KEDRON PARKRUN REVIEW

GETTING THERE

Another Northside venue and another chance to use my GPS! I drove via the Gateway motorway using the tolls and was pleasantly surprised to see that it only took me about 25 minutes to get there. I made it with a few minutes to spare.

PARKING

I parked in Sixth Avenue using street parking and walked/jogged down to the start because I was running late again. When I got down to the oval at the bottom of Sixth Avenue, I saw there was ample parking on the side of the road as well as in the AFL club parking lot. It was a simple walk across the small oval to the finish marquee

TOILETS

After the run, I went on a hunt to find a water bubbler and toilets and was directed by another runner who I saw in the car park, to the AFL clubhouse. I had a bit of a look around and there were no obvious signs of any facilities so I went off to my car where I had a water bottle. Truth is, I probably didn’t look hard enough and the website does say that there are toilet facilities at the Kedron Football Club. 

THE COURSE

The day I ran this event was only the fourth time it had ever taken place, so everything was still a bit new. I stretched briefly near the finish marquee and the race director went through the standard instructions and was very professional. At the end of the announcements, we were directed to the start, which is on the other side of the concrete causeway, about 50m from the bridge.

The path is really wide which is good, but is it also quite busy. We had to wait for someone on a bicycle, coming from the other direction first before we could start. This is basically an out and back course with a twist. The route runs along the pathway and crosses under a couple of big bridges along the concrete waterway. There is very little shade, which is April wasn’t too bad, but I wouldn’t want to run this event during summer.

The path is paved the entire way and is very well maintained. But, it is quite busy. There were bikes almost the entire stretch of the route, which is really okay because they have their own designated path, but these paths merge into one when you cross the bridge leading to the finish. I like an out and back course because I get to tick off markers along the way and it gives me a good idea of my pace. Of course, it goes without saying that this route is very flat and fast.

The day I ran, there were many elite runners; nine runners ran under 20 minutes, which is really good. The winner won in a fantastic time of 16:11. There was a respectable turnout of close to 200 people with a lovely mix of all sorts of runners. I saw a couple of runners with dogs, parents with strollers and tail-enders.

Understanding that this was only the fourth time they had run this route, it was a tad confusing. I bolted out a little bit too fast, spurred on by the large group of senior and veteran men at the front of the pack at the start. I turned for home and realized I had gone out a bit too fast for my current level of fitness but I hung in anyway. There was a marshal at the turnaround point as well as at the start of the bridge that crossed the creek. Because I was a bit disorientated, I turned right as I crossed the bridge, not knowing that I had gone the wrong way. Two unfortunate runners followed me so I assumed I was still on the right track. After a short while, I realized I had run way more than 5kms and stopped to see where I was. We figured out that we had gone the wrong way so we doubled back and got back to the bridge realizing that we should have turned left at the bridge and run around the oval to the finish. When I went through the posts on their Facebook site, I noticed someone else had commented about doing the same thing. Anyway, I see that they have now changed the course so I am sure this mistake won’t happen again unless you get some of the original folk turning left and running around the oval. Haha.

VOLUNTEERS

They could have done with one more marshal on the other side of the bridge, pointing runners in the correct direction, but it is quite possible that someone was already there and I just didn’t see them because I was a bit disorientated. I also noticed that there were a number of posts on the Facebook site asking for volunteers, indicating that they still have a way to go to cultivate a community spirit here.

The finish team were however fantastic and I enjoyed the event.  

PHOTOS

The Facebook page has a lot of pictures for most events with a couple of exceptions and I sense that this is still in the development stages. I managed to find my picture in amongst the week 4 collection, but I guess that I didn't make the cut in the dash for the finish because it looked like I came from the wrong direction. haha.

Click here for the Facebook page

THE ALL IMPORTANT COFFEE AFTERWARDS

The Parkrun page advertises Nana and Da’s in Homebush Road which is about a 10 minute walk from the finish and the Facebook page advertises that the AFL Club canteen have bacon and egg muffins on sale for $4. They also sell coffee. I am not sure if the AFL venue has great ambience, but it is certainly convenient.

OVERALL 

I can’t be too positive about this event despite the fact that it is an out and back as well as really fast and flat. I found the surrounds boring and quite hot, even for April. I am sure that a greater sense of community will develop with time.  The Gary rating for this event is therefore a 6/10.