Thursday 13 December 2012

parkrun on Tour – The Christmas Awards Edition

Having completed my tour of new parkrun events for this year, and apologies if you waded through all 5 long parts of the tourist blog, I have decided to sum up from those I have experienced so far! If you are looking for a new parkrun to visit maybe this will help you decide, depending what you are looking for that particular parkrunday!! Please note this is all just my own opinion and is hopefully a bit of fun, though please feel free to discuss!

Fastest Course – not based on my time on the day but on how I feel I could do when fit and not running with a 7 year old!!
  1. Hull
  2. York
  3. Harrogate
Surprisingly all Yorkshire/Humberside – though I’d put Bushy close behind with Milton Keynes and Edinburgh if you catch the weather right!

Toughest Course
  1. Barnsley
  2. Dewsbury
  3. Glasgow

Honourable mentions for Roundhay and Bradford.

Friendliest parkrun

All of them so far- could not pick one not to include!

Child Friendly – for either running or facilities on site, bearing in mind my boy is now just 7!
  1. Huddersfield
  2. Barnsley
  3. Pontefract

Best Café

  1. Milton Keynes- fantastic sausage sarnies and coffee
  2. Bushy – full English, expensive but worth it!
  3. Huddersfield – literally as you fall over the finish line!
Honourable mentions – Leeds, Bradford for Nick the Frothy Coffee Man, Dewsbury.

Maddest
  1. Huddersfield
  2. Huddersfield
  3. Huddersfield

Muckiest
  1. Wythernshawe
  2. Colwick
  3. Harrogate

My favourites – courses to run
  1. Milton Keynes
  2. Colwick
  3. Conkers

Least favourite – courses to run
  1. Barnsley – the constantly varying gradient up each long hill is too tough for me!
  2. Braunstone – no particular reason it just was non-descript. Lovely people though…
  3. York – very flat and fast, almost oval so no landmarks and I’m afraid I’m not fast enough to appreciate it, I like scenery!
Apologies to the event teams but please appreciate this is based on running the course not the parkrun experience!

My favourites – whole experience
  1. Milton Keynes
  2. Huddersfield
  3. Bushy
  4. Glasgow
  5. Conkers

Now this is obviously all just in my opinion, and based on only 20 different parkruns but I hope that some of you will contradict me and give me somewhere else to add to my list to try! At the moment that list says “as many as possible” so anything that can make the decision easier is appreciated!

If you would like to see any other categories included (Parking/toilet facilities etc) included in these leave me a comment!!

So far in 2013 we have planned trips to:

12th Jan Burnage
26th Jan Malahide
23rd Feb Faelledparken
25th May Falkirk
1st Jun Camperdown

But I am sure that will grow before long!!!

See you at a parkrun soon!

6 comments:

  1. Ian, my daughter lives in Dublin, so I might wander over from Liverpool.

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  2. Stan, if you do give me a shout! We have 13 going so far... Jason.

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  3. Mighty effort thanks. parkrun tourism is a fantastic way to see the counrty. Here my awards:-
    Fastest - Poole - Hull is on my 2013 list
    Favourite - Graves - Hills & Highland Cows, I'm a home run boy.
    Friendliest - Concord - intimate, like a family.
    Maddest - Huddersfield - you don't have to be mad but . . .
    Tricky - Bramhall - Slip sliding away.
    Toughest - Camperdown - Save lots for the last kilo, & Graves

    The jury will decide on 'Yorkshire Tough' in 2013. Most weeks, time wise its Graves but personal experience is thin on the ground. Pirate campervan parkrun tours will be on the road again in 2013.

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  4. Fantastic!!! You will have to let us know where and when!!! Look us up on the "Discussion Group For parkrunners on Tour" on FB!!! Not looking forward to Camperdown now...

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  5. Hi,

    I'm from East London South Africa and run the Nahoon Park run. I reckon our run is one of the top 4 or 5 most difficult runs out there!! BUT, it's soooo much fun and can't believe I didn't hear of it sooner. I don't know if we can post pics on here but here's a link to our Christmas run :-)
    http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.383654228393158.92889.333898590035389&type=3

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    Replies
    1. RudeBoy, if you would like to share photos or a course description on the blog I can give you an account. Then you can share all you want with the other parkrunfans. We'd all love to hear more about your parkrun.

      Please email me if you would like an account and I will explain more: parkrunfan@gmail.com

      All the best,
      Ian

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