'L' that isn't Limerick, Sligo and Kilkenny. Sligo on the basis of how many there are in all the other Wild Atlantic Way counties and Laois was another eyebrow raiser. I would have thought somewhere like Abbeyleix, Stradbally or any of the parks in the foothills of the Slieve Blooms would have something going but no. Just a Grand Canal run in Vicarstown close to Kildare.
Now, settle something for me in relation to Carlow, specifically Tullow Parkrun. Tullow itself is in County Carlow but if you look at the map the park appears to be over the border in Wicklow. So if I was to run it, would it count as Carlow or Wicklow in your opinion. At any rate I'll probably just do Carlow town to be safe and Avondale Forest for Wicklow
Haven't done Kilcock myself but Castletown is a nice one alright.
Kilcock is faster but Castletown much easier on the eye, but not a great one if youre looking for a time
Lovely coffeshop in the house in castletown for afterwards too ;-)
Castletown would be my choice. Kilcock is out and back along the canal, not my preference. Castletown is a lovely location in front of Castletown House.
On the road next weekend and Kilcock and Castletown are both en route. Help me decide! Haven't run either of them before.
Yes, I always present the QR too.
Sure does, my Garmin scans via QR, works better than a regular barcode
Does the volunteer app accept QR? Thought it had to be linear barcodes.
Some more detail here: https://the5krunner.com/2022/04/22/a-parkrun-barcode-on-your-garmin-or-apple-watch-parkrun-phone-apps/
Try the above
I got an apple watch for Christmas.
Previously used fitbit and had my parkrun barcode installed on it.
anyone any ideas how to get the barcode on to apple watch.
Very sad to learn that Padraig Brogan, the event director at Erris Parkrun passed away this week. Not an easy one to get to, but we made the trip a few times, mainly because of the welcome he and his team gave us.
He really epitomised the spirit of parkrun for me and others and will be sorely missed by the parkrun community around the country.
