Colby parkrun – the beauty and the beast of parkruns I have done so far!

I think this may even boot Mallards Pike off the top spot of beautiful courses, but that came with a price..

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Colby parkrun

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Location: Colby Woodland Garden (National Trust), near Amroth, Pembrokeshire, SA67 8PP

Oscar was absolutely fascinated by this little Robin who was so tame he was eating crumbs out of his hand! I’m sure he’s very well fed hanging around the tea room.

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First timers briefing

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Colby do their first timers briefing as part of their main briefing, to be honest with the lack of space at the start this was probably the best way to do it! They do have a good PA system though to make sure everyone can hear.

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Colby parkrun route

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The route description : Start and finish by the steps close to the cafe and toilet block. Run/walk in a straight line for nearly 1km towards Amroth to the turnaround point, back to the junction, over Cwms bridge and turn right along Long Lane. Turn right into the meadow, follow signs and directions from marshals to run/walk a large loop. Return along Long Lane, over Cwms Bridge, turn right to the turnaround point at the Amroth end of the course. keep straight for just under 1km to the finish.

The course comprises firm trails, fixed stones in places and a grass path around the meadow. Unfortunately dogs are not allowed.

The above is the normal route, however due to a damaged bridge they are running on an alternative route. The advice was ‘keep left’ and you shouldn’t get lost, which to me, sounded like a challenge.

The start was somewhat congested due to the volume of people (the average is 150 and today they have 236!) I also accidentally ended up toward the front so spent the first few hundred metres apologising for being in the way.

The top of the first lap of the hill rewards you with this beautiful sea view, which I spent far too long admiring when I should have been running!

You then head back down the hill and across this beautiful bridge (this isn’t the broken one!) across a stream (more photos below)

You then run along the trail parallel to the meadow, where you do a loop of this (This is I think where the broken bridge is located!) It was nice underfoot even with the downpours the night before.

Once you’ve been round the meadow, you head back along the trail across the little bridge again and back up the hill.

By this point my knees were not my friend and I was glad I had sacked off the idea of any attempt at getting a PB today, early on. It was nice that the majority of it was on trail paths though.

Last km or so is back down the hill and slightly back up to the start. Although there aren’t many marshals along the route the whole volunteer team were wonderful and cheering everyone right till the very end.

The finish is back outside the tea room and was pretty crowded by the time I finished! Although it says its open at 10am it was open from 9am on Saturday.

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Parking and Facilities

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Parking

Thankfully car park marshals were on hand to point us in the right direction (and confirm we are in the right place!) If you are a National Trust member you benefit from parking right next to the start. The rest of us parked a little further up the hill to the left which my knees were not thankful for post-run!

What3words locations :

National Trust members parking : ///camera.failed.whites
All other parkrunners parking : ///flexed.relishing.stole
The start line : ///pylon.burying.custodial

Toilets are located at the back of the tearoom block right by the start/finish.

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Bothy Tearoom

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I didn’t actually get to go in the tearoom as it was absolutely PACKED by the time I finished.

Gaz and kids did however get to enjoy their cakes inside while I was running, there is a bit of seating indoors and plenty more outside.

They sell a massive selection of cakes (which were INCREDIBLE), breakfast sandwiches, scones, teacakes, homemade chutneys and jams, ice creams and of course hot / cold drinks.

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Colby parkrun Stats for event #429

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Today 236 people took part including 36 juniors. 15 people took part for the first time. 18 people set a New Personal Best and 76 took part at Colby for the first time.

Congratulations to Ryan MCDONALD who was the first finisher with a time of 19:27 an age grading of 67.10% age grade on his first run at Colby.

Congratulations to Kathleen Phair with the highest age grading of the day with a massive 81.07% and Martin Tranter being the highest graded male with 71.68%.

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Colby parkrun milestones

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Well done to…

All the Juniors who completed todays 5km parkrun : Daisy, Maybelle, Frankie, Emma, Jessica, Cecily, Tomos, Alex, Sam, Evan, Harry, Sidney, Sebastian, Rafael, Emlyn, James, Katie, Jack, George, Ethan, Matthew, Micah, Ashwin, James, Mac, Seth, Rhys, Gabriela, Carys, Lauren, Luke, Oliver, Daniel, Dylan, Aster and Harry – phew I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many juniors taking part!

George Garner who attended their 10th event (juniors)
Elliott Griffiths, Anthony Dew who attended their 25th event
Kim Appleby  who attended their 50th event
Simon Hart  who attended their 250th event

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Thank you to this weeks volunteers

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Thank you to all the volunteers who gave up their Saturday morning to make this run possible

Christine Bevan, Reggie Bevan, David Bowman, Karen Bowman, Jen Burrows, Sue Chambers, Andrew Davies, Kevin Jenkins, Lewys Jones, Catherine Lee, Mark Lee, Dan Lewis, Leigh McShane, Dwyfor Morgan, Desmond Rees, Susan Thomas, Jonathan Williams, Sandra Williams, Jill Williamson

ChrissyJ xx