Penrhyn parkrun

Introduction / List of reviews

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Date of Visit

27/08/2022

Number of runners

186

Event Number

295

Visit Number

1

We’re here visiting so some tourism had to happen too!

Results

https://www.parkrun.org.uk/penrhyn/results/295/

parkrun Link

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

Facebook Page

https://www.facebook.com/penrhynparkrun

Strava Segment

https://www.strava.com/segments/30542718

Weather

Lovely! We got very lucky being a British bank holiday weekend 😅

Sun was out, sky was blue and wasn’t too hot for running (15 or 16 degrees I think)

Getting There

Don’t make the mistake I did…

Postcode on the parkrun page is LL57 4HT. As this was very close to where were staying I didn’t do my usual research thinking it would be straightforward as it was at such locally well known venue. However, depending on where you’re coming from your satnav may lead you down a road that is closed off. I was not the only person that made this mistake as a car full of people in running gear were also having to turn around at the same time as us! Fortunately it’s not far to the correct entrance but it did mess with the timing of our morning a little.

Just make sure your route is bringing you in via this juntion

Do be aware that the car park is a five minute walk from the castle. It’s not far, is signposted and it’s actually a nice walk as you get some great views of the country side. If I’d known ahead of time I’d have used it for my warm up.

Facilities

Being a national trust property it does just fine on this side of things. Free parking, toilets and a small but very nice café that was well stocked with cake. I had a very nice scone! As the weather was good we were able to sit in the castle courtyard which was lovely.

Briefings and Volunteers

RD did the first time and the main briefing. He was fantastically cheery and did a great job explaining the course and making sure everyone knew what was going on with some audience participation. He also made the point that very few people can make the claim of having a castle as their parkrun! The other volunteers were all hugely encouraging on the way round.

Start line and finish funnel

Start line is on the path just in front of the castle. It’s not a massively wide path so made for a crowded start but was fine. Running towards the castle as the start is pretty cool though.

The finish funnel itself is the castle entrance which is really interesting way to finish a parkrun! I did get a little bit confused about which way I needed to go to enter the funnel but thankfully there was a marshal on hand to point me in the right direction.

Course

There was a conversation after to decide if this is 2 laps or 4 laps. I think probably more like 2×2 laps!

There are two big loops and two small loops. Big loops go to the left of the castle and around the back whereas the small loop goes to the right of the castle, past one side of it then joins the big loop about half way round. That means you do half of the big loop four times.

It’s described as “undulating” on the parkrun page and by that it means there is big downhill section which you inevitably have to climb back up. It’s not massively steep but it’s quite long and I did see some people having to walk parts of it. Where the small loop meets the big loop is puts you about half way up that hill so you don’t have to do the full climb four times!

The way the loops work did mean for a bit of congestion where the 25 minute and the 35 minute groups came together.

It’s also a really beautiful course and having the castle as a backdrop is amazing. Would love to see what this looks like in the middle of autumn or even with a bit of snow!

Shoes

Road. It’s a paved route with the uphill section being gravel track. The steeper parts of the hill might get a bit slippy in the rain but even in the winter I think you’d be fine without trail shoes.

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

Little bit short I think though with a fair few bends and the big climb having a lot of tree cover I’d be less inclined to trust the GPS on this one.

Andy Stats

parkrun number:

62

Tourist event number:

31

Official time:

19:20

Position:  

7 (71.64% age grade)

Bryony Stats

parkrun number:

51

Tourist event number:

26

Official time:

36:48

Position

150 (41.58% age grade)  55th Female

How did it go?

Andy – I had a really great morning. It was actually my birthday and we were in the area for something Bryony had planned for that and it was pure luck we’d ended up staying so close to this particular parkrun and I couldn’t asked for a better venue. This was one of the rare occasions we managed to get the whole family to parkrun and really enjoyed the experience around such a lovely place. From a running point of view I was pretty happy too. I often struggle on routes that have hills and even though this had four climbs I managed to run my fourth fastest time. (Joint fourth if we’re being picky)

Bryony – wasn’t feeling 100% today, and had some trouble keeping her heartrate down, so jeffed to get round and was a bit disappointed with today’s time. She otherwise enjoyed the route and found the style of laps meant it passed fairly quickly which is unheard of for 4 lap routes usually! Especially nice to have a hot drink in the castle afterwards.

Return Visit Likely?

Would love to give this one another go though the chances of being in the area again are pretty slim.

It’s absolutely worth a visit if you’re anywhere nearby!

Pictures and that