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Fulbourn Hospital parkrun

I had heard a number of conversations around recent events about the new kid on the block - Fulbourn Hospital, and so this week I decided that I wanted to explore it myself.

The area

The village of Fulbourn is located to the south-east of Cambridge, separated by farmland and Fulbourn Hospital. Evidence suggests the area has been inhabited since the Neolithic period, with the current name of the village dating back to at least 991.

Fulbourn Hospital is a mental health facility, and has been at the forefront of practice developments for many years, making the hospital internationally prominent with it pioneering the concept of therapeutic community in the 1960s. The concept is at the heart of the reason for why the hospital hosts parkrun, where the event is seen as an informal extension of the community.

The course

The course follows 3 laps; the vast majority of which is on grass. There is very little elevation, but there are rabbit holes to be aware of, so be careful with your footing!

Free parking is available on-site, and toilets and a cafe are available in Tesco a short walk from the start.

The run

It was a frosty start to the day, and today's run began with the news that the runners had taken a wrong turn last week, and while the marshals were able to restart the run, there was one runner who continued on the wrong path, and would never be seen again! We were also informed of one particularly enthusiastic runner, who had cycled to the event from London, setting off at 3am to arrive in time for the run briefing!

A sign for Fulbourn Hospital parkrun on some frosty grass

Fortunately, we didn't take any wrong turns this week, and we followed the course around three very smooth laps of the course, whose grass was kept very short thanks to the resident rabbits. The short grass also meant that as the frost thawed, we didn't have to struggle running through long, wet grass - a welcome relief!

The event seemed to pass by very quickly thanks to both the marshals, who didn't lack when it came to encouraging all of the runners, and the constant twists and turns of the course, which meant we had constantly changing scenery.

Thank you to all of the very cheery marshals at today's event.

Links: Run report | Results | Strava

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Location: Elizabeth House,, Fulbourn, Cambridge CB21 5EF, UK

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