Eastbourne parkrun - event 542

On the 29th July 2023 I ran the Eastbourne parkrun which was the 542nd event held at the venue, my 141st parkrun and 69th different course I'd attended.

A couple of weeks ago parkrun asked the developers of the 5k achievements app to change their functionality and remove all challenges relating to event numbers including the Fibonacci, Prime and Nelson number challenges. 

As documented on my previous parkrun blogs these challenges were completely arbitrary and didn't mean anything to anyone if you completed the set. For me, it was always a bit of fun and added some form of structure to my parkrun planner whereas otherwise it all felt a little bit random.

I was due to attend Wormwood Scrubs this weekend for their 555th event and another Nelson number but despite the fact that I'm not entirely behind parkruns decision to remove these challenges I am certainly going to respect it. The thought behind the removal is that these occasions have the possibility of overwhelming smaller events and unnecessarily attracting large crowds that could cause safety issues or problems with landowners. 

With Wormwood Scrubs now saved for another week I had to find an alternative venue. There's been a little space on my map on the south coast for a number of weeks now and as you head around the coast from Folkestone, through to Hastings the next was Eastbourne, so it felt about time to fill in the gap. Plus I knew that it was better to complete the event during the summer as the course is better and there was an opportunity for us to meet our friends Tom and Jennie who live in nearby Uckfield and have began there own parkrun journeys.

Being the school holidays and Phoebe being available we decided to make it a family occasion with all five of us getting up early to make the trip to the south coast. I knew that I was wasting my breath trying to encourage any of them to participate, so I didn't try to bother. Hayden and Phoebe have been doing the junior events on a Sunday and that's hard enough work getting them involved with that - plus Hayden doesn't have much choice next week as he is my travelling companion when we head north to Stockport for the first game of the new season and taking in parkrun whilst we are there.

The Eastbourne parkrun is located at Shinewater park which is situated on the northern end of town on the outskirts. Parking is limited, if non-existant on site, so we followed the course page instructions and parked at Buzy Bees nursery a five minute walk from the start.

I have my own routine when I arrive at a parkrun course, which involves scouting as much of the course as I can and taking photographs which I share online on one of the parkrun tourist groups on Facebook. But travelling with family and meeting friends at the start meant a different, more sociable start to the parkrun day - one that was all the more enjoyable for it.

From the start, participants head north from a grass area onto a gravel based path. This is the start of the first small loop which takes participants back around the other side of the starting line and deeper into the park. The first turn feeds into a narrow grass based path which was in a little bit of a gully as so running in single file was the best approach but as the field funnelled into the path a load of other participants came from the other direction and joined into the funnel as well which was quite disconcerting. I can only assume that due to space there are two starting areas and this was were the two fields merged into one another. I can't think of any other explanation for it otherwise.

After the first starting loop has been completed the path joins the main route around Shinewater park and the lake at its center. Running along one side of the lake you circumnavigate it's entire length in a clockwise direction. The path includes a couple of bridges and two underpasses as you cross beneath the A22 at the south and again at the north.

The stretch from the southern most point to.the northern most point on the eastern side of the A22 is on firm tarmac paths and with the whole course being flat it's a great opportunity to catch up on time. As the first loop weaves in and around the fields as it makes its way to the lake, the path becomes very narrow in places and with over 300 participants it trickled down to a walking pace on.more than one occasion. But once the twists and turns are successfully navigated the field soon spreads out and being virtually flat the whole way around you can easily make up time.

Once the lake has been completed the route rejoins the first little loop of the start, but is ran in the opposite direction like an out and back course. Just like Hackney Marshes the course lures you into a false sense of security as you see the finish funnel, but just like Hackney Marshes you carry on past it for another 800m or so, back onto the grass and come at the finish funnel from the opposite direction.

I finished in 131st place out of a field of 306 participants in a time of 27:09. It was a time that I was rather pleased with considering the start and the time lost at the beginning (even of it's not really about the time). What was more pleasing is seeing Jennie achieve her goal of completing a sub-40 parkrun which she did with plenty of room to spare.

After the post event pleasantries were concluded and we'd said our good-byes the five of us got back in the car and headed into Eastbourne to find some breakfast and to explore the coastline. I was quite impressed with the town and thought it was well presented compared to other seaside towns. Another opinion I can give on a place I've visited only because of this strange parkrun addiction of mine!