In search of the smaller parkruns

Since it dawned on me this last week that there was a chance the smaller parkruns might disappear if not attended (by both runners and volunteers), I've been wondering which others in my area might warrant a visit sooner rather than later. Earlier today, I stumbled on this really handy page that, in among a truckload of other stats, had pretty much what I needed: a list of the parkruns with lowest attendance. Actually, what I really wanted was a table of parkruns in the NE of England and their average attendances, but the page I found will do.

Diving through it, I've now seen that a couple of my other local-ish runs have just as low attendance as Windy Nook, those being:
  • Blackhill in Consett, County Durham
  • Cotsford Field in Peterlee, County Durham (pictured below)

To date, I've run neither of these courses, so they'd also be a handy way to help me meet my target of 5 new locations in 2023. Cotsford Field looks nice for the seaside/clifftop location, a bit like South Shields. And Blackhill would give me the excuse to visit my brother, who lives in Consett (though I've heard the course is another hilly one).

Anyway, I like the idea of having a reason to head to new events — beyond just boredom with existing ones, that is. So let's see how long it takes me to visit these. 🙂

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Parkrun #24: Windy Nook

Image
YESSSSS! It's not often I come away from a parkrun with a time only just under 28 minutes (to be confirmed) and feel elated, but today is one such day. Finally bit the bullet today and attended Windy Nook , reputed to be one of the hardest parkruns in the area, wi– Sorry, I'll have to pause this blog post. My time's just come in on SMS and it's a 27:48. Woohoo! 😁 Anyway, as I was saying, Windy Nook is a parkrun with a reputation for being a bit of a killer. So, I was actually more concerned that I'd get a time in the 29's and at least be getting my worst parkrun to date, especially considering I'd been struggling to get under 28:30 during the week. In the end, I was delighted enough to get round without walking, let alone getting under 28 minutes. Normal attendance is around 30 runners, but Saltwell Harriers descended today Why Windy Nook? Last night, I was thinking again about doing Carlisle Park in Morpeth. Ever since doing it the first time, I've bee...
Read more

Midweek: Hawksworth, LS5

Image
Another day, another pre-breakfast run. Hard to believe, but it happened. Today was the final day of our trip to Leeds and I was granted another pass out, which was most welcome. 🙂 This time, I decided to avoid having a ruinously steep hill near the end of the run and so just planned to run around the Hawksworth housing estates rather than dip down towards Kirkstall Abbey again. I briefly checked Google Maps to plan the exact route and then headed out. The idea was to head north till I hit the ominous sounding Butcher Hill, then take that road east as far as Spen Lane. From there, it would be south until I passed under the railway line and then west back up Vesper Road to the Airbnb. Everything went exactly to plan... until I got to Butcher Hill and saw fairly well worn but unofficial tracks leading into an area of scrub and trees. Curiosity piqued, I headed off into the wilderness instead of sticking to the road. I'd be rubbish in a horror film. This wooded area, whic...
Read more

The 2023 Great North 10K

Image
Well, I did it. I finally bagged last year's only failed goal: to finish a 10K event. Finished 10K: ✅ Ran the whole way: ✅ Got under an hour: ✅ Beat my time from April: ✅ My official time was 55:07 in the end, which is frankly crackers. I've done plenty of five kilometre parkruns where I've not even managed that pace. Steve Harper and Brendan Foster getting ready to release the green wave. There's so much I could write about today, but it's already quarter to eleven at night and I don't want to be sat here when today becomes tomorrow. So let's just bullet a few items: The warm-up . I surprised myself by really enjoying and appreciating the orchestrated warm-up. I normally hate being manipulated (that's how I see it), but the guy leading it made it clear it was the best way to avoid injury, so I just went with it today. Being overtaken. Lots . I started very close to the front of my wave, as we were all people who'd said we'd take an hour or more...
Read more