With storms Dudley and Eunice making themselves known in the days leading up to parkrunday, and the resulting cancellations, my plans for this week's event were very last minute! London and most of the south of England (particularly the south-west) had been hit with a red weather warning for wind, which meant over 275 cancellations in the UK, and so I decided to head to the north east of the East of England to attend one of the Norwich events to celebrate my 50th run, and 50th different event!
I wasn't completely confident which event I would attend as I set out, as you can never rule out late cancellations after storms, but with shoes ready for any eventuality, I finally ended up at Brundall, very close to Lingwood, which I attended last week!
The area
Brundall Countryside Park itself is a small area consisting of roughly half newly planted woodland, with the other half being allotments. The field which is now young woodland was previously agricultural land, and parkrun was front and centre in the minds of those planning the layout, who were extremely keen to bring parkrun and its associated health benefits to the local community.
Even despite the storms of the preceeding week, the countryside park offered encouraging signs with snowdrops beginning to emerge, all of which had withstood the winds unphased.
The course
The course follows 4 laps of the purpose-built course, mostly following the perimetre of the park, with one intrusion into the centre of the park and back where runners pass and are able to cheer on each other. The course is all on grass, although the western-most path was very waterlogged when I visited, and I struggled for grip even in trail shoes.
Free parking is available next to the start/finish area, and toilets are available during parkrun near the entrance to the allotments. A refreshments van is available from the start of the event until runners are finished.
The run
The Run Director role today was held by one of the local Duke of Edinburgh volunteers, who did an excellent job welcoming to all of the runners today. Fortunately there was no real sign of the storms of the previous week from the course, and the sun even came out for the start of the run!
The run itself actually felt harder than I was anticipating at the outset - there is some minor elevation to contend with throughout the course, which in isolation isn't a major problem, but when coupled with waterlogged grass and mud, even in trail shoes, footing wasn't a sure thing! Everyone I spoke to at the event was super friendly though, and the local community's spirit shone through after the event, when virtually every finisher waited around after they were finished chatting and sharing refreshments from the coffee van which was on site especially for parkrun.
Thank you to the whole team for holding a great event, especially in the wake of the storms in the preceeding week which saw so many events cancel!
After the run
As I wasn't able to plan my parkrun day to any significant degree, and knowing that I had explored part of the RSPB reserve along the River Yare last week when I visited Lingwood, I decided that I would instead explore some of the local villages after the run - heading in a north-westerly direction.
One of the villages I explored - Plumstead - was the location of some very nice houses, including a pleasant church.
Links: Run report | Results | Strava