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 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.
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