SOUTH BANK QLD PARKRUN REVIEW

GETTING THERE

South Bank, Queensland Parkrun started in 2012 so has been going for almost four years and it is probably the event that regularly attracts the most number of runners on a Saturday morning.  South Bank is notably the most popular landmark in Brisbane and is home to the South Bank Parklands with it’s man made beach, the Big Wheel, restaurants, Queensland Museum, Queensland Art Gallery, Griffith Conservatorium, Queensland Convention and Exhibition Centre, QPAC and State Library of Queensland. Getting there is easy and central to most of Brisbane and it can be easily accessed using rail, bus, ferry and car.

PARKING

Paid street parking is available a bit further away from the start but is it quite difficult to find. You can park in the public car parks below Little Stanley St for $2 as long as you leave before 9:00am which is very generous but it does mean you have to watch your clock if you go for a post run coffee. I believe that if you scan your Parkrun barcode, you can park until 10:00 on a Saturday although I have never tried it for myself. I tend to park down along Dock St and then run to the start but it can sometimes be full at 6:45 in the morning.

TOILETS

This is a busy public precinct so there are many clean and well-maintained toilets available, fairly close to the start. It is a pleasure coming to this venue as long as you are prepared to come a little bit early to get that elusive parking spot. 

THE COURSE

My running club (River City Runners) usually do a Sunday run from Dock St at 5:30 on a Sunday morning so running along either side of the Brisbane river is very familiar.  Knowing a route has its advantages and disadvantages. On the upside, you know the course and you have a good idea where to speed up and where to take it easy. On the down side, you tend to take the beautiful setting for granted and have the tendency to find the route boring which is a real pity because this event is spectacular.

Because of this, I have only run the South Bank Parkrun twice. The first time, we started on the footpath below the grassed area, a short distance from the playground. On the second occasion, we started closer to the Goodwill Bridge due to construction taking place near the previous start. The course takes you in an easterly direction to the Goodwill Bridge, across the river and onto the pathway. This path runs west under the Riverside Expressway. This path can be a bit narrow and is a very busy cycle track, which needs to be shared.

You then cross the river again along the Go Between Bridge. Both bridges have a bit of an incline which has to slow you down a bit; especially important to the elite runners. The Go Between Bridge has a number of stairs to navigate and this is a bit of a negative aspect of the course. The return trip takes you along the wooden boardwalk. The pedestrian section is narrow and it is usually very busy. This means that the possibility of bumping a member of the public is probably inevitable.  There is one point just under the Victoria Bridge where pedestrians and cyclists have to cross paths which can be a bit tricky if you are in the middle of the pack.

The entire precinct is very busy at that time of the day. There are many cyclists, walkers and joggers as well as numerous tourists, not to mention a number of bootcamp classes that take place on the expansive lawns along the route so you have to have your wits about you when running. On top of this, South Bank Parkrun has to have the largest turnout on a regular basis. The results page indicates that there are often over 500 people running here on a weekly basis.

What Parkrun has done to the overall fitness of people in many countries all over the world is incredible. When I arrived in Brisbane, I struggled to find a time trial on a Saturday morning and basically had the choice of two. Parkrun has certainly solved that problem. However, 500 runners makes that start a bit crammed and if you are running in the middle of the pack, the narrow sections can be a bit difficult to navigate safely. 

The event does attract some fantastic runners and the records here are spectacular.

VOLUNTEERS

A popular event like this has the choice of many when it comes to volunteers. It was difficult to find requests for volunteers on the facebook page. On the other hand, the run attracts runners from all over so it is difficult to engender a community spirit because the population is fairly transient. However, there is a core group that carry this very well.

PHOTOS

The Facebook page is extremely well organized and has an accurate collection of photos for every week. I was able to find multiple pictures of myself for both runs I have completed. Well done.

Click here for the Facebook page

THE ALL IMPORTANT COFFEE AFTERWARDS

Okay South Bank. You win here. There is a massive selection of all sorts of coffee shops along the river. I would like to give a bit of a shout out to the Espresso Garage.

OVERALL 

So this is not that easy to rank. I like the facilities and the Brisbane River is stunning, even though I tend to take it for granted. I am not that keen on the stairs although some believe them to be a unique feature of this run. The narrow pathways with such big crowds are for me a negative. If you want a PB, the top runners can drag you along to achieve this. So I have given this the Gary rating of 8.5/10.