Dishley parkrun, Loughborough

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Date of Visit

10/06/2023

Number of runners

278

Event Number

176

Visit Number

1

Results

https://www.parkrun.org.uk/dishleyloughborough/results/176/

parkrun Link

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

Facebook Page

https://www.facebook.com/dishleyparkrunloughborough

Strava Segment

https://www.strava.com/segments/29576885?filter=overall

Weather

Fantastic. As with the week before I was treated to blue skies and sunshine. It did get a touch too warm during the second half of the run.

Getting There

The parkrun page has a really extensive set of details for getting there by a variety of different methods.

If coming by bus the Skyline service has a stop about a mile away.

Loughborough train station is about two miles away so potentially reachable by bike or as an extended warmup.

If coming by car it’s worth knowing that parking isn’t at the rugby club. It’s a short walk from opposite the cricket pitches on Cotton Way.

It’s not too far from M1 Junction 23 and then the A6. The rugby club is at the back of an industrial estate (Bishop Meadow/Weldon Road Industrial Estate) which means there isn’t much in the way of landmarks. The post code LE11 5FJ did work ok for me though.

Facilities

Rugby club near the finish and also a short walk to the start had toilets and food and drink afterwards. I had a very good sandwich and a cup of tea. Staff in there were great too and everyone I spoke to was interested in how my run had gone.

Free parking with plenty of car park marshals to help out. Short walk to the rugby club for the toilet and the start line.

Briefings and Volunteers

Wasn’t immediately obvious to me that the rugby club isn’t actually where the start is as there were so many people and volunteers milling around there. The first timer briefing IS by the rugby club so if you’d come from the car park and decided you didn’t need the loo and went straight to where the start is you’d likely miss that briefing.

It did have a really excellent map of the the course so was definitely worth seeking out. Picture of it is below.

RD had a step ladder and a mega phone for doing the briefing on which he did need as everyone was pretty spread out.

Start line and finish funnel

As mentioned above start line is a short walk across the rugby pitch and not actually near the club house. The finish is though so very easy to get that post run snack!

With the start line just being one of the pitches is was pretty big and allowed a fair few people to line up. Finish funnel was perfectly placed alongside the pitch that’s immediately in front of the club house. Meant there was plenty of space for hanging around after.

They also had a bell at the end which I always love to see. Instead of a PB bell though this one was labelled a happy bell!

Course

This has got a bit of everything. It’s effectively a one lap course though.

Starts with a lap of the field and out onto a trail path around Dishley Pool before heading towards the canal for an out and back section heading towards the River Soar, This is an off-road section and which takes you back along the other side of the pool where it finishes with half a lap of the field you started in with a long straight section back towards the club house. There’s a couple of narrow sections on the towpath. Nothing to worry about but it’s not an area for overtaking.

Not much in the way of elevation and has the potential to be quick in the summer but the varying surfaces and it’s twisty nature mean it’s probably not one for a flat out PB. It was lovely though in the sunshine.

Shoes

Definitely trail in the winter and wet weather. A big chunk of this is on grass and canal towpath which has potential for slipperiness. In the summer you wouldn’t really need them. I ran this in road shoes with it being in the middle of a heat wave so everything was rock hard.

Andy Stats

parkrun number:

92

Tourist event number:

42

Official time:

19:00

Position:  

7 (72.89% age grade)

Bryony Stats

Just Andy today

How did it go?

Not too bad. I was trying to be a bit more disciplined on this particular run as I’d had a couple of parkruns and club races recently where I’d gone out far too fast and paid for it later on. Splits for my first two miles were bang on where I wanted them to be though when coming into the field in the final mile I saw what I thought was the finish line and mentally checked out a bit. Turned out we’d still got half mile to go so I’d slowed down without realising. Lesson to be learnt there! Other than that it was a nice morning out. Bit of a varied route and a nice bit of food afterwards.

Return Visit Likely?

This is right on the edge of the limit for how we’d normally travel to on Saturday morning without having to get up super early so probably won’t make the regular rotation. It would be a nice one to do again in the summer though so maybe I’ll get Bryony along at some point.

Pictures and that.