King George V Playing Field parkrun, Cheltenham: Prime Event

pinkoddy

6 months ago

What a beautiful day for my family and I to return to King George V Playing Field parkrun, Cheltenham – and for our friend’s first time!

King George V Playing Field, Brooklyn Road, Cheltenham, GL51 8DZ (parking at Coronation Square, GL51 7RG)

First Timers Information for King George V Playing Field parkrun, Cheltenham

I was lucky enough to be invited to the inaugural parkrun for King George V Playing Field (KGV) back in 2019. However, here is some information that may be helpful for those visiting for the first time.

Facilities

Parking is just a short walk away from the start at just 50p for two hours. There is a marshal standing at the entrance to the Cheltenham Saracens Rugby Football Club entrance so that it is clear where to go.

There is also a toilet in that building, however I didn’t use it today. We always visit McDonald’s after parkrun (there is one in Kingsditch Retail Park down the road), however others enjoyed Sally’s cakes – who offer a range of cakes, and bacon rolls etc from 9 until 11am.

The Course at King George V Playing Field parkrun, Cheltenham

The event starts on the hard standing ground next to the main rugby pitch near the Brooklyn Road entrance.

This is a three lap course on a mixture of grass and path. I wore my barefoot trail shoes and these were fine, and advised to use when it has been wet.

The course runs around the rugby pitch before completing three anti-clockwise laps of the playing fields. Each lap runs almost straight down one side and then dog-legging back up the three banked areas avoiding the pitches and boggy areas, skipping the main rugby pitch.

There is a sign and marshal to show you where to go after your first and final laps. The finish itself is heading back close to where the start is – towards the main rugby pitch.

There is some steep banking – Strava says I had an elevation gain of just 84ft. This may not be suitable for a wheelchair user or those with pushchairs – please contact the team via email to discuss the details so it can be determined if it is suitable.

Alphabeteers

If you were after a letter K and deciding between King George V Playing Field parkrun, Cheltenham and Kingsway then I would say that this one is obviously a lot less crowded. This was even despite the fact that it was a Prime Number event.

Otherwise both are a mixture of grass and path; both have inclines; places to eat afterwards and easy parking. I guess it depends where you are heading to/from and where you are heading.

The New Path

It’s hard to believe that it’s going to be five years since the inaugural this September! It has grown into such a lovely parkrun. Our last visit was February 2023 and there’s now new path put down. The plan is for this to go all the way round – this will help no end in the winter! In fact it was so well done that one of our teens didn’t realise that it hadn’t always been there!

My Experience

It was good that there was plenty of room to spread out, and no-one slowing you down. I felt I was able to Jeff (a run/walk technique), with the nature of the course meaning this was possible without feeling like I am getting in people’s way.

The course was all really well marked out and marshalled. Finally what a great idea to have separate little buckets for our finishing tokens!

Community

There was a lovely community feel at the parkrun this morning. Everyone was very welcoming and it was good to see young people helping out. The young lady who did the first timers briefing even helped out with scanning!

People kindly offered to take our photos by the sign and let me know where the best place to leave our bag of waters.

Plus, despite finishing sub 18 ½, the front two runners both managed to give me words of encouragement as they lapped me near the end of their run! Thank you it is really appreciated! Oh not forgetting the nice lady who said that I did the best sprint finish of the day that she’d seen !

Briefing

It was really nice that people were quiet for the briefings – which were really clear. First timers were asked where they were from and if anyone was going to run sub 20. They were then shown a printed map of the course to visualise where they need to go.

Volunteers were thanked and a plea for future help – especially as the core team and going to be off touring in the summer. Also a reminder not to take the tokens home -how they cost to replace them.

Stats and Milestones

There were 81 people at King George V Playing Field parkrun, Cheltenham for the 163 event.
- Ranging in time from 18:13 by first finisher Richard Gayton to 47:59.
Twenty of which were first timers.
- Well done to Emily Tibbles on her very first parkrun. I hope you had a wonderful time and it is the first of many!
Sally Pate was first female finisher in a time of 22:51.
But highest age gradings went to Nicole Arkell 79.25% (VW 65-69) and Nick Hitchcroft 76.61% (VM 45-49).
All three of my family members got course PBs – and they were among the 18 who did today! This was despite the fact that it was hot and that our son has decided that he may need to slow down during the summer.