Over the last few months, our parkrunning team have been bending to my wishes quite often, from visits to the Uphill Capital of the North West (it seems to be 99% uphill) to an early morning dart across to Princes parkrun in Liverpool.
With Team Armstrong currently split between various home parkruns, a chance was taken this morning to bring as many members of the team together in one place, and South Manchester was the consensus.
I'd first run at South Manchester in May last year, and recorded a time which, then, was about 30 seconds faster than my Heaton Park PB. The reason for this is that South Manchester is flat, very flat, i saw a maximum elevation of 4m from the start.
Speaking of which, if you're sitting comfortably, I'll begin.
I love the start, it reminds me of the old start at Heaton Park by the lake. The runners are shuffled up to the start (1), and before long are let loose.
We wind our way around the lake on tarmac, then as we turn left (2) we head onto dirt track and around the edge of the park. Straight through the T junction (3) and follow around the track, through the 1K marker, the puddles and carry on until you go past the car park by the start (4) by this point you're back on tarmac and (If you're running at the back, like I was today) you start to see the leaders coming back.
It's a long curved stretch passing runners going in all kinds of directions as you head out to the end by Wilmslow road before turning left over the bridge (5) and left again to break through 2K and start a figure of 8 starting from point 5 to a crossroads (6) then out to the other side of the lake from the start and over the bridge, and back to point 6 before turning left out to the furthest point from the start at 3K (7) where you turn right past the church and the largest incline on the course (Which I wouldn't even begin to call a hill.)
Turning right at the end, brings you back to point 5 and you're over the bridge and turning right again to run a long stretch back towards the start, then at point 4, and 4K you're sent back around the extremities of the park until you hit point 3, where the kind Marshall will direct you right to head back around the lake and sprint for the finish.
The write up seems boring, but do not let that lull you into thinking that South Manchester should not be taken on or that you won't enjoy it. Platt Fields is a beautiful park which has some lovely views, and the course is playful in that even though the sight lines aren't brilliant over the whole course, there are glimpses of other runners as you wind in and out, and the course is well thought out to keep it interesting, it could easily have been plotted around the borders of the park and then a few detours to add a bit of distance.
My thanks as always go to the Organisers and Volunteers, especially Sarah who ran with my daughter and myself at the Tail end.
I'll be heading back to South Manchester soon, when I'm ready to break Sub 30.
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