Well what an adventure this morning was! We drove down to Mallards Pike parkrun as part of our clubs league and it almost didn’t happen!

We arrived around 8.30am and we were greeted by a long queue of cars on the approach road. We just thought there must be a queue to get in, only people were getting out of their cars so quickly realised people had been sat a while.

Word soon travelled up the queue that the main gates hadn’t been unlocked and some locks were frozen solid so the parkrun team hadn’t been able to get in and set up.

Panic set in slightly with the next 2 nearest parkruns around 20 minutes away in opposite directions and no phone signal to check if either of those were cancelled! Thankfully the volunteers did a great job of keeping everyone updated and a keyholder soon came to the rescue!

Kudos to the team who got in and set up in record breaking time and with only a short delay to the start time with us eventually setting off 9.20am!

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Mallards Pike parkrun

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You’ll find this parkrun at Mallards Pike, Parkend, Lydney, Gloucestershire, GL15 4HD.

What3words location : Start : ///lamplight.copper.grazes Car park we used : ///cavalier.cage.tent

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First timers briefing

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With all the excitement of the delayed start the first timers briefing was done together with the pre run talk so as not to delay it any further.

They also shouted out all the milestones (I’ve listed these at the end) thanking the volunteers and welcoming the tourists (and of course all of us from Black Pear Joggers!) and it was time to go.

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Mallards Pike parkrun route

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Mallards Pike parkrun is a single lap through a beautiful woodland setting. The paths are all trail paths with only the very occassional slightly muddy patch.

The first 3km are a steady uphill followed by 2km downhill and the final 200m or so back up a slightly steeper hill back to almost where you started.

The paths make it perfect for buggy runners and those who aren’t a fan of puddles or mud!

The path is nice and wide so there isn’t the usual congestion some of the other parkruns we’ve done recently had, it was also helped that there were only 120 of us today.

Mallards Pike parkrun route is very scenic and I got very distracted wanting to stop and take photos all the way round! It was really peaceful for those who are looking for quiet routes.

This was my favourite view though when this marshal told me it was all downhill from here to the finish! (Which was quite apparent in my splits when I went from 8:46 on the 3rd km to 5:58 and 5:47 on the 4th & 5th!)

The mist was still hanging around as I headed towards the final km which made for great photos, was like something out of a spooky movie!

The finish funnel was surrounded by volunteers cheering you on right to the end and I somehow knocked 16 seconds off of last weeks time, even will the hills and photo stops! What a result!

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Parking and Facilities

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Parking is available, the car park was quite muddy in places. You can pay cash or card and it cost us £2 for 2 hours. You can also buy an annual pass for this site or for all Forestry England sites.

There are toilets right by the car park (just be prepared they only have cold water and a cold hand drier which wasn’t the best on this very cold morning!)

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Mallards Pike parkrun cafe

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The Mallards Pike cafe overlooks the water and will be a great place to visit in the summer, they have plenty of seating inside and out.

The serve a range of hot and cold drinks and snacks. It is on the pricier side though and 2 slices of cake and 2 hot drinks was over £11 (and I wasn’t a fan of the coffee either)

They are dog friendly and also have high chairs available.

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Mallards Pike parkrun Stats for event #146

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Today 120 people took part including 5 juniors. 1 person took part for the first time. A whopping 24 people set a New Personal Best and 46 took part at Mallards Pike parkrun for the first time.

Congratulations to Adam who was the first finisher with a time of 18:20 an age grading of 72.82% and a new personal best.

Congratulations to Jeanette with the highest age grading of the day with a massive 75.15% and Richard being the highest graded male with 73.65%.

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Mallards Pike parkrun milestones

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Well done to…

All the Juniors who completed todays 5km parkrun : Molly, Charlotte, Timothy, Daniel and David
Molly and David who attended their 10th event (juniors)
Daniel who attended their 25th event
Rick and Ruth  who attended their 100th 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

Deborah BAND, Linda BELLINGHAM, Lucy CAPEL, Emily CUMMINGS, Fay CUMMINGS, Paul CUMMINGS, Robert CUMMINGS, Paul DEKKERS, Alison GARDNER, Rick GARDNER, Tony HIGHFIELD, Adam KNIGHTS, Adrian MAGSON, Ann MAGSON, Simon ROBERTS, Deborah TALBOTT, Eoghan TURNER

ChrissyJ xx