Dover Waterfront parkrun - event 24

On the 24th February 2024 I ran the Dover Waterfront parkrun which was the 24th event held at the venue, my 171st parkrun and 95th different course I'd attended.

In December 2022 I ran the Margate parkrun, earning myself 'A total Kent' status which is given informally to anyone who runs all of the parkrun events in Kent. At the time this would have been a full set of 24, but on the 9th September 2023 a 25th event was added when Dover waterfront ran their inaugural event.

I could of course visited Dover sooner and reclaimed my unofficial title already. But I've been saving my visit to coincide with an event number I'd not ran at yet to try and fill gaps in my 'Wilson Index' (another phrase/unofficial challenge from the parkrun tourist lexicon). 

Once again I was joined by the two Andrew's who have unwittingly become parkrun tourists recently, albeit without wanting to self-identity with that label. I'll keep calling them my running companions until they tell me otherwise.

But it was a cold morning when we arrived at the famous port town on the Kent coast. Like Southend last week I'd visited Dover plenty of times, but never quite explored beyond the port and the castle. But unlike last week the sun was shining and the skies were mostly blue, with the sun coming up brightly in the distance over the sea.

From the esplanade to the north were the white cliffs and the hill where Dover Castle has sat so prominently for so long. To the south was the marina which marked the starting point and meeting area of the parkrun.

The marina and marina pier are relatively new additions to the waterfront at Dover and part of a much wider western docks rejuvenation programme, without which I'm not sure parkrun would be able to exist in this location.

Starting at the entrance to the marina, participants head north along the esplanade in the direction of the main docks where ferries were lying in wait to transport passengers and cargo across the channel into Europe.

The esplanade is home to an assortment of commemorate statues, plaques and landmarks celebrating achievements, such as cross channel swimming as well as marking more solemn affairs in relation to the two world wars. On another day I could have walked along the same stretch to find out more about what each one was representing. But as it was Hayden's birthday the visit down to Dover was very much a flying one.

The route along the esplanade is the first out and back of the course. So after a kilometre or so you come to virtually a dead end before turning around and coming back the way you came. As it's the esplanade the surface is all on tarmac and absolutely pancake flat.

Once back at the start, the course veers around to the left and starts the second out and back which is along the entire length of the pier. This part of the course is also dead flat in both elevation and direction. It's also fairly unique I'd imagine as I don't believe that there are many piers where a parkrun course takes place.

After the pier has been successfully tackled and you've completed the second out and back it time to repeat the first one and head back out along the esplanade.

With the course being so flat and fast I found myself trying to out run myself and run faster than perhaps I could handle. It certainly felt hard work out there and it was something all three of us mentioned after we had finished.

It was certainly interesting that all three of us had similar feelings on our assessment of the course. Which I'd imagine could get trickier as we had very favourable conditions. There wasn't any wind and it was dry in cool temperatures. Foordy actually set a new parkrun PB by ten seconds,so he was gunning it and explains why he might have found it hard!

At the end of the third out and back, the start is replaced with a finish funnel where I came 86th out of a field of 86 participants. I finished in a time of 27:07.

That then gives me another full set of parkrun events in Kent again. 25/25 - until the next one comes along!