We headed to Severn Valley Country parkrun for event number 205. As our son works Saturday afternoons now we can’t really venture too far away. As it happened he had the day off booked as he had an adventure day planned so didn’t come with us this week.
Severn Valley Country Park, Chapel Lane, Alveley, Bridgnorth, Shropshire, WV15 6NG
Location of Severn Valley Country parkrun
Getting there
Personally I wouldn’t have wanted to drive there as the SatNav took us down a narrow two-way lane. This was both there and back. On the way there my husband had to reverse up the road a bit so that the car in front could also reverse, and let a car out. It is probably better to put Severn Valley Country Park in your SatNav rather than the postcode too.
It is also accessible by public transport, see the Severn Valley parkrun page for details.
Parking
Once we arrived at Severn Valley Country Park there was plenty of parking, which is free until 10am; charged at £1.20 for 2 hours thereafter (subject to change), payable by card or cash. However, the course page says that parking is limited, and to please car share where possible. That there is further parking available in Highley – the park is then accessed by footbridge (10-15 mins’ walk).
Guess because it was a bit of a miserable October day we were lucky. Saying that however, the average finish must be around 84, so I can’t imagine it ever being too much of a problem.
Facilities
The visitors centre is near the start; it has a café, toilets and a play area. There’s also an undercover bit where the volunteers met and you could shelter from the rain.
Run Briefings
First Timers Briefing
A good first timers briefing however I was just glad not to be a first finisher as I didn’t really understand the course clearly. It was me and not the explanation though and it did help a lot.
We were warned that it may be difficult in road shoes due to the rain. Personally I had opted not to take my trail shoes due to them being barefoot ones. It was right the decision for me as there’s still a fair bit of path and this would have been hard and my calves but also quite slippy for them. My road shoes I use for when it is muddy were absolutely fine though. Saying that I did walk up the steep muddy hill both times!
Briefing
We were welcomed and briefed by Run Director Paul Robinson. He individually thanked each of the 25 hi-vis heroes by name. We then gave them a round of applause. Paul told us that Ron Gough was on his 100th volunteer. That he wouldn’t hear the briefing but would find him manning the start of the forest loop.
Other Milestones
Claire Duffell also completed her 25th parkrun.
Severn Valley Country parkrun Course
Set in a stunning location Severn Valley Country parkrun is a mixed terrain course. The course starts down quite a steep hill before branching off for a loop around Ferryman’s. As warned this was very muddy.
You cross the River Severn over a bridge before heading onto scenic woodland trails – which run adjacent to the River Severn and Severn Valley Railway. It was lovely with the steam trains running at the same time!
The wooded loops are not only trail and muddy but there’s also quite a steep hill – and you do this twice. After this hill it’s not 100% clear but you go right until you see a marshal at a turnaround point. Apparently our youngest experienced someone accidentally just turn left here. Honestly if the person in front hadn’t have known where to go I would have done the same.
Once you have completed the two woodland loops you head back across the bridge and back up the hill to the finish. The nice long one from the start!
Due to the terrain, parts of the course may make it harder for people with buggies & pushchairs – please contact the team in advance for further information.
My Experience of Severn Valley Country parkrun
It was definitely a course that I felt would have been great for our son who wasn’t with us! There wasn’t much organisation of how fast people would run at the start but this wasn’t much of a problem due to the low numbers. However, personally I didn’t feel I could Jeff straight away and really didn’t like the beginning downhill. It felt like I was going to slip and fall straight on my face and so was really trying to slow myself down.
When doing the woodland section you pass the 4km marker twice. As I didn’t have my glasses on I didn’t see that it said about lap 2 and I worried that I had missed looping back. Following the person in front is harder when there’s fewer people to follow. However, the smaller numbers meant that I was finisher number 34 and the results came out really quickly.
We were told to let them know if you did not want your photo taken or put online – either by talking to them or covering your face or something. Little did I know that the most unflattering photo ever would be put up!
Everyone was really supportive, even when I just walked up that last hill!
They also had copies of the latest parkrun magazine
Stats for Severn Valley Country parkrun Event Number 205
There were only 77 participants.
These were made up of:
- 46 male, 30 female and 1 unscanned,
- 2 doing their very first ever parkrun,
- 18 tourists (who came from Conwy, Gloucestershire, and Birmingham),
- And 6 with PBs for the Severn Valley Country parkrun course.
Very well done to first finisher Gethin Rees who finished in 20:38. If you saw how tricky the course was that morning I am sure you would be very impressed! Jude Glynn was our first female finisher in a time of 26:50.
Average finish time by event 205 was 31:51. With 31 people finishing in under 30 minutes at event 205.
Age
Although Gethin was the highest male age grade finisher, he was not the highest overall. This went to Gloria Williams running in the VW70-74 category – 73.33%!
In fact an incredible 26 participants were over the age of 60! That’s around 34%, and not the easiest of courses (have I mentioned this)!
Parkruns I have done nearby:
- Dudley
- Brunswick Park
- Worcester Pitchcroft
Chrissy has also been although she did the contingency course.
This sounds like an interesting course, but probably one best avoided after heavy rain! I’m impressed that the run director thanked all the volunteers by name. I’ve never heard that before. Also impressed with how many runners over 60 there were! That is fantastic.