It's been a while since I had a post about one of these. Some runners are 'parkrun tourists' who drive by car to complete various 5k parkruns around the country. My duathlon concept is parkrun tourism with a twist... i.e. cycle to the parkrun, run the 5k and then cycle home.
It's probably fair to say that a lot of runners are involved in other physical activities like walking, swimming and cycling and I'm sure there are quite a few cyclists do some running as well. There are plenty of people who do Triathlons (swim, cycle & run) and some do Duathlons (cycle & run).
With this in mind, I set off by bicycle to do the Mallow Castle 5k parkrun last Saturday morning in the fog with a visibility of about 200m.
After leaving my house at 6:20am and meeting someone else, we left Cork City at about 6:50am and headed up the Old Mallow Road. The cycle up took about two hours from Cork City and was 47kms from my door. We arrived in Mallow to be greeted by blue skies and sunshine.
At 8:50am, the parkrun team were setting things so we did a walking recce of part of the course, back to do a short warm up and then the start of the parkrun at 9:30am.
The 5k route starts at Mallow Castle and then runs downhill for just over 200m to the parkland next to the River Blackwater. The 5k course is shown below and the downhill section is shown in orange.
The route then heads east and participants need to complete the looped section twice. After the second lap, the runners return to the finish line which is where the 5k started.
The 200m hill needless to say comes at the end of the parkrun but it's not too bad. As 5k parkrun courses go, this one seems to be pretty fast.
The paths in the parkland are concrete and they weave their way in amongst the trees next to the river. In the Summer & Autumn months, the route is shaded by the many trees in the park and it's a really nice course. I presume in the Winter and Spring, the course probably feels a bit different as the trees are bare.
Despite the fact that the parkrun is in the middle of Mallow, the only sounds that you can hear are the birds singing and the patter of runners feet.
All parkruns courses are slightly different and have their own 'feel', Some courses are pretty much 'functional' i.e. you can do a 5k run safely but it doesn't mean it's a particularly nice course. The Mallow Castle parkrun for me seems to one of the better parkruns out there. Location is good, it's quiet and the course feels pleasant. It's certainly one that I would like to do again rather than just ticking it off the list.
On the 11th of May, there was a field of 50 runners and walkers and the results can be found here... https://www.parkrun.ie/mallowcastle/results/133/
Post run refreshments... After the parkrun, we went for coffee and cakes at Food Capers in the centre of Mallow before the trip home. I'm sure there are other establishments that this one seems to be a nice spot.
Distances... In the end, I ended up doing 104kms in terms of cycling. If anyone would like to do it then Mallow Castle is 37kms from the Opera House in Cork City which makes it a 74km round trip.
Where to next???
Good man, John, I'm glad you liked the Parkrun. It's a lovely course at any time of the year, but for me it's particularly beautiful in Autumn when the leaves on the trees have changed colour. On warm days it's shaded, and on wet days you get a bot of shelter from the rain. All are welcome on Saturdays at 9.30am, and there are lots of coffee shops nearby for a relaxing post-run chat.
ReplyDelete