Skip to main content

Great Cornard parkrun

This week I wanted to attend a "G" event, and although there are a number in the East of England, I wanted to try one of the less scenically gifted events so that I can get a sense of that type of event. I've heard that such events tend to be much more community oriented than others, but other than that, I wanted to approach the event with a completely open mind.

The area

Great Cornard is a village within Sudbury, in the East of England. Evidence of human activity has been traced to the Stone Age in the area. The local secondary school, Thomas Gainsborough School, provides sporting facilities to the village, including the Great Cornard parkrun.

The course

Starting on the rugby pitch, the event follows two-and-a-bit laps around the playing fields, with the first lap following the perimeter of the field in reverse compared to the second and third times runners encounter the area. The finish is a short walk from the start, alongside the sports hall.

Free parking is available on site, and in the school car park, while a cafe and toilets are available within the school itself.

The run

During the first timer's brief I met some fellow tourists. We chatted before the run, and before too long, it was time to set off. We walked over to the rugby pitch up a slight hill, and we were away.

From the GPS trace, the course looks more confusing than it actually is, but it was actually a lot smoother than I had anticipated, and was made all the simpler by the excellent marshals.

Something that I hadn't anticipated during the run, was the support runners received from other users of the fields. A number of youth football matches kicked off at 9am, so the parents / supporters of those games / local community also cheered on the runners as we passed by. Similarly, a number of the runners (perhaps family of the players?) went and watched the football games after the run.

Thanks to the volunteers for hosting a great event. It definitely opened my eyes, and I'll definitely not hold back from exploring events held on playing fields and other "less scenic" events in the future.

After the run

After the run I took the opportunity to socialise a little in the cafe before heading for a run along the River Stour, which has some very nice views onto the nearby fields, as well as some historic buildings.

Mill building and pond next to the River Stour

Links: Results | Strava

Popular posts from this blog

Markshall Estate parkrun

Having spent a number of weeks focussed on events in the north of the East of England, I decided that this week I would pay some attention to the south of the region and visit Markshall Estate parkrun while still in the best time of the year to visit an arboretum. The area The Markshall Estate (interchangably the "Marks Hall" Estate) is the remains of a former country estate located in Coggeshall, between Colchester and Braintree. The hall itself was demolished in 1950, leaving its grounds to be converted into an arboretum, featuring trees from around the world. Coggeshall has been a settled area since at least the Saxon area, and was later served by Stane Street; a Roman road stretching from modern day Colchester to near St Albans. The course The route follows just under two laps of the arboretum, starting at the top of a hill, and finishing at the bottom, meaning this is a net down-hill course. The course is run on a mixture of tarmac, concrete, gravel, trail an

Mildenhall Hub parkrun

This week I decided to make some more progress on the Fibonacci Sequence challenge by attending event number 5 of the new Mildenhall Hub parkrun! The area Mildenhall is a small market town located between Cambridge and Bury St Edmunds. The modern town's population is heavily influenced by the two airforce bases located on the outskirts of the town, with up to a third of the town's residents being born in USA! The town is also where the Mildenhall Treasure was discovered - a collection of Roman silverwar considered to be perhaps the most important and valuable Roman treasure find in Britain. Owing to its importance and value, the treasure is now on permanent display at the British Museum. To the west of the town lies Mildenhall Hub, a newly built community centre, and host of this week's parkrun event! The course One lap of the course follows an initial out-and-back section, followed a lap of the adjoining meadow, with runners following the route two and a hal

Ally Pally parkrun

Now that I have completed the UK Alphabet, my focus has turned towards the East of England region. As there are so many events to choose from, I'm going to start by working through events in alphabetical order again, with an emphasis on working east to west, which for me, effectively orders events furthest to nearest. During my initial exploration of the challenge, I did make a mistake however, which I only realised after running this event - I didn't realise that Aldenham parkrun was in the region, and so I started this phase of parkrunning by running Ally Pally parkrun instead! The area Ally Pally, or Alexandra Palace, is a purpose built community centre in Haringey, North London. Unlike other palaces in the UK, Ally Pally has no royal connection, and instead has been entirely community oriented since its conception. The palace houses a theatre, concert hall, a convention centre, an ice rink, and has facilitated BBC broadcasts an