Ipswich QLD Parkrun Review
Getting There
Limestone Park is famous in SE Queensland when it comes to cross country running. It is not far off the Cunningham highway and the GPS knows how to find the park. In saying this, the website doesnt really give a clear description on how to get there by car but to be quite honest, any local would know how to find their way there.
Parking
Parking is ample and easy to find
Toilets
There is a toilet block near the start which serves its purpose however the facility is a bit grubby.
The Course
Any school kid who has ever represented their school would have run there so it brings back many old memories (good or bad haha). The course is a little bit infamous in that there are quite a few gradual hills but it is all on a concrete path and it didn't look like we had to share the path with other members of the public.
I arrived in time and I saw about 20 people warming up around the bottom oval which immediately caught my attention. I realised that people here take their running seriously. There were many young runners wearing their school running vests which is really encouraging for the sport.
The welcome was really friendly and the Run Director had a great sense of humour and it was obvious that he knew his regular running community. The start was quick and we were off!.
The course itself was a bit tedious and boring. There are two laps with one out and back which is up a hill. The surrounds are pretty average but the park is well-maintained. The hills make it a fairly slow course however the quality of runners that day provided some really good times.
Volunteers
Ipswich have amazing volunteers who were friendly and really encouraging. Total credit to the community spirit that has been cultivated at this venue over the couple of years that it has been running.
Photos
Ipswich Parkrun has a Facebook page and there were lots of photos posted the same day. This has obviously added to the community spirit of the event.
The all important coffee afterwards
Sadly on the day I ran, there was no coffee van in sight and the parents of the school kids left in a hurry to get on with their busy weekend lives. There do not seem to be any coffee shops close by and I couldn't imagine them to be very quaint but this is unfortunately the hand of cards dealt to this event venue.
Overall
This event is so much like being back at my school cross country events. The famous hill near the start causes students across the district to groan inwardly when we mention Limestone park and the course is a bit boring so the Gary rating for this event is 6.5/10.
No comments:
Post a Comment