Chalkwell Beach - event 127

Chalkwell Beach parkrun

On the 23rd December 2023 I ran the Chalkwell Beach parkrun which was the 127th event held at the venue, my 160th parkrun and 86th different course I'd attended.

Last year I completed my last parkrun before Christmas with a trip to the seaside and ran Margate parkrun. This year I decided to follow suit and complete another coastal event in the hope that they'd be big raging winds and rain to do battle with. Strange guy aren't I?!

I chose to run at Chalkwell Beach which is just to the east of Southend pier. I'd been there plenty of times before, using part of the course for parking when on a day trip to Southend. 

The start is approximately 3 kilometres further east along the coast and there is plenty of places to park up before the event. The course is a simple and straightforward one. An out and back towards the pier.

It is evidently a popular event with a growing number of people arriving before the start full of Christmas cheer with many dressed up as Santa, elf's or wearing something festive.

Due to the number of people taking part the start of the run began slowly with the crowd making use of the wide promenade path and the grass that runs alongside it. Eventually everything stretches out and you can find a space to find a bit of rhythm and overtake if necessary.

Whilst it wasn't big winter weather with a ferocious tide, it was sunny, clear skies, cold and the wind was up. There were a couple of places where water was coming up past the seawall and splashing onto the promenade but nothing dramatic or poetic. On the way out we had the wind behind us, so didn't feel it. But after we'd reached the Casino on the seafront just ahead of the pier and the turnaround point we certainly noticed it on the way back.

Being part of a bigger pool of people for the bigger events there's always people around you and you can get competitive with a complete stranger without them knowing. After battling the wind for two and a half kilometres and the end in sight a switch flicked inside me and I put the boosters on to sprint the last two hundred meters it doesn't happen often, but it did today for some reason and I don't know why. But it meant for a grandstand finish and overtaking a whole group of people I never thought I'd beat.

I finished in 152nd place out of a field of 368 participants in a time of 27:42.

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