Stevenage

October 8th for my 37th parkrun and 6th in Stevenage.

Stevenage parkrun was set up earlier this year and this was the 20th running of the event.

A slightly unprepossessing morning found me huddled with some other runners under a tree near the starting line of the run in Fairlands Valley Park Stevenage.  This afforded me the opportunity to listen in on the first timers talk despite having run here before, which was a comprehensive description of the course with guidance for bollard location and the usual warnings about other park users, running with children and dogs.

Rain subsiding I made my way to the starting line only a few metres away for the short pre-run briefing which got quickly through the important details and gave a hearty applause to the volunteers then checked the times and a quick 3-2-1 go.

Thanks to a poor decision to hang around explaining the bar-code process to another runner, I got a little caught up in the starting line melee which is my only slight niggle about this parkrun due to its popularity and starting position on a corner of a narrow path.  Once clear however I was able to enjoy what I'd a really good parkrun course.

The Course

The first kilometre takes you on a solid path around the side of the sailing and fishing lake, generally 9 a.m.on a Saturday seems to be a bit early for sailors but there was a canoeist this week and fishermen are a very hardy band so there's often a few of them around.  At the far end of the lake you pass through a short wooded area with a short steep drop and then about a hundred metres along a cycle path (we were warned to beware of cyclists-there weren't any) and then back into the park for kilometre two.

Elevation

The next section of the run is a very gentle climb starting on the path and then taking a detour through the trees (this detour has been missed before a they can't put the stores across the path and would add about 50m to your run if you didn't notice) the ground is solid enough but there are a few roots to be aware of. Once you are back on the path there is a tight left right section to go around the car park and then playground which is a really good supporting point for smaller members of the family (supervised of course).

Once past the playground the course heads gently down, over a bridge and then back round to the starting point for a second lap of the same.  Normally I try to steer clear of multi lap courses but this one doesn't feel at all repetitive.

Coming round for a second time you are guided up the grassy bank for a short steep uphill section and then the finishing straight.  This is the only part of the race which could potentially be an issue in road shoes and I would be interested to see how it holds up in the winter months.

The finish is very well organised and efficient and I enjoyed my highest parkrun placing of 5th.

The confirmation email arrived at around lunchtime and later in the day a very interesting and detailed run report was produced.