Penrith parkrun

Saturday, March 8, 2014

Dave Robson

Melanie and I were going for a weekend of walking in the Lakes and we thought about doing the relatively new Penrith parkrun. This seemed a good idea as it would get us over to the Lakes fairly early in the day. However, this did mean getting up very early and we were very tempted to stay in bed a bit longer, run Durham parkrun and head off afterwards. However, we dragged ourselves out of bed and headed off.

We arrived about 40 minutes early, but already the volunteers were there, the flags were up, the course clearly marked and finishing funnel was also up. The location was a sports ground outside of Penrith, just next to the A66. The route was two laps and round the outside of the sports pitches, so it was a flat route. There were some plastic flags and some permanent posts to mark the course. A small section was on a road which leads to the football stadium and the road was closed, which I haven’t seen at a parkrun before. There were also a couple of out and back sections to make up the distance.

What made this parkrun a bit different was the mud. The course had been flooded recently (it is very close to the river) and that may have contributed to the quantity of mud. I had put on a pair of trail shoes with medium grip, but they weren’t really adequate, mudclaws would have been better. It was more like cross country but without any hills.

To our surprise we bumped into Graham who we often see at Durham parkrun and some friends from Howgill Harriers. It was good to see them all and have a chat.

We have often hoped that there would be more parkruns in the Lakes and it is great to have one in Penrith

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