Pontefract parkrun – The Halloween and Ponty Challenge

pinkoddy

3 weeks ago

When my husband wanted to visit a kitchen showroom up in Yorkshire it made sense to combine it with an overnight stay and a further away parkrun. There happened to be one right near where we needed to go and we nearly ended up there. However, my husband happened to discover that Pontefract parkrun wasn’t all that far away. He didn’t even know it was part of a challenge called the Full Ponty (a play on words of the film The Full Monty). Even better still this was the one that was furthest away from our home!

Pontefract parkrun, Pontefract Racecourse, Park Rd, Pontefract, Yorkshire, WF8 4QD

Location

We stayed at a lovely Travelodge which was a 30 minute drive away. Apparently there is a hotel which is cheaper and closer.

The racecourse is beautiful, and has a lovely play park – as well as a chance to spot some fantastic creatures. Locally there is a McDonalds and other shops – each with parking.

Parking

Parking seemed a little confusing as people were going all manner of directions. We did manage to park okay though. Although we were a little unsure on the way out whether it was one way or not – and whether some of us were going the wrong way!

Afterwards we headed to McDonalds, which is just on the roundabout. Unfortunately there was absolutely no parking there and the DriveThru was so busy that it was actually causing a problem back on to the roundabout. Parking in the retail park was just for users of the shops too!

Pontefract parkrun Course

The Pontefract parkrun course sounds more complicated than it actually is. Basically it is one loop but you go round the lake one way at the beginning, then go out around the racecourse, and on your return you go round the lake again but the other way! It does mean that you get near the finish and think that’s it but there’s still the little bit of the lake to go!

The Pontefract racecourse is 2 miles long, and the largest flat racing circuit in Europe. However, this course is not entirely flat.

Care must be taken by the lake – particularly if anglers are using it!

My Experience Jeffing Pontefract parkrun

Well firstly it was a bit of a no warning quick we are off start. They were running slight over the 9am start and I don’t think they were really used to so many participants. This meant that first timers especially weren’t really in the right position based on finish time and so there was quite a bit of walking slowly to begin with. Obviously due to this I didn’t really feel I could Jeff, so again it was quite a while before I started to actually begin my Jeffing (a run/walk technique). Thank you to the lady who helped encourage me.

Personally I found the description of the route a little confusing. Luckily I am slow enough that it didn’t really matter and I just followed everyone else. Also that I was wearing my watch so I knew that when we reached the finish it wasn’t the end because I hadn’t ran far enough. No that was time for another trip around the lake.

It was nice how many people made the effort for Halloween. There was also a coach trip from Airey Airways from Chipping Sodbury. 33 of which were completing their Full Ponty Challenge!

Pontefract parkrun Stats

There were 422 participants at Pontefract parkrun event 628. These were 200 male, 215 female and 7 unscanned.

Dean Playforth was our first finisher in 17:55 – not his PB at Pontefract parkrun. He was also not the highest age-grading, which was achieved by Martin Place (82.88%).

There were 13 people doing their very first parkrun – welcome. Plus a further 142 tourists on their very first time at Pontefract parkrun. Of those returning there were 43 PBs.

There were 183 participants finishing sub30 today. Just getting in there were two junior first timers! By event 628 the average finish time was 29:57.