Nonsuch parkrun - event 501

On the 10th September 2022 I ran the Nonsuch parkrun which was the 501st event held at the venue, my 94th parkrun and 29th different course I'd attended.

On the Thursday before parkrun the world received the news that our Queen, Her Royal Highness Elizabeth II had passed away at the age of 96. The UK would be in a period of national mourning and multiple sporting events had been cancelled as a mark of respect, including all football matches across every level, including grassroots.

Fortunately the parkrun organisation decided against a blanket cancellation policy and left it to landowners and local representatives to determine the outcome on an event by event basis. There were inevitably multiple cancellations as courses such as Dartford, a community asset was using the bandstand as a location to receive floral tributes and wouldn't be able to run safely.

I had planned to run Nonsuch parkrun, chasing the letter N to help complete my goal of running a different parkrun for every letter of the alphabet. It was confirmed on social media on the Friday afternoon that the event was to take place and that there would be a minutes applause ahead af the run. Full steam ahead!

Nonsuch park is just outside of Sutton in Surrey and the closest parkrun to me starting with the letter N. It was actually a quite straightforward drive around the M25 and one of many within easy reach of London's orbital motorway. In fact in the new year I'll likely start to work my way around the M25 ticking off the easier to reach parkrun events before tackling the central London ones by train.

On arrival at Nonsuch, after following the parking advice and parking away from the main mansion house carpark I had a walk ahead of me to find the start. Following the main pathway I was unknowingly following part of the parkrun course itself. Lined with trees there was a distinct feel of autumn in the air with a grey and overcast sky, puddles on the floor and fallen leaves making the ground slightly slippery underfoot.

The course is a two lap affair with people congregating at the finish line on the edge of the park where the aforementioned mansion house sits. The finish funnel was a long snaking pathway made from ribbon indicating that there were likely to be a considerable number of participants. In fact, over 900 people had taken part the week previously as the event celebrated its 500th event milestone. This was also referenced in the first timers briefing and we were advised to ensure compliance with volunteer instructions once we had met the finish to ensure any chaos is averted.

The start line was a further 200 meters away from the finish area and once we'd had the first timers meeting we walked down to the start where a large group was gathering in readiness. We were advised to try and place ourselves relative to our expected finish times to make sure people weren't tripping over each other at the start. I stood roughly in what looked to be the middle but I couldn't be too sure as I could see neither the front of the back of the crowd of people. The race briefing was given here and included a well observed and emotive round of applause which must have been heard all around the park with over 600 people in attendance.

Once the event was underway it was a case of following the crowd and making your way through without tripping over or into anyone. From the start the path joins a tarmac path lined with trees. The same path that I had walked along from the car park but in reverse. Some runners ran alongside the main path on a grass trail to give themselves some extra space but it felt quite nice for a change running at a reasonable pace without going off too fast and burning out too soon.

The path swings around to the right and there is ever such a downward incline so generally the first part of the lap felt quite fast. As I couldn't see too far ahead of me there were a few surprise puddles which I had to hop, skip or jump over but the path was firm and wide which helped to gradually spread out the pack.

Once the end of the tree lined path had been navigated the course turns right again continuing it's clockwise orientation. From here onwards the rest of the lap until just before the finish line is on grass, and all aside from a few minor upward parts is flat. The grass parts are also wide allowing for even further opportunities for overtaking which is what I seemed to be able to do a lot of. Normally on a parkrun I lose count of the number of people who pass me by. But as I had started probably too far back relative to my running time I was able to catch and overtake a number of other participants which gave me a nice psychological boost as I ran.

The path across the grass went in a straight-left-right sequence which was followed by two further sequences of the same order to give a stepped shape route back up to rejoin the finish area. As it had been raining recently the paths were quite slippery and a lot muddier than I expected considering how dry recent parkrun courses have been. If this was the state of the course after a few days of rain then I'd imagine in the later winter months the course would be particularly challenging. I did slip and find difficulty getting traction across various parts of this area. I ran in road shoes and so I'd definitely look to run in trail shoes if I was to run the event again.

Eventually after the grass area has been successfully navigated the route swings right again, back onto a tarmac path which dips downhill slightly and the finish funnel appears on the left. As it is a two lap course you have to pass this on the first occasion where you carry on to the start and repeat the lap over again.

On my second lap I found the grass area even trickier to navigate and on the final bend as the grass and tarmac paths meet I nearly ended up falling over completely as my right leg slipped on a patch of mud that had gotten progressively worse as more people trampled over it.

With such a busy event the last downward sprint to the finish becomes quite a competitive affair with everyone vying to beat each other to the funnel. And I'm pleased to say that the funnel protocols were observed impeccably with no-one seeming to push in or cheekily attempt to swap places or what-not. In fact the hardest thing I found was keeping up the pace to keep the queue moving! I'm normally on the floor at this point at the end of a run and there's no opportunity to do that in a long winding finish funnel which seemed even longer as I was desperate for a pee too at that point!

I finished in 367th pace in a time of 28:50 out of a field of 623 participants. My time was my 11th fastest recorded parkrun which I was very pleased about considering the size of the field and the perceived slow start.