Lesley Pymm reports: A trip up to North Yorkshire for a wedding meant that there was the opportunity to indulge in a little bit of parkrun tourism – so a quick look on the website and I was really pleased that there is a parkrun in Darlington which was only about 20 minutes away from where my brother lives.
South Park in Darlington is really lovely – there are a number of unusual trees there and it is pleasantly landscaped, with a bowling green and lake. There is a pavillion with loos etc., so generally a good place to run. Everyone was really friendly. There were some real characters there. One group of runners had done a ‘beer mile’ (don’t ask!) as part of their warm up as one of them was having a stag do. During the run briefing (which was very funny) they asked if there were any tourists. There were two of us – myself and a runner from Chesterfield. We were warmly welcomed.
It was a three lap course and started off slowly – I’ll know where to position myself next time so that I can get away properly. Volunteers were friendly and encouraging. There were kilometer markers around the course. About 1/2 way round I was lapped by the leader – it was the guy who was getting married – I wish I could run that well with a gut full of beer. Well, I wish I could run that well anyway! My time was not great, but there was a bit of a hill that we had to do three times!
As I finished there were a few shouts of ‘Well done, Birmingham’. I will certainly go again next time I visit my brother. Home in good time to eat, shower and get ready for the wedding.
That’s a great report and really shows how fantastic it is to have parkrun now in so many places in the uk, so you can just turn up and run when visiting friends and family. I love it when they ask if there are any tourists!
An interesting Report Lesley from Darlington (North Yorkshire).It is good to travel with your running kit in the boot. Clearly, some people were `there for the Beer!` ps. I hope the Wedding went ok.
Well done, Lesley 🙂 Always good to try a new Parkrun. Thanks for the report.