W is for Woodley in Warm Weather
The UK June heatwave has continued for the past week with temperatures in the high twenties, although slightly overcast skies on Saturday 17th took the edge off the heat for the local Woodley parkrun. This venue would definitely count as a NENDY (Nearest Event Not Done Yet) as it was only a 20 minute cycle from home, taking me past Dinton Pastures and up Sandford Lane to the adjacent town of Woodley.
Woodford park, where the event takes place, is a lovely multi-purpose venue with community halls, a leisure centre, war memorial, children’s play equipment, a rose garden, a living wall commemoration for the newly crowned King, a lake and football pitches with a junior summer soccer tournament taking place today. Basically a hive of activity on a summer’s day.
I had arrived in good time and met up with Louise and her friend Rosie. We were all first timers at the venue, although none of us really counted as tourists given we were at all NENDY venues.
There was a detailed briefing of the three lap course that takes you on paths around the perimeter of the park. Participant numbers were high today with 375 in total, swelled by a combination of the nice weather and Reading PR being closed this weekend. So basically the guidance to take care of the obstacles and hazards on the first lap — given bunching of runners — was a sensible risk assessment.
Following the briefing we chatted with Katherine who was a fellow first timer. She lives in Huddersfield but has parents living locally and alternates between different venues when visiting for the weekend.
A couple of minutes past nine RD Kerry stood on the mount and welcomed everyone. She had been busy adapting the volunteer roster due to a couple of last minute cancellations, but out on the course there were plenty of marshals — at the aforementioned first lap hazards — so had all the bases covered. Another moment of human connection was that Louise recognised Kerry — as they both work for the same local council.
The run course itself was easy to follow with a variety of things to observe given the number of different activities taking place. And the beauty of multiple laps is that once you have completed one tour then you know what’s to come. So after lap three I turned right into the finishing straight and crossed the line in position 66, in just over 23 minutes, fourth in age group. That’s good time for me and shows that I have fully recovered from last weekends Endure24 event.
I took some photos of the various elements of the park, including an action shot of runners turning past the start line.
And a nice view from the rose garden looking out over the main field area, swelling in numbers as finishers completed their three lap tour.
We even found one of the original PR picture frames which we used to take some memento shots.
What was also nice about today were the different running communities that were ‘out to play’. I spotted one group all proudly wearing yellow PR T-shirts (including a young baby in matching top); and then was asked by another group of Asian runners (who looked to me as if there were several generations within their friendship group), where they passed me their camera phones to take their group photo. More than happy to oblige, as it’s all part of the reason why PR works the way that it does, as a shared experience.
And for today’s roll call of runners who names start with the letter W, then gold medals go to the two Wendy’s with the runners up medal to the guy called Will.
This now means there are just two letters to go to complete my Alphabet Challenge. Let’s also remember that the clock is now ticking to sponsor me in fundraising for British Heart Foundation.
If this is the first time that you have read my blog then the back story is that my father-in-law Ken died last year after a long illness. He had an undiagnosed heart condition that we believe may have prevented his slow health decline. He was always of a loyal supporter of my running and triathlon events — getting to visit Paris, Nice and Antwerp over the years — and it is a fitting tribute to him that the challenge has a charitable aim.
If you haven’t made a donation yet, and would like to, that would mean a lot.
