We headed to Jersey Farm parkrun, St Albans for our letter J, a number event I hadn’t got and to meet a parkrun tourist celebrity!
Jersey Farm Woodland Park, St.Albans – spider.bunny.visual
Alphabeteer parkrun Challenge
Those who follow the blog will know that there are several parkrun challenges about. The Alphabeteer challenge is probably one of the most known parkrun challenges. It involves going to an event starting with every letter of the alphabet.
For more information about challenges see this blog post here. Although there’s been more changes since and I need to do yet another update post!
J parkruns
When it comes to a letter J parkrun then there are only 25 in the whole world! In the United Kingdom there are technically 4, but one of those is on the island of Jersey. That leaves Jesmond Dene and Jubilee in the North of England, and Jersey Farm parkrun in the South East.
As I needed not only a J for my Alphabeteer Challenge but also one for my name challenge, we decided to head for the nearest J parkrun of Jersey Farm parkrun. It was hit and miss about whether we were going as there’s only so many parkruns I can get the family to agree to need a hotel for or to get up very early. It was also planned for this week as it was an event number I didn’t have.
Facilities for Jersey Farm parkrun
We parked a little walk away in one of the suggested free car parks. There was a toilet there also. On the way to the start we ended up walking a long way around, but took a short cut on the way back.
Jersey Farm parkrun Course
The course at Jersey Farm parkrun is a mix of grass and bridleway. You need to slow down and give way to horses. Basically there’s a mini loop and two laps. Parts of the route can get very muddy and is therefore subject to change in wet weather. We went when it was a sunny day.
Parkrun Tourism
Parkrun tourism has built such a lovely community. It is really good to share and discuss parkrun with other people who are also interested. But not only this but they can provide insights into things – and pass on helpful information. It is the very reason I try to write up my blog posts about the events.
One such person who posts a lot and encourages the parkrun tourism spirit is Iain G Hall. He had posted a thread asking where everyone was going and said that he and his wife Anne were heading for Jersey Farm.
It was really lovely to meet them. Iain was definitely a celebrity and obliged us all by having his photo taken with the sign. He even kindly came over to me at the end to tell me what a great sprint finish I did.
My Experience Jeffing at Jersey Farm parkrun
The course is around the field where you start and finish before setting off to do two undulating laps. As I started my second lap the first finisher went through the funnel!
It didn’t feel like it was the kind of course that I could start Jeffing straight away so I continuously ran for a while. Jeffing was easier later on mainly because it was quite a challenging course and many people did slow down and/or walk – especially on the “inclines.”
My results position was 176 with a time of 29:53 – 8 seconds behind the person in front. However, I was originally given number 177. On Strava my time is recorded as 29:35 and I never stop my watch straight away. I would suggest that I was at least position 174, but even that had a recorded time of 29:41 – but all the times were a second after each other. I couldn’t have actually physically got a faster time because of the man in front of me. He had even gone wide and I let him back in to finish.
It was such a lovely friendly event, and a great community feel that I really didn’t feel that bothering the Hi-Viz heroes with this was worth it – so left it as it was.
Jersey Farm parkrun Stats 220
There were 297 participants at Jersey Farm parkrun event 220. 160 male, 123 female and 14 unscanned. 27 PBs, no recorded people doing their first ever parkrun and 74 tourists.
Times ranged from 17:01-1:05:09. With 178 sub 30 finishers.
Milestones
50 Zak Wilcoxen, Damian Thomas
150 Richard Allen
750 Alan Richardson
Finally, see other parkrun reviews and visit Sarah’s blog where I first discovered parkrun.