Cassiobury parkrun - event 404

On the 20th January 2024 I ran the Cassiobury parkrun which was the 404th event held at the venue, my 166th parkrun and 91st different course I'd attended.

Having enjoyed the last few weeks with running company having Foordy join me on my parkrun fix, it was time for me to go it alone again. Whilst Foordy is still over in the UK he wasn't able to attend this week due to issues with his knee and there's no reason to aggrivate anything further just for the sake of it.

Since Foordy has been back, the runs that we've done have tended to be flat, and mostly tarmac so this week I was going to suggest an off road course with a few hills thrown in for good measure. Ideally we'd do Lullingstone again, but with wanting to keep up this streak of new courses I pencilled in Brentwood which looks.to be a great challenge. Nevertheless it will.wait for another day as Foordy was unavailable.

My original plan was to visit Cassiobury with the goal of ticking off another of the parkrun events inside of the M25 and so that's ultimately what I decided to stick with. After a period of low temperatures and icy weather I wasn't sure whether the run would still take place so headed off a little bit earlier to give myself some extra time in case I needed a last minute change of plan.

On arrival in Watford, home of Cassiobury park the ground was frozen and the grass had a firm layer of frost which didn't look to be budging. But people were milling around and a quick check on my phone provided me with no news otherwise. It was game on and so I got out of the warmth of the car and headed into the cold to look for the start.

Cassiobury park is actually quite a large and expansive green space which is situated next to an 18 hole golf course. Meaning that there is a large area provided for recreational purposes. But the parkrun course is situated on the eastern side of the park and is squeezed into a two and a half lap route around the paths that make up the primary area of access to the park.

The meeting point is the bandstand which is situated on a fairly small area of grass opposite the park cafe. From here participants are directed to the start which is situated on the grass at the  western most point of the course 

The route comprises two and a half anti-clockwise laps of tarmac paths, which are joined after the start which the first 100m is taken on the grass. As there were over 500 participants the wide expanse of grass spread out the field, but there was an inevitable pinch point when you meet the paths as although not narrow, the sheer number of people made it nicely congested.

There are really only two corners on the course, but as one side of the course is a wide sweeping arc it feels nice and straight. From the start, the course picks up the path at the tip of the arc and heads all the way east to the first turning point. From here the course turns left and heads straight along a path which is lined by trees it's entire length, which when I ran in the winter was void of greenery. I'd imagine in the spring and summer months the route being quite pretty with the trees in bloom.

After the long slog back west the second turn is reached and the wide arched path is picked up again completing the first lap.

After two and a half laps the finish line is on the left three quarters of the way down the long straight path of the course next to the bandstand where the meeting area took place earlier.

I finished in 219th place out of a field of 507 participants in a time of 27.29.