Parkrun tourism: Mallards Pike parkrun

We recently did some parkrun tourism at Mallards Pike parkrun – a beautiful single lap course in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire. It was a big family day out – with my husband, parents, sister, brother-in-law, niece, nephew and younger son’s girlfriend all taking part. My younger two kids went along for a walk with Hetty (they actually walked the course faster than my parents, but they didn’t scan their barcodes!). And my brother joined us for his very first ever parkrun.

Parking is by the beautiful lake at Mallards Pike. It costs £2 for an ‘early bird’ until 10:30am (I believe it might be £1 in winter). There are toilets in the car park and a really nice cafe, with picnic tables by the lake.

The start line is a short walk from the car park and there is a useful sign pointing the way.

There was no first timers’ briefing at Mallards Pike, but the run briefing was enough information for us – and even enough information for my brother the first timer. We were told the results wouldn’t be out until the afternoon, as there is no mobile signal in that part of the forest.

Mallards Pike parkrun is on a purpose built 5km route through the forest. It is a semi-finished forest track – not tarmac, but not mud! It is a bit uneven and rocky, but pretty easy to run on.

The course isn’t flat. The first half is a gradual uphill, with a few steeper bits.

My husband, son’s girlfriend and I all started at the front of the pack. My son’s girlfriend has been getting faster in recent months and she is definitely due to beat me soon. My husband took off, but then the gap between us stayed the same all the way round. I even closed the gap a bit towards the end. At about a quarter of a mile, I overtook my son’s girlfriend.

The course got steeper at two-thirds of a mile and I overtook the other woman who was in front of her. I didn’t see her again.

There was probably only four marshals out on the course. A couple of them had cars with them. We’d been told we would see a marshal with a car at halfway, but they were actually before halfway – which was disappointing for my niece!

The course changed direction and started the return at 1.65 miles and it immediately went downhill. It was pretty much downhill all the way from there, which was very pleasant. I could see I was going pretty quickly.

We’d been told in the run briefing that we wouldn’t see the finish line until we were right there, but that there was a 200m to go sign. It was implied that it might be a bit further than 200m. There was quite a steep uphill after the sound, then round the bend and there was the finish line! It felt like less than 200m.

I crossed the line just behind my husband. He was very surprised to see me! I’d run 22:35 and was first lady for the sixth time ever and third time this year. (This year, I’ve also been first lady at Newent and Marine Parade.) I thought I had a chance of becoming first lady, but I don’t specifically look for parkruns to chase it. It was actually my sister’s suggestion that we run Mallards Pike and it was a very good suggestion. My work with the running club has helped me to run faster this year.

There was a total of 112 runners and walkers, which is about average. Of the people who scanned their barcodes, there was a 50/50 male to female split. There were also two runners in the VM80-84 age category, making them older than my dad, which is very unusual.

We all went to the cafe afterwards and sat by the lake. It was really beautiful and felt just like Center Parcs. Feeling like Center Parcs is a big compliment from us because we all love it!

Parkrun tourism is when you do parkrun anywhere other than your regular (home) parkrun. It could be the next parkrun in your hometown or one on the other side of the world. Some people like to do parkrun tourism every week, some never do it and some just do it occasionally. In the past, we’ve only done it when we need to be somewhere different at 9am on a Saturday, but this year we’re aiming to do at least one parkrun tourism a month. There are lots of challenges people like to do with parkrun tourism. I’m not interested in doing the challenges myself, but my friend Joy aka Pinkoddy has written a lot about them.

We’re also trying to work our way through the parkruns in our home county of Gloucestershire. There’s still a surprising number that we haven’t run! This is all the parkruns I’ve completed in Gloucestershire (I haven’t blogged about them all): Cheltenham; Cirencester; Forest of Dean; Gloucester City; Gloucester North; King George V Playing Field (Cheltenham); Mallards Pike; Newent; Stratford Park (Stroud); Stonehouse; and Tewkesbury.