Back in 2020 we had booked a long weekend to Helsinki for July, but obviously ended up having to cancel that trip. It’s been on the list, so I was very excited to finally visit after waiting all this time.
We flew out to Helsinki on the Friday, the train from the airport was fairly quick (30 mins ish) and we had a hotel by the central station, which was about 1km from the start of parkrun. Perfect! We had a walk around the lakes after dinner on the Friday, so I was very confident about navigating my way there in the morning, too.
The parkrun didn’t start until 9:30 am (the number of times I checked that!) but I headed off before 9 so I could enjoy the atmosphere before the start, hear the welcome and briefing and of course take some photos.
I love seeing the signs in different languages. I saw the cones set up as I ran there.
I ended up chatting to lots of tourists- lots of people were over for the Nordic additional day (the following Thursday- Ascension Day) so it was fun to hear about different plans. Lots of people were heading to Stockholm (as were we eventually) but most were aiming for the newer parkrun of Judarskogen parkrun whereas I had planned to go to Haga (more on that another day).
Anyway, the welcome was given in English by the RD who said it was his first time doing that role- he apologised if he sounded nervous but he was fantastic, very clear and welcoming. The route seemed simple- out and back, beginning on one lake (keep it to your left), over the railway bridge and then around another lake (keep it to your right), turn at the U-turn point, and then retrace your steps. I had watched Nicola Runs You Tube video of it previously, but nothing compares to actually being there yourself.
A few mid run photos including the little watermill, and my pic by the sign when I’d finished.
I really enjoyed the route- the parts by the lake were very flat and one nice wide paths.
The second lake had a cycle path next to it but this was clearly divided by a kerb. There were loads of other people out, not parkrunning, but there was always space to pass. I was very happy to spot the little water mill that was generating electricity- I don’t think I would have spotted it on the way back as it was tucked below the path a little bit.
The part by the railway bridge was tough as that was very steep up and down, but at least it was over fairly soon. There were only a couple of marshals out on the route but they were very enthusiastic, and the course was very clear. (Although after I had finished and scanned I met two people who had gone the wrong way after coming back over the bridge, and I realised that the cone in the centre of the path (basically blocking it and showing you to go left towards the lake rather than straight on towards the train station) had been knocked to the side, so I put it back in the middle of the path so hopefully no-one else got lost!
It wasn’t a hugely busy parkrun- that day I was 62 of 119 participants, and that seemed like a good number with a nice spread of runners and walkers. It was really welcoming, although I didn’t go to the cafe after as we had breakfast included in our hotel stay (and we had to book a time slot so I had to be back for the 10:30 booking).
And the stats: parkrun 404, location 133 and country number 10 (when GB counts as 1 country).
We had a lovely few days in Helsinki after. The city is very walkable, so we spent some time walking around the city centre and admiring the different styles of the buildings, walked to the docks to see the local markets and all the boats heading off to various islands, went to the Helsinki museum (very interesting). One day there was a classic car fest happening in the square so we sat for ages looking at all the Cadillacs and other cars stream in, and then one day we got a boat out to an island with a fort on it, and walked around the island. I am very glad that we visited!
After Helsinki, we got the boat over to Tallinn, and spent two days there, before heading over to Stockholm for the final part of our nordic trip.