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It has taken me a while to decide whether or not to write about Aston Hall parkrun. As an avid parkrun supporter I hate to write anything negative about an event but I genuinely thought this was the worst organised parkrun we have ever been too, so much so it has put my husband off volunteering ever again.
When we attended they were only on their 18th event and were already struggling to fill the core volunteer roles, as you can see from the next few weeks this is still an issue which is a shame as the actual parkrun is beautiful!
Aston Hall parkrun
Location
What3words location :
First timers briefing
The first timers briefing was actually very good, the volunteer giving the briefing explained the route very clearly and answered a few questions that were asked.
The Run Director did her little bit before the start and we were off. As I was volunteering as a tailwalker I was of course at the back of the pack! I was joined by another lady who was also tailwalking.
Gaz was also volunteering as a timekeeper, something he had never done before and Chloe was on finish tokens, we volunteered because the night before they had put out an appeal for volunteers or there would be no times given!
Aston Hall parkrun route
Route description : The course starts in the field adjacent to Aston Hall and participants complete 2 laps of the larger before crossing over to the smaller field to complete two and a half laps. The first two laps is around the main field are a mixture of grass and pavement. After circumnavigating the astroturf pitch there is a small square pavement to navigate around before returning to the grass. The second field is two and a half laps of which is a mix of grass, uneven woodland ground and a small stretch of pavement. The wooded area has a few exposed tree roots and runners/walkers should take care. On all laps runners keep to the right hand side and hug the perimeter of the fields, until the final half lap of the second field when runner/walkers will peel off to the left for the finish line.
It is quite a tricky route to explain but it is a lovely course although there are a couple of slight inclines thrown in.
Holly was on hand to help her dad out with timekeeping.
You do get some lovely views on the route including Aston Hall and Aston Parish Church.
The main problem was by the finish funnel. This part was slightly confusing and meant Gaz had people running through the tunnel when they still had their 2nd lap to do. We haven’t been back since so don’t know whether they have adapted this or not but it definitely wasn’t working well on the day!
Gaz felt he was just left to it and didn’t really know what to do or how to handle the confusion and it has put him off volunteering now and he said he won’t doit again which is a shame.
Parking and Facilities
There is a small amount of parking available by the start although we just parked on one of the side roads just fine.
The nearest toilets are in the Tescos – 278-299 Aston Ln, B6 6QR.
There is also a children play area over by the Aston villa ground if you have people coming to watch you’ll pass this park twice.
Post run cafe name
We didn’t hang around to visit the cafe, Gaz had had enough and just wanted to leave.
But the website says : Every week we grab a post-parkrun coffee: the Rising Cafe (B6 4BE) which opens at 10am. Please come and join us!
Aston Hall parkrun Stats for event #18
Today 73 people took part including 3 juniors with 3 people setting a New Personal Best and 64 took part at Aston Hall for the first time.
Congratulations to Lindsey Clegg who was the first finisher with a time of 21:40 an age grading of 72.08%.
Congratulations to Lindsey with the highest age grading of the day and Wayne being the highest graded male with 66.19%.
Aston Hall parkrun milestones
Well done to…
All the Juniors who completed todays 5km parkrun : Ben, Josh, Sam
Ben who attended their 10th event (juniors)
Robert who attended their 200th event
Thank you to this weeks volunteers
Thank you to all the volunteers who gave up their Saturday morning to make this run possible
Aine Astbury, Lindsey Clegg, Helen Crook, Sue Garton, Dylan Gould, Chloe Jones, Christine Jones, Gareth Jones, Arran Marshall, Frances McCallum, Sophie McCallum, Wayne Millard, Avril Parker-Jones, Peter Parker-Jones, Viv Payne, Ian Reynolds, Robert Saunders, Phil Vaughan, Ian Widdows
ChrissyJ xx
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