Of course, I got lost getting there, so of course I was late. I was greeted and directed by the waiting marshals, the latter of whom warned me that the runners were about to start. They were not wrong. I was almost mowed down in the final hundred yards by a stampede of shoes. I had to stand to one side to let the main group go by. It was a long group. But I used the time productively to reset my watch so that when I finally got to the start just behind the tail walkers, I could just press ‘Go’ and get running again.
I really should not have tried to finish the Wordle and Connections puzzles before getting up and throwing on my running gear. What is wrong with leaving a nice margin for error and not flapping around looking for my headphones?
At least I had paid attention and put on some suitable shoes – Hoka Challenger – which are kind of a hybrid between road and trail, cushiony with a bit of grip. The new (almost new, this was race number two) Brimstage Parkrun is all stony trail paths, but I was jogging there via some roads so these were a handy addition (thanks Claudia) to my tower of running shoes.
But back to Brimstage Parkrun.
Finally, the Wirral gets a second Parkrun, and it’s within an easy jog from my house. Easy, if you don’t accidentally take the first turning which takes you around the back of Clatterbridge Hospital.
However, despite starting at the back, I felt thoroughly excited by the route. It’s so different from Birkenhead. No tarmac paths. No going round the same route again. Lots of puddles and a bit of slip-slidey mud and, for most of it, you’re running through a tunnel of trees. It’s almost as if they made it to get me ready for cross-country season!
If the mud and the puddles don’t win you over, then you’ll surely be pleased to note that it is pretty darned flat. Aside from a small dink that I could feel as I closed in on the finishing funnel, I found it as flat as a pancake, if that pancake had a few stones in it. There are also two switchbacks but there is the potential to have some good times here, if that is your bag.
The downside of Brimstage is that there are no loos here currently or coffee shops, so I’m wondering if there’s an opportunity for a mobile tea/bacon butty stall to bob in and steal a nice bit of business.
Had to amend the paragraph above as I was totally wrong. There’s loads of stuff – not officially loos yet, but coffee and a butchers and bakery and probably candles in there somewhere too (thanks Julie, borrowed your line) – so apologies for the original misinformation that I gave because I didn’t explore beyond the finish line.
While I would have loved to have a number ‘1’ under my Parkrun belt I was in Cardiff last week, so a number ‘2’ is still great. Now that I know the way, this is now technically my local parkrun, so I’ll be coming here quite a lot. You can see the need for more parkruns on the Wirral. Last week, Brimstage had 422 finishers, this week there were 501. That has translated into a drop in numbers at Birkenhead with finishers dropping below 600 for the first time in a long time.
Spreading the parkrun love can only be a good thing. The residents around Birkenhead Park will probably be more pleased, and the runners there can get going without too much shuffling behind the crowds. We could still do with one or two on our little peninsula, and hopefully the one in New Brighton will get going soon. In the meantime, Wirral now has two very different and complementary parkruns
Postscript: I’ve just been told by several people that there is a coffee shop and a bakery there. If I had just explored past the carpark 🤦🏽♀️