With Worcester Pitchcroft still under water we ventured over to Warwick Racecourse parkrun for our run today! It was appealing due to its out and back course which I think always makes the run feel shorter (or at least that is what I tell myself!)

We found the carpark pretty easily (I’ve added what3words location further down) and it was free for 2 hours. You can pay cash or on RingGo if you want to stay longer (4 hours is the max)

It did fill up quickly though so you’ll want to get there early if you want to park in this one. We could see the start from the carpark so it is pretty close to the start/finish.

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First timers briefing

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Simon led the first timers briefing today explaining Warwick Racecourse parkrun is an out and back. He also mentioned the temporary water feature that had been installed around 800m from the start / finish and to take care as it was very slippy around it.

There were visitors from Worcester, Birmingham, Evesham and Norfolk among the tourists today.

Abi was the Run Director today and with the help of a microphone and a nice big speaker she did the usual pre run talk to the crowd of eager parkrunners.

Also mentioning the ‘puddle’ and reminding everyone to take care on the mud. She also shouted out all the milestones (I’ve listed these at the end) thanked the volunteers, welcomed the tourists and then it was time to go.

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Warwick Racecourse parkrun route

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The route for Warwick Racecourse parkrun is pretty straightforward. A nice out and back with a clockwise lap followed by an anti-clockwise lap.

The whole course is on a path but the grass either side was pretty muddy due to all the recent rain. This made the start a little congested as everyone was trying to keep to the pathway and off the mud.

Everyone quickly spread out once we were away from the start and heading off around the first corner.

The ‘puddle’ caused a bit of a queue on the out lap as everyone was trying to squeeze round it. I really wanted to better my time today and ran through it – it was much colder than I was expecting and definitely made sure I was awake!

But that did mean on the back lap I didn’t even need to think about it and ran straight through it again which meant I didn’t lose any precious seconds!

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Halfway!

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At around the 2km point there is a small hill which you go up and down before the halfway turnaround point.

This is both well signposted and marshalled. I did quite like having a half way point to look forward too before going back up and over the hill and on to the flat return anti-clockwise lap.

I finished knocking over 90 seconds off my best time this year which was very exciting and nice to see the Couch to 5k is helping improve my running and I can see why so many got a PB today! This is a great course for buggy runners too with it being so flat and mainly on path.

I managed to grab Abi the Run Director for today’s event for a quick selfie and she told me has visited over 100 different parkrun locations! #goals

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Parking and Facilities

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You can grab yourself 2 hours free parking in the ‘Bread and Meat Close’ carpark. Just make sure you still pop your reg in and display your ticket. This car park is located right by the start/finish.

What3words parking location : ///dozen.cute.spout , the first timers briefing takes place in ///poster.skins.glove and the start/finish is approx ///manliness.teams.loyal

The Warwick Golf Centre has toilets available before and after your parkrun.

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Post run cafe – Golf Club

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In Warwick Golf Centre they serve tea and coffee for your post run caffeine fix. They had a small seating area (with some comfy sofas!) inside. It’s worth noting they are cashless and only accept card payments.

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Warwick Racecourse parkrun Stats for event #144

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Today 475 people took part including 29 juniors. 10 new parkrunners joined for the first time. A whopping 69 people set a New Personal Best and 94 took part at Warwick Racecourse parkrun for the first time.

Congratulations to Alexander who was the first finisher with a time of 15:24 an age grading of 85.61% and a new personal best.

Congratulations to Archie with the highest age grading of the day with a massive 91.80% and Jude being the highest graded female with 84.75%.

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Warwick Racecourse parkrun milestones

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Well done to…

All the Juniors who completed todays 5km parkrun : Isabella, Lily, Elle, Naomi, Jessica W, Jessica M, Carragan, Charlotte, Lauren, Ila, Adele, Rachel, Harry C, Harry W, Harry M, Oscar, Simeon, Archie, Rory, Caleb, Alexander, Monty, Connah, Noah, Caleb, Joe, Harris, Solomon and Oliver!
Gemma, Jessica and Luke who attended their 25th event
Anna who attended their 50th event
Steve who attended their 100th event
Ali, Emma and Selena  who attended their 150th event

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Thank you to this week’s volunteers

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

Abi ARCHER, Ryan BAKER, Victoria BARTHOLOMEW, David BAXTER, Jennifer BAXTER, Steve BOLT, Neill BUTLER, Stephen CHALKLEY, Henry COHEN, James DAY, Tim DONOVAN, Amanda HODGES, Holly JONES, Henry Graham LONGLEY, Anne LOVE, Brad MILES, Jamie O HANLON, Naomi PATERSON, Simon PERKIN, Donald PRESTON, Helen PUGH, Michael REDDY, Ian SHREEVE, Rob SMART, Pete TEEVAN, Luke TETLOW, Robert THOMPSON, Edward WARD, Claire WARNER

ChrissyJ xx