I’ve joined in with this race for a few years now. The first time I attended it started in Welwyn village, and was a crazy hilly course starting close to midday. Last year it moved to Panshanger park, and it stayed there this year, albeit with a slightly different route.
As my dad has been keen to do a 10k every now and then, I got him race entry for his birthday, so we travelled there together. It’s a lovely low key event where you park close to the start, pick up your number from a tent in the morning, and then head off to enjoy the race. I was very happy to hear that Planted Coffee co would be there too- looking forward to one of their iced drinks is a highlight of the final mile!
It was a hot day, and although the race started at 9:30 it was already baking, so we stood in the shade before the start as much as possible. I’d just had my shoulder injection, and Dad had been cycling around Scotland so we both needed to take it easy. I had explained to him that this was not like a road race- we would enjoy the scenery and walk the hills and water stations, and not worry about the finish time.
This worked well, and we both managed to chat all the way around. At one point someone commented that they were amazed that we still had the energy to talk, but the run/walk really helps, as did stopping at water stations and drinking an entire cup.
I worked out on the way around that it was the same route as last year, only in the opposite direction and starting and finishing in a different place (it started where the parkrun starts now, whereas last year it started in the middle near the lakes)- I think this worked really well as you still get the hills out of the way in the first half and have a relatively flat and downhill second half. The marshals were all so encouraging, and the atmosphere was great- we finished in around 1 hour 15 with lots of people walk/running around us too.
After finishing and picking up our bags from the bag drop area (tarpaulin of trust) we queued up at Planted- I had an iced matcha and Dad had an iced chocolate. We sat in the sun on the grass and just relaxed after the race before heading home a bit later- such a perfect morning.
It’s been hot when I’ve done this before, but the end of June is pretty much going to be guaranteed heat, but the pretty views and relaxed atmosphere make this on my “must do” list.
Do you have any races that you like to do each year?