Now that the days are getting longer, I'm trying to see what 5k parkruns on a Saturday morning can be reached by bicycle. It's a bit like 'parkrun tourism' but in this case, it's about cycling to an event rather than driving.
On the 11th of May, two of us cycled to the Mallow 5k parkrun... post HERE
On the 18th of May, we decided to give the Clonakilty 5k parkrun a try. I set off at 5:50am from my house, met up with my travelling companion Grellan McGrath in Ballincollig at 6:55am and then we were off.
The challenge of cycling from Cork City to Clonakilty is not so much the distance but selecting a safe route where the N71 road can be avoided as much as possible. Our route down was pretty direct but this also meant it was very hilly.
After leaving a overcast and cloudy Cork City, the sun was trying to break though the clouds by the time we arrived at the Clonakilty Showgrounds at about 8:55am. The gates were closed with not a soul to be seen.
And so we waited. 9:00am, nobody about. 9:05am, no change. At this stage, it was a case of getting out the smartphone and checking Facebook... was it cancelled? No notice of a cancellation there. We checked the national parkrun website... no cancellation there. 9:10am... still no movement. Was it on or was it off?
We were thinking then that maybe it was a 'West Cork thing' and they're a bit more relaxed about the time 😂
At 9:15am, someone finally arrived to unlock the gate, we were good to go! Lesson for the future, check beforehand to see if the event is cancelled. It's one thing driving there, a 2-3 hour cycle is another thing.
The course... The Clonakilty 5k parkrun course is simple enough and it's shown above. It's basically four laps of a 1.25km loop. There is a slight rise in the south-west corner of the course but other than that, it's essentially flat.
The photo below shows what the route surface looks like. It's a compact gravel surface which seemed to be fine for running on.
To be honest, the course in the Showgrounds is not going to win any awards in terms of scenery or charm. It could be best described as 'functional' and it's a safe 5km loop for a parkrun on a Saturday morning.
The Clonakilty parkrun is a reasonably small event and the start line with most of the 37 participants on the 18th of May 2024 is shown above. I think it's safe to say that we were the only two that had cycled there.
After the parkrun, we had a chat with Jim Moloney (8th) pictured below on the left with Grellan McGrath (4th) on the right.
After the parkrun, we headed off to SuperValu for a coffee and pastry and then the start of the long journey home.
Instead of going back the same route, we first had a look at the 'new' Greenway to the Technology Park. This has been here for some time but it was my first time on it. It's quite short at just about 1km in length but it's also nice and wide in places. Hopefully it will be part of the new proposed Greenway from Cork City to Clonakilty although it might be quite a while before that project comes to fruition.
More information about the Clonakilty 5k parkrun can be found here... https://www.parkrun.ie/clonakilty/
Where to next??
1 comment:
I went along to the Clonakilty parkrun for the first time recently. It's a small community but a good community and what you don't see from results alone is what an important, valuable thing that the weekly parkrun is for those people who volunteer and participate there.
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