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Swaffham parkrun

My plan this week was to find a relatively simple event that I could cruise around without really exerting much effort, as I was planning on running The Big Half the following day. Swaffham parkrun met the criteria perfectly, and it also meant I could run at my 10th event beginning with an "S", completing the Snakes challenge!

The area

Swaffham is situated on the crossroads between King's Lynn and Norwich, and Thetford and Fakenham. The town itself was formed off the back of the wool industry, although the installation of a wind turbine with an observation deck accessible to the public brought some recent tourist interest to the town, with up to 22,000 people visiting the site in 2016. The wind turbine is now no longer accessible to the public.

Nicholas Hamond Academy

The course

Swaffham parkrun is run over three laps of flat grass playing fields following the perimeter of the Nicholas Hamond Academy sports field and the adjacent playing field, with an incursion across the second field on each lap.

Free parking is available at the school. There are no toilets, although supermarkets in the town are available a short distance away, and the nearest cafe is a short distance away in the town centre too.

Sports fieldat Nicholas Hamond Academy

The run

Perhaps unsurpisingly given the location, Swaffham parkrun reminded me a lot of some other similar events as I ran around the course, such as Haverhill parkrun, and Thomas Mills parkrun, and Loch Neaton parkrun; small community-focussed events.

I was planning on a short, simple, uneventful run today, and despite being very humid, that's exactly what was delivered!

Thank you to all of the volunteers this week for such a pleasant run; it was clear that this is a very community-oriented event!

After the run

As I was running The Big Half the following day, I limited my explorations to a short walk around the town centre this week. Being a relatively small town however, it was possible to explore the market at the same time as seeing the wind turbine with observation deck.

Swaffham town market with wind turbine in background

Links: Results | Strava

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