P is for Portsmouth Lakeside and Parkrun tourism
March has been a busy month for park run letter events partly because we had fixed P in the diary for the last weekend of the month as the first ‘away’ venue that involved booking accommodation. We wanted to get a trip in before the schools break up for Easter.
There’s a lot of vocabulary that park runners use, and “tourists” are simply everyone who visits a venue that it is not their home location. In southern England that could only be a few miles away, but you often get visitors from overseas visiting friends and family in the UK that always make Park Run feel so global. Then there is another tribe of park runners who simply decide when they have a weekend away to go join the local event.
That was us this weekend, as Louise and I, her sister Sara and their 90 year old mother Rosemary all made a trip to Portsmouth. We left home after breakfast on Friday for the hour and a half trip to the south coast and headed for the Historic Docks where we did the Mary Rose experience, taking in the reconstruction of the 16th century ship that sunk in the Solent nearly 500 years ago, only to reclaimed from the seabed in the 1980s. The archaeological science is fascinating around how they piece the story of the ship and it’s inhabitants together, really bringing history to life.
In the evening we eat out at Port Solent, which was buzzing with activity in the harbour side restaurants. And the Marriott hotel where we stayed is adjacent to the old IBM North Harbour business complex which is the venue for the Portsmouth Lakeside park run.
So it was actually a fairly leisurely early morning routine on the Saturday. The high winds had died down overnight and a bright morning greeted us when we awoke. I did some warm-up exercises and stretching in the hotel gym, and just before 8.30am our family group made the five minute car journey to the venue. There’s plenty of parking available on site with hi-viz heroes to direct you to the appropriate lettered section. I acted as a scout to see if there was seating available by the start, and reported back to bring the camping chair from the car, so that Rosemary had somewhere comfortable to sit. We positioned her on the sheltered side of the office building adjacent to the finish area which worked brilliantly as a vantage point.
The start area is on the lake side of the building where Catherine did the first timers briefing. The course is an out and back along the paths and trails around the lake with an easterly loop, followed by a westerly loop and then a second lap of the easterly loop. There were 250 park runners today which is a comfortable number to navigate the two way ‘traffic’ sections of the course, with runners passing each other in opposite directions.
And Sara, who lives in Cirencester, was famous today as she made the shout out in the RD’s pre run briefing, as the tourist who had travelled furthest.
In terms of the results, I had a comfortable run finishing in position 42, in well under 24 minutes, and was first in age group. But the most amazing sight of the day came about 500 metres from the finish — running into a headwind — when a young runner in a Sonic the hedgehog top came flying past me. “Go on Sonic” shouted one of the hi-viz heroes in recognition of his efforts. I had a brief chat with Sonic and his parents at the finish, to find out he is just 8 years old. What a running talent they have to be nurtured in the future — very impressive.
Having checked in at the finish, I joined Rosemary to wait for Louise and Sara to finish, taking some photos from a vantage point above the course. It’s a very scenic green space location, and perfect at the weekend when the offices are not being used.
And in terms of roll call today for competitors and volunteers whose name starts with the letter P, then gold star goes to the four Pete/Peter’s, with silver to the three Paul’s (of which one was me), and joint bronze to the two Pip/Pippa and Phil/Phillip. Well done all.
Following the event we headed back to the hotel where we were able to take full advantage of the late breakfast and room checkout timings at the weekend. We all showered before heading to the restaurant for the buffet selection. We had all run fasted — having eaten plenty the night before — and brunch certainly tasted great when you’ve done some exercise first thing.
So our first mini-break with hotel accommodation was a big success, and a good formula to follow when we go on trips for the letter Y and Z later in the alphabet. Thank you Portsmouth for being such great hosts.
And in researching for the later stages of the alphabet challenge, I have found a useful resource for park run venue hints and tips from the facebook group called “Parkrun tourism”. I definitely feel part of the wider PR ecosystem in doing my challenge, and it’s great to see how others are fund raising for the charity of their choice — with sponsorship of specific letters, video updates and information on why they are doing what they are doing. It’s giving me some great ideas.
And if you have enjoyed reading my blog, and/or spotted me out on the course in my bright red British Heart Foundation running top, then please go ahead and sponsor me via my justgiving page. You can read more about why I am supporting this charity here.
