Fleetwood Promenade parkrun - event 244

On the 25th August 2024 I ran the Fleetwood Promenade parkrun which was the 244th event held at the venue, my 198th parkrun and 120th different course I'd attended.

Gillingham's fixture list hasn't been kind. Hot off the heels of two long away trips to Swansea and Morecambe the last thing the team and supporters needed was a third successive marathon on the road. But that's what they got with another long slog to Lancashire with Fleetwood Town being the latest hosts in a northern dominated league two campaign.

It could have been worse, it could have been another midweek trip or a Saturday in December two days before Christmas. But being August and during the school holidays over the last of the years bank holiday weekend, supporters had the enviable position to make a weekend of it. Which is exactly what we did - a weekend in Blackpool.

Travelling up on Thursday we had a more comfortable time of it than the previous Friday where it took near on seven hours to get to Morecambe. It was a lot quieter on the roads, but we still spent over six hours in transit.

We stayed in an AirBNB close to the Blackpool Tower and were joined once again by the Reasons. Friday was spent at the Pleasure Beach, where strong winds prevented us from experiencing the Big One and another of their flagship rollercoasters. We all still had a great time and enjoyed a mixture of old and new attractions, some for the very first time.

Saturday morning was parkrun day and we had options. Blackpool parkrun was closest and not very far from our.accommodation. Fleetwood Promenade is the closest parkrun to the Highbury Stadium and so fulfilled the criteria for the Facebook group I'm a member of. Lytham St Anne's was the same distance away as Fleetwood, but to the south and was a possibility, but the chance to tick off two 'grails' in two consecutive weeks was an opportunity I couldn't turn down.

I couldn't persuade Hayden, Oliver or Phoebe to join me and Reaso didn't have any joy with George. But Amelie quite happily joined in and it's always good when the kids participate as well. Debra Cassar who I met last week called it 'memory making', and although the kids might moan and complain about doing it. They'll remember it when they are older!

The weekend had been disrupted a little bit by the weather and the remnants of storm Lilian. It hadn't rained much, but the winds were strong for much of the weekend. On arrival at the central carpark at Fleetwood Promenade the sky was grey, it had rained overnight but hadn't yet rained that morning.

I got out of the car upon arrival whilst Reaso and Amelie waited in the warmth. I wasn't quite sure how far away the start was and so went off the investigate. The start was a couple of hundred meters to the east, so not far. I took a few photos and headed back to the car. Just as I got in the heavens absolutely opened and a torrential downpour hammered against the windscreen.

All three of us questioned our life choices. Well, I did, whilst Reaso and Amelie blamed me! There were a couple of ladies in the car next to us and they were quite clearly thinking the same thing! Fortunately the burst of rain was short and was over as soon as it had started. So we were clear to walk to the start without getting damp.

The feeling of being dry was fairly short-lived as once we'd made it to the start line the heavens opened again! Luckily we were covered by a tall building near to the start where all the parkrunners were sheilding from the weather and hoping that the wind didn't turn and start blowing the rain in our direction.

Fortunately come 9am the rain stopped completely and we were able to make our way to the start line, follow the pre-run formalities and be on our way.

The course is a straightforward out and back route which travels from east to west for 2.5km, turns around and comes back again in the opposite direction. Travelling out we had the wind in our faces which meant the first half of the run was much tougher than the second where we had wind assistance pushing us onwards

The course was quite possibly one of the flattest that I'd ran and on a perfectly still day could be an extremely fast course. Although on this occasion it wasn't just the wind that was a challenge. In many places, mostly the start area we're covered by sand where wind had blown material from the beach. In some places it was quite thick and so the starting getaway and return sprint finish were compromised as a result.

Of all the seaside based events that I'd visited Fleetwood Promenade felt the most baron and featureless. And I don't mean that in a negative way, in fact I mean it as a complement. With rough seas over one shoulder, tide out exposing wide sand flats with views over to Cumbria and the Lake District. Wild grasslands and flat natural wastelands over the other shoulder with a roaring wind it felt so close to nature and 'away from it all'. The bright lights of Blackpool and the neon couldn't have felt any further away and I loved the course for that.

I finished in 77th place out of a field of 142 participants in a time of 29:26. It could have been a little quicker, but the sand on the promenade took some wading through at the end. Sweeping it away would be a thankless task as no sooner it's cleared it will be back again five minutes later such is the prevailing winds in the area.

After the game on Saturday evening on social media I saw a tweet from another Gillingham fan who is also a keen parkrun enthusiast. He chose to attend Blackpool parkrun where he bumped into the Gillingham management team who were enjoying and early morning stroll. Apparently they stopped to watch the parkrunners do their thing and cheered them all on the whole way.

Gutted to have missed out on that potential experience, but then we had ones of our own and those are always priceless.