Posts Tagged ‘parkrun’

The Grand Canal Way parkrun is located in Tullamore. As you might guess, it is an out-and-back along the canal. You go out for 1,500 metres, the back, then out again for a shorter 1,000 section. Nice and flat, as you can imagine.

It was cool and rainy the whole thing. Everyone was very friendly and kept apologising for the weather. They didn’t seem to believe me that this was my ideal running weather. Thank you to everyone who made me feel welcome.

I didn’t realise it at the time, but this was my 50th parkrun in Ireland. Unless you ask the DUP, you insist I have only done 47.

Bala is a town located in the middle of North Wales, at at the north end of Bala Lake. Importantly, they have a parkun and it is one of the four required to complete The Full Ponty challenge. I ticked off Pontefract in June, so this is the second one I needed.

The course is an out-and-back along the river with a turnaround point at the lake. You do this twice before finishing. I had had surgery a few days before so no running for me, but I had a delightful stroll along the course with the hills in the background and the lake at the end.

Another S for my snakes challenge!

Sligo parkrun has an out-and-back section before opening up to two loops of a bigger park. There is a slight hill here, but nothing compared to Temple Newsam or Cabinteely. And on the plus side, you get a beautiful view of the hills in the distance.

Sligo is a picturesque place and I stopped on the way back to take a few pictures.

Our first base camp for our road trip was the seaside town of Portrush. Long beaches, fish and chip shops, arcades, the whole classic British seaside town feel. It also had a parkrun. With Portrush being a summer hotspot, over 500 runners turned up for an out-and-back along the beach. The sand was firm enough under foot but there were some wet bits to run through. A lot of runners did it in bare feet.

After parkrun, Venla and I built the first of many sandcastles.

Dundalk parkrun takes place on the Dundalk Institute of Technology campus and consists of three laps around the playing field. While it is not the most exciting of parkruns, it was well marshalled and I had fun.

Mountlucas parkrun takes place in the Mount Lucas wind farm. It is a single lap trail course and you get to pass right underneith the turbines: their foundations are just off the side of the trail and the blades pass over your head.

Lovely to have the one lap and I got a warm welcome from the volunteers. Thanks everyone, and happy 8th birthday!

Lovely parkrun along the canal. It looks like an out-and-back, but it’s actually a loop as the canal towpath and greenway run parallel to each other. Technically then, it is one of the few single loop parkruns! It was supposed to be dry all day but rained the whole time. Classic Ireland.

It’s a parkrun. On a beach. You literally run ip the beach for two and a half kilomtres and then turn around and run back down again. It’s amazing.

The surface is surprisingly good. The sand is hard so you do not get the exhaustion of running on soft sand. It is probably not a PB course, but it’s not difficult going, either. There are a few streams to jump over and some seaweed to dodge which is all part of the fun.

It was raining heavily the day I went and continued to rain throughout the entire run. None of that killed the fun for me. No chance of sunburn, exhaustion or dehydration. It was beautiful. Where else would you want to be on a rainy Saturday morning?

Except you cannot be here every Saturday. One of the quirks of the events is that they can only run the event at low tide so it only takes place around half of the time. It is well worth the trip if you can make it, though. This is a contender for my favourite parkrun.

Lovely parkrun. I received a warm welcome at the gate and after the run, where they provide a spread of biscuits and hot and cold drinks. It is three laps around the park and has a few lumps but no serious hills. Thank you to all of the volunteers for a pleasant morning.

Pontefract parkrun takes place on the race course. It features one loop around the race course track and two laps around the lake. All fairly flat. Thank you to all of the volunteers for making it happen.