Hove Promenade parkrun - event 357

On the 13th January 2024 I ran the Hove Promenade parkrun which was the 357th event held at the venue, my 165th parkrun and 90th different course I'd attended.

My Saturday had looked very different at the beginning of the week. I had planned to travel north to watch Gillingham Vs Accrington Stanley, as I've still got three grounds in league two I've not visited with Accrington being one of them.

The plan was to make an early start and stop off in Birmingham and run a parkrun with easy access of the M6. But Hayden received an invitation to a birthday party and accepted the better offer. I contemplated travelling north by myself, but it's a long way and there will hopefully be other opportunities.

Plan B was to tick another event off inside the M25, but when I shared the details with Foordy who is still home at the moment he suggested an alternative. He wanted to run by the sea and wondered if there was anything in Brighton that fulfilled his criteria. Indeed there was and so Hove Promenade it was to be.

Last week Hove Promenade had 748 participants, one of their highest ever attendances and they wasn't alone in seeing an increase in participant numbers. Upon arrival it was clear that last week was no flash in the pan and that it was going to be another popular turnout.

We parked at the King Alfred carpark which is west of the starting point deeper into Hove alongside the coastal path. We had a ten minute walk back east to the start and spent our time marvelling at the number of people who were in the sea for some early morning swimming. It was measuring 2.5 degrees in the car on the way down! I've every admiration for people who can do that - although I suspect that they may be slightly mad!

The course is simple, from the start which is slightly further east from The Lawn cafe. Participants head back west towards where we'd come from for around 0.75k, before reaching a turnaround point. Participants then run east for 1.25k where another turnaround point is reached and participants head all the way back again to the start to complete the 2.5k lap. It's then a simple process to repeat again for a second lap.

As we were arriving at the event I spotted a couple of people wearing pacer bibs and let Foordy know what to look out for. I decided that I'd try and stick as close as I could for as long as I could to the 26 minute pacer in order to try and achieve a good time. I hadn't gone in anticipation of a new PB, but the course is pancake flat and so there was every opportunity on pacer day.

I started out well and kept alongside the pacer for the first half of the first lap but the longer the run went on for the further behind I was getting. At the turnaround points I could see my position relative to the 27 minute pacer and I wanted to keep that distance for as long as I could. After 5k it was a big sprint to the finish line and the long winding funnel up ahead of us.

Such was the length of the funnel and the number of people within in it, it overflowed at the end. Meaning once we arrived at the end of the line the timers were still a couple of people ahead of us. So it took a couple of walking pace steps to reach them where they would have logged our time.

My Strava was indicating that I'd beaten my previous best time, but I had to wait for the official results which had me placed in 404th out of a field of 809 participants. It was the highest ever turnout at Hove Promenade parkrun and I'd been clocked at 26:35. Just one second off my parkrun PB!

I hadn't gone in anticipation of setting such a good time and would love to thank the team of pacers for their efforts today. I've been to events before where the pacers hadn't quite got it right, but they certainly did today. Foordy set a brand new PB at 23:38, which was over a minute faster than his time he set at Barking last weekend.

Running at such a big event with so many people made for a unique parkrun experience. I've ran Bushy which was a huge crowd and the sight of 1500 people starting the event lives long in the memory. But with 800 people running in both directions on an out-and-back course there were people absolutely everywhere and everyone was in great spirits cheering on other friends and family whilst having little competitions with the people that they were running alongside. A great event!