Tag: parkrun challenges

A revisit to Leavesden and a volunteer celebration!

In the wilderness between milestones (still well over 3 years to my next one) chasing random challenges (hello Wilson Index) is a fun way to occupy the time and also to help me decide where to go. I know I go on about it, but as Ellenbrook Fields didn’t come back after the pause, I do not feel I have a home parkrun. I think Panshanger is my official one, and I do love it there, but it’s not the same.

Anyway, the Herts branch of Vegan Runners UK have a fab stats person (Gary) who each week produces some stats linked to parkrun attendance in Herts- number of Herts locations visited, number of VR’s at each location and so on. I have been to all the Herts parkruns, but not in this calendar year, and so I decided that this weekend I’d head to a Herts parkrun that I’d not been to this year, to move myself up on that table. I’d been to Jersey Farm, Panshanger, Letchworth, St Albans and Aldenham, so my choice was between Leavesden, Westmill and Stevenage.

A couple of other members of my club fancied Leavesden, so it was decided!

It is a super convenient parkrun- there is parking right by the start (you can see the flag from in the car), there is a little cafe and toilets by the start, it’s not too far a journey and not too difficult to find. It doesn’t seem to get huge numbers, but I think that’s a good thing as it’s a 3 lap course with one section where you have to keep to one side as runners come in the opposite direction (almost like a figure of 8 with the middle section where people meet). For us this was fine but if it was busy then it would be harder to pass- we had 99 participants that week.

I ran with Fiona and we had a lovely time chatting about all running and parkrun (and how much we missed Ellenbrook). It was sunny as I left home, but as we drove it had started to rain, and it drizzled on and off during parkrun. Nothing too bad but not really the weather we expect in June! The shade of the trees was still appreciated more as shelter from the rain.

Of course once finished we had to get a few photos. Gary (of VR stats fame) was also there so we got a picture for the VR club, plus of course we needed one of our little touring group too. Gary was also with a guy who used to run at Ellenbrook, so the day felt very themed towards that- lots of our club got into parkrun tourism after the pause because they didn’t have a parkrun home any more.

The cafe at Leavesden is really nice but we all had to head home so just went back to the car after taking the photos and scanning.

When the VR stats came through my name was on several of the categories-

Finished Top 20 for Gender: 13th at Leavesden Country parkrun – Maria W, Fastest Female Times: (I was number 3)- 00:29:57 Maria W Leavesden Country parkrun, Most Herts Finishes -11 (along with several others- the top person has 24 this year), Most Herts locations visited in 2024- I am on 6 which is now joint top of the table! I think this is the one I am most likely to do well at as I could potentially visit them all (although maybe would choose not to revisit a couple…). So it was worth me visiting there just to see my name in lights!

On Sunday I was off to Norton Common junior parkrun (Letchworth), as Branka was celebrating her v250! What a fantastic achievement! It was also their first birthday (which is why we had party hats on). The park is so pretty! I’d been for a little wander around as I sometimes park there when going to Letchworth, but the junior parkrun route is so lovely with all the tall trees. It has a wilder feel than the more manicured parks that other junior parkruns are in. Anyway, I was barcode scanning which was good as I was then at the start/finish area for the event.

Congratulations! Very much looking forward to seeing the green shirt in real life!

It was even more of a celebration as another RD was also celebrating his v250! All the things! Finally the High Sheriff has been making her way around all the Herts parkruns, and she was visiting. I think this is the third time I’ve seen her now- she was at St Albans, Letchworth and now Norton Common juniors.

Of course, if I am in Letchworth I am going to head to Vutie Beets for breakfast after. I opted for a crookie this time (croissant + cookie) and tea, and then bought some buns to take home and share with Andy later. Because the weather was so good (at long last) we had a long walk in Panshanger in the afternoon before watching the football in the evening.

Panshanger park/ breakfast/ on my walk/ the birthday decorations at NC.

How do you choose which parkrun to visit? I know I am in a great situation with so many within a short distance. I am still going for my single-ton at Panshanger so that is still on the cards for when I have a busy weekend too.

Harrow parkrun

Not to be confused with Harlow parkrun or Harrow Lodge, Harrow parkrun is another of the north London ones that really isn’t that far from me. Dad was away and I only had work plans for the weekend so fancied some tourism.

Thankfully some people in my club also wanted to go there and so a little band of 5 of us set off in Saturday morning. We drove and one thing I would say is that the post code on the website does not take you to the car park. The car park is tiny and we ended up using street parking, but some of those streets had restrictions (including Saturdays) so it is best to research before you go. (I don’t want to put information here as that sort of thing can date very quickly).

The park looks fairly small and as soon as we got inside we could see signs, high viz and the flag- always good. Some of our group popped to the toilets and I was photographed while waiting! We missed the first timers welcome but we had seen it was 3 laps (plus an extra mini lap)- I’d rewatched the A Little Adventure Time video of when they visited to give me an idea of what to expect.

The start area in the park, running up the “secret hill” and the purple pop up photo.

Very soon after arriving we heard the main briefing- the RD told us that as it was the football clubs’ party later on, by the time we finished their might be a bouncy castle by the finish area and they might even put the scanners in there! A fair few people had milestones and they were all called to the front for photos. It had a really friendly vibe. Then we walked to the start and began. As we walked to the start another participant mentioned my socks (the orange parkrun ones)- she was very impressed by how coordinated I was with my orange top (it’s my I Love Ellenbrook Fields top). I would say that the secret hill was not that secret- it was a long drag up one side of the park and even on the first lap I found it tough. I had to remind myself that I was just over my cold and had not run that much in the past two weeks.

The map of the route- you can see the extra mini loop in the middle.

The park was really varied with some wildlife areas and some more manicured parts. It had a really busy feel, with loads of people out being active in so many different ways- tennis, cricket, football, outdoor exercise machines, walking… it reminded me a bit of Brighton in that there are great outdoor exercise facilities and people are always using them. I think it’s crazy that you can be in such a built up area and then suddenly be in a park, particularly one like this that was bigger than it initially looked. The volunteers were amazing too- I was thanking them on each lap and wondering if some people just thanked them on their final lap. They were all calling out “great running”/” have an amazing weekend”/ “looking strong”/ “one more lap to go” etc- and did not stop. Even though we arrived relatively late (close to the start time) we had so many interactions with the team and this was just so welcoming.

Three of us being photographed at the end/ our purple sign photo/ up the hill again/ finish token.

I actually felt a bit wobbly when I finished and had to sit down for a minute before I was OK. Then the same lady who had complimented by socks came over with a camera (she was wearing a volunteer vest too) and asked to take some photos of us, and then of my socks!

Always good to see the new map once the result has come through!

So that was location 114 for me. One that in paper would not appeal particularly, but actually the volunteers made it fantastic, and the park was really varied so it didn’t feel monotonous like laps can sometimes. Once again, thanks to parkrun I have experienced a new place which I would not have been to otherwise.

How do you choose which new events to visit? Have you ever been really surprised by an event compared to the description?

A new course at St Albans parkrun

St Albans parkrun is where I started parkrunning all those years ago, but since Panshanger, Ellenbrook Fields (sad face) and Jersey Farm started and they were all closer, I don’t tend to go back to St Albans much. The course has changed since I first started there, due to flooding but also the huge number of runners.

The first course was a lollipop with 3 laps (start at the car park and run out to the lake, 3 laps of the lake then back along the path to the start), but it got busy on the narrow paths as inevitably there was lots of lapping- we always got lapped by the people on their 3rd laps when we were on our 2nd. My first run there had 131 runners, and a year later there were 350. They had an off road course for when the lakes were flooded, which was a similar lollipop shape, but laps of an undulating field rather than flat laps of the lake. Then they changed the main course to incorporate one side of the lake.

Recently they’ve been trialling a new course for when the lake is flooded, around an old golf course, and I was quite intrigued by this so persuaded my dad to come along. We both needed a fairly local run, so this fit the bill nicely.

We just made it there on time, as it turned out my brother was also coming, but didn’t realise we were going to St Albans rather than Jersey Farm- we would walk to Jersey Farm and drive to St Albans, both taking maybe 10 minutes but you had to allow time to park and pay at St Albans. Anyway, when he turned up we decided to chance it and just about made it, paying for parking at 8:55! The start area is still close enough to the car park to make it there thankfully.

There was a bit of pomp and ceremony at the start, as initially named as the major of St Albans but was actually the High Sheriff of Hertfordshire (an ancient ceremonial role apparently…)- the theme was something to do with helping or sport, I couldn’t hear all the announcement, but she said she would be visiting all of the parkruns in Herts and had started at St Albans.

Anyway, we were soon off and running along the edge of the field, to the back of the park and then along the path. This was the familiar part of the course as it covered parts of previous parkrun courses. Once we crossed and got into the golf course bit it was all new to me.

I enjoyed it so much! As we ran the first loop we had views of the abbey and the park surrounding it. We ran through trees and then up a gentle slope (which reminded me of the South Oxhey slope) you could not see all the way to the top as there were trees in the way, and the course wound up gently. You could see people on the other side making their way back down, and I always enjoy those courses where you can see people on other points of the park.

Once you got to the top of the slope you headed back down, only after looping through some more trees we were treated to a short steep uphill section which was very muddy and slippery- I was glad of my trail shoes at that point. You then repeated the golf course loop and then went back to the main path, along the path, retracing your footsteps to go back to the finish.

The course had good variation with the flat sections in the park and the undulating section in the golf course, and with all the scenery changes there was lots to look at.

I ran with Dad, and after we finished we took a few photos and cheered my brother in. Lots of people were milling about on the basketball court- there is always a nice feel at St Albans as there is a cafe in the park as well as the Waffle House close by so people can parkfaff (although we usually head home as Mum will cook us breakfast).

It ended up being a parkrun themed weekend, as I marshalled at Birchwood juniors on the Sunday too (along with several OH ladies), and then persuaded Andy to head up to Letchworth together- we had lunch at Vutie Beets and brought home some buns.

Does your local parkrun have different routes?

Great Denham parkrun- completing Stay in Beds

If you have the 5k app (the purple one) then as well as keeping track of things like the alphabet challenge, you can also create your own challenges. A few members of my running club had started tracking the Bedfordshire parkruns, after completing all the parkruns in Herts, so I added it to my list of challenges. At that point I only had a couple left, Bedford and Great Denham, and visited Bedford last summer.

This April was finally the time for me to head there, as Dad fancied doing some tourism too. In fact my brother even joined us which was lovely, as he often plays football on Saturdays so then doesn’t do parkrun as much as he used to.

I was a little worried about the parking situation, as there is a car park right next to the start, but they ask parkrunners not to use it, as it is used for things like kids football matches, and instead they ask you to use a park and ride car park 1km away. We left a little later than I would have liked, but the traffic going up there was fine, and in fact the walk from the park and ride to the park didn’t take long at all (it was 0.6 miles according to Strava) so definitely a good option. We were a bit late for the first timers welcome, but at the main briefing they mentioned they are trying to get a junior parkrun agreed, but it wouldn’t be if the residents were upset with the parking arrangements, so it is important to adhere to their requests. (If you go to the parkrun page and look at the course map, you can expand the map and it opens google maps, you can then click on the green start pin and navigate towards it)

The course itself is two laps of the park, it’s very flat and all on paths. It was a beautiful day with blue skies, although there was quite a strong wind, which of course you never feel when it’s behind you, but as soon as you turn and run into it, it’s there!

Scenes of the route plus the pop up at the start.

I really enjoyed the route- the park was quite varied with grassland, a few wooded areas, some ponds, and at times you ran past a row of trees and could glimpse the river through them.

I ran with Dad and as usually chat and don’t look at watches while we run (he doesn’t have a GPS watch or anything, and I just press start and stop and that’s it) but he commented that we were going pretty quickly. I think he said more than me in the second lap. I don’t look at splits much but when cropping the route map it was pleasing to see a royal flush negative split (each mile quicker than the previous one), particularly as I felt I really slowed in the final section as we ran into the wind towards the finish line. My time was 28:23 so a fair bit quicker than I have been running recently.

The finish funnel bunting, obligatory token photo and purple pop up picture.

On that note, I loved their finish funnel! It reminded me of Clermont Waterfront, which has flags from around the world decorating their funnel. This one had bunting made from old high viz jackets- it looked so pretty fluttering in the wind.

Photos of my brother with me, and then Dad joined us. I was glad of my sunglasses as my eyes would not have been open for any of the pictures otherwise!

Time for some photos before we walked back to the car and drove home, as Mum was at home ready to cook us some breakfast.

New and old Vonoroi map! Before- that green triangle was Great Denham, and now it’s purple because I’ve been there.

The 5K app also had an update where you can now select Vonoroi when you look at the map of events. This was available if you use the google chrome extension- parkrun challenges- still the original way to track challenges. However even if you have chrome on your phone, it wouldn’t work, but now you can have the fun of looking at the map on your phone instead.

So, Stay in Beds complete, and here are the dates I visited first:

Bedford- 8th July 2023

Dunstable Downs- 2nd March 2019

Great Denham- 20th April 2024

Henlow Bridge Lakes- 27th November 2021

Luton Wardown- 4th September 2021

Houghton Hall- 27th January 2018

Millennium Country- 13th April 2019

Rushmere- 22nd September 2018

(Complete until of course another one starts in Beds…)

Have you been to any of all of these events? Are you as taken as I am with the Vonoroi map? Which challenges are you working on if any?