Worcester parkrun

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Date of Visit

30/07/2022

Number of runners

378

Event Number

516

Visit Number

1

We made this into part of larger trip we’d got planned today.

Results

https://www.parkrun.org.uk/worcester/results/516/

parkrun Link

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

Facebook Page

https://www.facebook.com/worcesterparkrun

Strava Segment

https://www.strava.com/segments/29247094

Weather

It got a bit muggy during the run but otherwise it wasn’t too warm and just overcast enough to stop it being too hot.

Getting There

We picked this on account of it being easy to get to via the M5. Junction 6 or 7 will get you there and the brown tourist signs for the country park will guide you in. Loads of free parking. Best to use the council building car park so the car park for visitors of the park itself doesn’t get clogged up.

There is a bus stop from the city centre that stops at the nearby hospital and is short walk away.

The park run page doesn’t mention access via train. I imagine as there isn’t a stop nearby but you could feasibly get a bus from the station.

The meeting point is at the back of the council building a short walk from the car park. There was a car park marshal who pointed us in the right direction.

Facilities

This parkrun goes in and around Worcester Woods Country Park so it does well on the facilities front. Toilets are at the Orchard Café which is short walk from the start. Cafe itself is excellent for that post run snack. There is seating indoors and outdoors and they do a rather excellent sandwich with a proper doorstep chunk of bread. They even have a menu for dogs! Park itself is lovely for a wander afterwards and they have a kids play area too.

Briefings and Volunteers

First time briefing was nice and clear and they had a course map which I always like. Main briefing pointed out some huge milestones and two lots of Australian tourists from Sydney and Brisbane! He also had one of the best microphone / PA systems I’ve seen in a while so was nice and clear for everyone.

Start line and finish funnel

Start line is a short walk from the actual meeting point on one of the entrances to the council building. Meant it was pretty wide but it was still a busy enough parkrun that there was a bit of a queue for people at the back.

Finish funnel was really well marked with cones and it doubles back on itself to make it long enough to cope with numbers in a relatively small space.

They also have a permanent PB bell which is pretty cool.

Course

Two laps over a variety of surfaces.

Start is a half mile climb up towards the cafe on hard paths into the park. Once at the top there is a nice downhill section before hitting a wide open section across a field before going through some woods before a climb to end the first lap where you the join that initial climb half way up it.

It’s a lovely route though there are a fair few twisty turns and the while climbs aren’t brutal they aren’t small.

Shoes

Road in the summer with potential for trail in the winter. The big grass section in I can imagine getting rather muddy in the winter.

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

Maybe a touch short. Bryony and I both had it short and I looked at 15 other Strava profiles and only one of them had 3.1 miles.

Andy Stats

parkrun number:

60

Tourist event number:

29

Official time:

19:45

Position:  

9 (69.62% age grade)

Bryony Stats

parkrun number:

48

Tourist event number:

23

Official time:

35:51

Position

306 (42.68% age grade)  95th Female

How did it go?

Andy – very enjoyable. I really liked this course though it’s not one for PBs. It’s got some fast sections, notably the downhill part after the initial climb but the mixed surfaces and the climbs don’t make this a PB course. I went off way too quick not knowing about that first climb and paid for it a bit in the third mile. I didn’t have any complaints with how I ran though.

Bryony – It was a bit congested at the start line the first hill being so long helped to separate everyone out. Nice to have a good sized pack of runners at the back and enjoyed weaving in and out of the woods, always prefer two lappers. Managed to overtake several people on the hill finish – maybe I’m better on hills than I thought 😂 Happy enough with my time considering the bumpyness.

Return Visit Likely?

As we were specifically coming here on the way to somewhere else we’re unlikely to be the area again anytime soon but I wouldn’t mind doing this one again if circumstances allowed it.

Pictures and that.