GOLDEN BEACH PARKRUN

GETTING THERE

I decided to give Golden Beach Parkrun a crack this weekend. The Parkrun website gave GPS directions to Woorim Park but unfortunately TomTom hadn’t heard of it. Using my phone, I looked on the course map and keyed in the crossroads of Churchill St and Landsborough Parade (which is spelt wrong on the website) and easily found my way there. We arrived around about 6:35am which was nice and early and there were already quite a few people stretching and doing their run-throughs which should have been a sign of things to come in terms of the caliber of runners present. If I hadn’t known the exact location, the number of keen runners would have been a dead giveaway.

PARKING

This Parkrun uses the lawns outside the Caloundra Powerboat Club so there is an ample supply of parking. Never-the-less, soon after we arrived, the available parking spaces had filled up and people had to park a bit further away. On the other side of the median strip, closer to the water, I noticed an empty row of parking spaces for cars with boat trailers and everyone seemed to know not to park there.

TOILETS

There is an aging ablution block close to the entrance of the car park which had one dank toilet and a urinal in the men’s toilet. It was well supplied with toilet paper but would really do with a revamp. It is unusual for a queue to build up in any men’s facility, but it certainly happened here haha.

THE COURSE

I think it would be really hard to find a Parkrun that could match this beautiful venue. After the briefing, we walked across the carpark to the grass patch opposite the Powerboat Club entrance where the the iconic Parkrun flags were positioned  The start was really quick and I realized I was in for a bit of a pacy run, just by looking at the runners lined up at the start. I have been to runs where many of the runners head straight for the back and I have been left close to the start line. This was not the case at Golden Beach. The start line was crowded with keen runners (or should I call them athletes? Haha) There was a generous supply of kids, parents with prams and a very vocal dog who looked really excited to be part of this event. 

This is a classic out and back course and you start on the grass but quickly get onto the public walkway which is wide and well-maintained. The lawns on either side of the pathway are manicured to perfection and I didn’t see any uneven patches which could have caused any injuries. One thing I did notice was that the council had layed aggregate concrete surfaces at the various beach entrances, presumably to help with removing sand from your feet on your trek to the car, but on a somewhat rainy day, this aggregate concrete is quite slippery and I seemed to lose traction every time I ran on this surface. Nothing can or should be done about this; this is just an observation.

The turnaround point occurs as you turn right into Short St from Landsborough Parade and here the public walkway is fairly narrow and difficult to navigate, especially if you are running with a pram or if you are a little unsure of your footing.

This is clearly a popular event and is also a popular tourist destination so the potential for bumping members of the public would be quite high. Fortunately, the pathways are sufficiently wide enough to handle the traffic and it looked like there was a good relationship within the community to handle all of the traffic.

At one point fairly close to the start, there is a boardwalk through the trees. On the way out, I only saw one person run this meandering section whilst everyone else ran along the road. On the way back, it looked like all of the runners ran on the boardwalk but it wasn’t that clear as to where to go so I just followed the guys in front of me.  

As a side note, I saw quite a few runners wearing club vests/T-shirts and it seems like this event is well supported by the local running clubs. I certainly got smashed by a couple of 60-64 year old athletes and it was certainly an honour to do battle that day.

VOLUNTEERS

The run director on this particular day was a legend. He looked like he was born for the role. He had a couple of groan-worthy dad jokes and was obviously well-liked and well-connected to his community. He welcomed visitors and handled the large crowd with ease. He also congratulated those runners who were achieving their milestones and when the photographer went missing, he just kept on going until she re-appeared. Lionel the timekeeper seems to own this job and the event is richer for his contribution.

The volunteer page on the website is well supported and this reflects the friendly and engaging community spirit which is just so evident at Golden Beach.

PHOTOS

There was a lady with a fancy camera going around taking pictures and when I went on to the Facebook page, they were all up and ready for viewing fairly soon after the event. Some of the milestone pictures had been nicely framed using some sort of filter which looked cool. She had mainly focused her attention on the finish line but quite a few of the pictures were a little bit blurry. I’m not a photographer so I wouldn’t really know how that could be fixed, but I am sure there must be a setting somewhere on a fancy camera that could prevent this from happening.

The Facebook page is very well-organized and it is easy to flip through and see the photos from every week.

Click here for the Facebook page

THE ALL IMPORTANT COFFEE AFTERWARDS

As I drove into Golden Beach, I saw quite a few coffee shops and bakeries along the Esplanade. We chose to take a short drive up to Kings Beach where we went for a quick swim and then hit Hungry Jacks on the way home. There are no walk-in coffee shops close to the event, but this can’t be seen as a negative. Golden Beach Parkrun is an amazing venue and the public support is living proof of it’s popularity.

OVERALL 

What’s not to like about Golden Beach? The community spirit is infectious, the venue is fast and beautiful. I wasn’t a fan of the aggregate concrete along some sections of the course and the path near the turnaround point was a bit narrow, but overall, this event has to rank quite highly. The Gary rating for this event is a whopping 9/10.

KINGSCLIFF PARKRUN

GETTING THERE

In my planning to run Kingscliff Parkrun, I did my research and checked out the official Parkrun page. This event is in New South Wales which is In a different time zone to Queensland. Fortunately, this event starts at 8:00am, making it equitable with the other events in the area. I took the Gold Coast highway and found Bells Boulevard easily. This small road leading down to the start is surrounded by the Salt Surf Lifesaving Club premises and a collection of boutique shops known as Salt Village .

PARKING

There was ample parking and I managed to park three car spaces from the entrance to the public walkway.

TOILETS

The Salt Surf Lifesaving club maintains a public toilet block on the eastern side of the car park about 120m from what turned out to be the finish. The building is quite modern from the outside, but inside it is pretty average. There were three toilets and a urinal in the men’s and unfortunately, they looked a bit old and shabby. The usual graffiti decorated the doors but hey, this is not a blog about the beauty of public toilets so let me move on.

THE COURSE

I waited near the group of volunteers gathered near the flags and at about 7:55, they all moved across to the pathway closest to the toilet block so I followed them. It was again, a wide start line and on the command we set off south along the public walkway for 2.5km’s. Whilst on the map, this course hugs the beach, the dune vegetation shields the view completely and I actually didn’t get to see the sea at all whilst running. On the western side of the walkway one finds a mixture of established luxury beach houses and vacant blocks waiting to be developed.

The pathway is modern and wide and really well maintained except for one small section where some wooden slats have rotted away, leaving an uneven surface close to a beach access point. There were a couple of members of the public out walking at that time but this was no problem at all because the pathways were so wide.

When I got to the start, I noticed quite a large field of athletic triathletes all lined up ready to go. I immediately realized I would have to hold back and not get drawn in to going off too fast at the start which is my default position whenever I run against runners far younger and fitter than myself. Fortunately, this tactic paid off as the elite runners bolted at the start and if I had charged off with them, I would have burnt out pretty quickly on the way back.

This course is an out and back with a dense coastal dune forest on the eastern side, shielding the runners from the sun for the entire route. It was relatively flat with two slight inclines, one of which was about 150m from the finish. At some stage, there must have been distance markers on the pathway, but over time these have faded which is a pity. Fortunately my Garmin helped me out.

VOLUNTEERS

Because of the simplicity of this event, there was absolutely no need for any marshals to stand out on the course. The flag at the turnaround point proved totally adequate for this purpose. One person acted as the sweeper and there were a couple of vollies at the finish.

The lady who was run director for the day addressed the runners with a megaphone but the batteries were quite flat so it was difficult to hear her. She did welcome a family visiting from Scotland which was quite nice. When I got to the finish, I managed to scan my disc quickly and they were really friendly. I noticed on the Facebook page that they do have a parkrun gazebo to provide shade for the finish marshals, but it wasn’t there this time and they were sweltering.

Unfortunately for this venue, the council has not placed any shelters, benches, BBQ’s or children’s playgrounds at this location so it doesn’t encourage people to hang around afterwards unlike at many other runs I have been to. Through no fault of the volunteers, runners seemed to move off pretty quickly and either go for a swim in the sea or move off to the Saltbean Espresso Bar. I think the Council should be encouraged to add some infrastructure to this public space which I think would benefit the local community enormously.

There is also no water bubbler anywhere close to the finish, other than the basins in the toilet block and the shower at the entrance to the beach. Again, I think the Council needs to invest in this venue.

PHOTOS

The Facebook page is well-populated with pictures but the folders are named according to the event number and not the date which makes it a bit confusing. 

Click here for the Facebook page

THE ALL IMPORTANT COFFEE AFTERWARDS

The Saltbean Espresso Bar is really close to the event and when I was driving off, I noticed that it was packed with runners. Good on them.

OVERALL 

I loved how easy this event is to manage. Having now run 46 different events, I am in some position to comment on and compare different Parkruns. The course was fast and protected from the sun. Running in March meant that the oppressive humidity wasn’t there which was great. Unfortunately, the Kingscliff City Council has let this event down. A lack of public infrastructure means that runners and their families aren’t encouraged to hang around afterwards. So the Gary rating for this event is 7.5/10.