Hastings High School parkrun Review

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Date of Visit

09 April 2022

Number of runners

156

Event Number

3

Brand new event!

Visit Number

1

Number of laps

4

Results

https://www.parkrun.org.uk/hastingshighschool/results/3/

parkrun Link

https://www.parkrun.org.uk/hastingshighschool/

Facebook Page

Being a new event it’s pretty active.

https://www.facebook.com/hastingshighschoolparkrun

Strava Segment

https://www.strava.com/segments/31414493

Weather

Chilly! Clear blue skies but temperature was about 5C. I ran in shorts and a light long sleeve running top. Just about got away with not needing gloves. Bryony had a light running jacket on. Neither of us felt particularly cold before or after so the conditions thankfully didn’t have any impact on the morning.

Getting There

Hastings High School, St Catherine’s Close, Burbage, Hinckley, LE10 2QE (<– google maps link)

As it’s a school it needs to be able accommodate large groups of people getting there all at once so it’s fine on that front.

I drove on this occasion. Easy enough to find but I had to navigate a diversion for a closed road. There is some parking at the school itself but if this one becomes particularly popular it won’t be able to accommodate everyone. Plenty of side roads nearby.

There was a car park marshal and I was particularly impressed that I got asked if I was running or volunteering. Having dedicated parking for volunteers is a nice touch. Car park is right next to the field so easy to get back to if you wanted to chuck your jacket in at the last minute on a cold day.

Hinckley Train Station is less than a mile away. Being a school it’s got a bike shed and for lots of people living in Hinckley or Burbage it’s probably going to be in walking/running distance.

Facilities

Loads of space for gathering beforehand. There are some tables and benches near the start for anyone coming to support or for taking a break after you’ve finished.

There are toilets and there is van with tea/coffee/cake for after. Didn’t stay for that on this occasion as spent ages chatting to friends after. We probably should have gone and grabbed a drink first. 

Being so close to home neither of us used the toilet before or after so I can’t tell you how many there were or if there was a queue unfortunately. As it wasn’t mega busy and this is a school I don’t think it would be a huge thing to worry about.

Car park, gathering/briefing points and the toilets are all really close to the start and finish so you don’t have to worry about being too far from anything.

Briefings and Volunteers

First timer briefing had a great big map that was easy to follow and the first time briefing was particularly entertaining. (Though it did stretch my limited BSL interpreting skills for Bryony)

I didn’t quite catch all of the main briefing as it started a little earlier than I expected and I was finishing off my warmup. Plenty of marshals and good directions at the bits where they were needed. Was good to see some young volunteers too.

Didn’t see any queuing for barcode scanning though I don’t think they were all wearing the usual high vis which didn’t make them that all easy to find. The one who scanned my token was shouting asking if people needing scanning but that wouldn’t work for Bryony. She really needs those people to be highly visible. Being a new event it’s possible they had loads of volunteers and not enough vests so unlikely to have been intentional. All the people I did speak to were friendly and very enthusiastic.

Results came through on the drive home (09:55) so were super quick!

Start line and finish funnel

Start line is at the top corner of the field and was really close to where the briefing happened. Being on the corner means that if it does get busy there would be loads of space to line up down the field if needed but as it’s quite close to the fence it’d go off at a right angle so people at the back would end up with a turn before the start so wouldn’t be able to get up to their normal speed straight away in the same way as people at the front. I think if does get busier there is plenty of scope to make the start funnel wider or to move the line further forward and push the finish funnel back as it had plenty of space to carry on down the field if needed.

Course

4 laps! Don’t see that very often.

Mostly what you’d call a cross country course.

First lap is around the school field with the other three laps also having a section that runs in and around some of the school buildings.

Running through the school was quite fun. Though it was very twisty and dodging around the corners didn’t make for fast running and some of the paths were quite narrow which could be a problem if it gets really busy. The shorter first lap will help spread the field out a bit before getting to this part but Bryony did get nudged by someone faster coming through this section. That’s not a pleasant experience at the best of times but when you can’t hear someone coming it will come as a bit of a shock.

Laps around the field were straight forward though it’s on a bit of an incline. It didn’t feel like a big one on the way down but sapped the legs on the way back up.

Will be a nice one in the summer months. Expect it to get quite muddy in the winter!

Downside with four laps is that people towards the end of the field get lapped multiple times which can be very demoralising for some.

Broadly speaking it’s a flat course but the grass and the section through the school make it a little harder than it would first appear.

Shoes

We both went with my trail shoes on this one as it was described as a cross country route. As it was dry I didn’t particularly need them. During the summer you’ll be fine in road shoes. I imagine this will be different in the winter!

Short or Long? (based on our watches and checking out other Strava profiles)

Slightly short I think.

I got 3.05 miles on my watch. Bryony got 3.01. Looked at 25 other Strava results and only 3 or 4 of them were 3.1 or above.

Andy Stats

parkrun number: 48

Tourist event number: 20

Official time: 20:00

Position: 9th (68.75% age grade)

Bryony Stats

parkrun number: 38

Tourist event number: 16

Official time: 40:58

Position 147 (37.35% age grade) 47th Female

How did it go?

I enjoyed this. My running club, Nuneaton Harriers had organised a meet up so was really nice to see loads of familiar faces at the start and finish. The grass and the twisty school section means this isn’t going to be a PB course, the uphill part of the field is deceptively draining but it’s good local alternative to our home parkrun (Bedworth). I was generally pleased with how I ran though it would have been nice to dip under 20 minutes!

Bryony didn’t have a great day at the office. She’s still on the comeback trail from a couple of injuries so her running hasn’t been as regular as she’d like and is generally off form. That in combination with the grass making it tough going on the legs and really not liking the four lap course meant she didn’t enjoy it at all. New events often take time to grow and see the wider range of runners and paces parkrun like to see. She’s usually quite happy as a ‘back of the packer’ running in crowds of similar paced runners but she felt somewhat exposed today with a disproportionately fast cohort. There was a fair bit of walking and she very nearly DNF’d but decided to persevere and get it done.

Return Visit Likely?

Yes. For me at least. It’s a good local alternative and while I’m not going to be setting any PBs here it doesn’t have anything horrible. (stares at the Bedworth hill)

I don’t think Bryony is in any rush to go back but she’ll likely want to have another crack at it at some point to put this week behind her.

Pictures and that.

In all the excitement with the Harriers meet up I didn’t take any! Chris from the club did get a start line selfie though. There was someone taking pics on the course and there was a Flickr album last week so I’ll update this if any pics appear I can use. (Update: There is a flickr album of the event here)

There are some also pictures of the start finish from the Facebook page. They aren’t the greatest but I’ll also update when I go back.