Prudhoe Riverside parkrun

20th April 2019

Back again for another parkrun blog post! On Saturday, Becca and I ventured north West to take on Prudhoe Riverside. It was a last minute decision on the Friday night to go for this one, as Gibside parkrun (our original choice for the weekend) was cancelled due to Easter festivities. But thankfully the bank holiday weekend weather didn’t disappoint and we both had a glorious run (when Becca eventually turned up – more on that later!) with 181 fellow runners through the Tyne Riverside Country Park.

I did find out at this parkrun that this North East parkrun challenge is about to get even tougher. With two new parkruns in Hexham and Blyth just starting at the weekend, I think we’re now up to 27 North East parkruns (another was added just south of Middlesborough – how is that even classed as the North East!), and this one was no. 5. We’re still on for the challenge, but it may be that if they add any more, we will officially run out of Saturdays in the year to complete them all.

My stats:
Time: 26:53 minutes
Position: 74 / 183
Female position: 14th
Age category position (SW25-29): 3rd
Age-graded score: 55.05%

Just a quick note to point out for those eagle-eyed readers (if anyone does in fact bother to read this blog!) – I’m not getting slower at my 5km distance… I was running the North Tyneside 10km the next day (in absolute blistering heat!!) and didn’t want to tire myself out the day beforehand. I am hoping to get a sub-24 minute parkrun soon!

Course location: 4 / 5

This was definitely not a local parkrun for us… it was a good 25 minute drive from Gateshead and even further for Becca to drive to from Durham. But with that in mind, we both set off early to make sure we got there on time. Which I managed to do perfectly. Becca on the other hand… didn’t realise she hadn’t changed the postcode in her SatNav from Gibside parkrun to Prudhoe, and then somehow her phone flipped the map upside down mid-drive! Yet again, I found myself at the start-line of a parkrun wondering where the she was. We (yes, both me and Becca) have come to the conclusion that we cannot trust Becca to get herself to the beginning of the parkrun on time*! So solely based on my satnav capabilities, this was an easy parkrun to find.

*Disclaimer: Becca did eventually make it to the parkrun, but this time a good 10 minutes late. It was pretty nice of them to let her still take part!

There was loads of free parking at the country park cafe which is always helpful, and nice to walk back to after the run for a cuppa and cake. And there were clear directions to get to the start-line, which was a good 10 minute walk (or 3 minute warm-up jog – also quite useful!) from the car park.

Course difficulty: 1 / 5

This was definitely one of the more flatter parkruns we’ve done so far, with a total elevation gain of 43 feet. It was two large laps of a trail path along the riverside with one relatively small incline and a sharp drop back down to start the second lap. The paths are well shaded/protected by the trees, which was perfect for the sunny day we had. We did read up beforehand about the race so we knew the run was on trail paths. But we both decided to wear our road shoes, which I maintain was a sensible idea. Trail shoes may be better in the winter months, but on a hot day like it was on Saturday, road shoes would be fine. Or no shoes at all, like one man decided he wanted to do. (Mentalist!).

Course enjoyability: 4 / 5

I think we both really enjoyed the course at Prudhoe parkrun. It’s a really lovely trail route which overlooks the river Tyne between Prudhoe and Ovingham (which turns out I’ve been pronouncing wrong for years!). I would definitely be tempted to go back there for some of my longer runs to explore more of the trails.

The laps were big enough that most of the less speedy runners weren’t lapped. I did overtake Becca (which I was quite happy about as it I no longer worried if she was still alive and had in fact made it to parkrun), but had she turned up on time, we reckon she would have just been starting her second lap by the time I was on the final straight. Even though she was behind the tail-walkers, all the volunteers and marshals cheered her on to the finishing line to give her the out-by-10-minute finishing time!

It was a lovely day and event, and we both felt that we were warmly welcomed at the parkrun by the volunteers and marshals. With it being Easter too, we were joined by a (very creepy looking!) Easter Bunny – affectionately known as the “Terror Bunny” or “Avatar of Easter Dread”. Thankfully, I was just about tired enough to actually sleep at night without it terrorising my dreams!

Overall rating: 4 / 5

Even though we had the mishap of Becca missing the start of parkrun (again!), we both had a lovely day at Prudhoe parkrun. It was a lovely course in a picturesque location, the marshals were friendly as always, and we even got to mosey down to the river for our obligatory post-run selfies. We also got to enjoy a quick beverage at the Riverside Park Cafe with a colleague of mine (and her lovely children) before heading back off for a day at our friend’s alotment.

So million dollar question…

Would we do Prudhoe parkrun again? Yes if we were in the area, or had plans to visit more in the area (definite possibility). But it would be a bit out of the way to go over there for just parkrun.