Carrickfergus parkrun event #309
Number of runners: 88
Weather: Hot – 15 degrees, very sunny
What a beautiful day to visit a new parkrun. Carrickfergus (referred to locally as just ‘Carrick’) is a small seaside town, a few miles north of Belfast. It has a well preserved Norman-era castle and a very nice park.
It wasn’t the busiest of parkruns as I normally follow people dressed in running gear to find new parkrun starts, but it took me a while to spot them here. They called out for a first-timers brief and it was nice to get overview of the course by the friendly RD, but it was a long list of “run down here, turn left, then the next right, then through the tunnel….. etc.” I was certainly intrigued by the mention of a tunnel, but a bit lost at the many left and right turns. Fortunately, as a middle-to-back of the pack runner, I can always just follow the person in front!
We were quick to get away here, an advantage of the smaller parkruns, and although many of the paths were only wide enough for two runners abreast, there always felt like there was plenty of room. The course is 3 wiggly laps around the nature reserve and sports grounds. There were marshals at most of the turning points and clear signs for the more minor ones. There are two tunnels which were fun to run though – the bigger one had a marshal helpfully pointing out if it was clear or not as you turn 90 degrees directly into it.
There’s a cute little loop bit where you cross other runners a few minutes ahead of you – I know some people hate that feeling, but I love crossing runners both ahead and behind of me. Almost every time I crossed paths of another runner, they gave a ‘well done’ as did many people I overtook – another fabulously friendly parkrun. In terms of hills, there is one small but steep hill which you go up each lap. It requires a bit more effort, but you get a nice speedy downhill from it once over the peak.
By the final lap, I went a tad harder as I realised I was on for a relatively good time, my lung’s classic Darth Vader breathing came out and lots of fellow runners gave me encouragement as I pushed for the finish. The last lap is slightly shorter and you divert left after the lap of the playing fields rather than crossing the bridge to the right, which was a bit unclear so I had to ask a marshal as I passed by – one lady in front of my turned off too soon and had to dart back out again!
I took a little minute at the end to get my breath back before scanning and a few people I’d passed on the last lap said lovely things (they looked like they’d been for a casual walk, whereas I was very red and out of breath!). I ended up position 40 which is very high for me! It took a while to get scanned as the app wasn’t working particularly well for the scanners today, but we got there in the end.
I took a few pictures on my way home as it really is a beautiful park. The ponds are full of birds and other wildlife. I also got chatting to a marshal on my way out and she recommended a few parkruns nearby, though sadly I don’t think I’ll get time to visit them this year. I’m now off for a wonder to go see Carrickfergus Castle, though it doesn’t feature in Game of Thrones, the tour bus still stops here cos it’s a pretty awesome looking castle!
