We headed to the beautiful Cosmeston Lakes parkrun in Wales. Our son had previously suggested going there and he wasn’t wrong about how lovely it was. Having previously been bitten by a dog at parkrun I also liked that it was a dog prohibited course (apart from assistance dogs).
Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Lavernock Road, Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan, CF64 5UY
Facilities at Cosmeston Lakes parkrun
Accessible by foot, car, train or bus. Although I believe a taxi is required from Penarth railway station. Other facilities include:
- Toilets
- Refresh café
- Car park (charges apply after 9am)
- Adventure playground
- Picnic areas
- Woodland walks
- Bird hides
- and Nature trails.
Cosmeston Lakes parkrun Course
With beautiful views and a nice varied route. Starting and ending on the grass, but with a mix of surfaces (including tarmac, gravel paths and trails). Undulating and different “loops” as opposed to laps. See course page for full description. I, as usual, followed the people in front.
Although the parkrun itself doesn’t allow for dogs it seemed that a lot of people agreed that it was a good place to take one for a walk. Honestly never seen quite so many dogs when at parkrun!
My Experience of Cosmeston Lakes parkrun
Ironically as soon as we got out of the car I saw Nigel from our running club! He was on his way to Swansea for the football.
Also the one person I spoke to about being bitten whilst running the course the previous week was there too! The events are nowhere near each other either!
It was a beautiful day and a lovely place to visit.
Running and Jeffing
Seeing as my knee still hurt from when I was bitten by a dog at parkrun the previous week I decided to take it easy. Also our teen has been struggling to get back into parkrun so he said he would stay with me. My husband did also offer as I am a bit nervous around dogs now.
Switching to Jeffing
So it was a nice steady start, keeping looking back to ensure my son was keeping up. However, just after 3km my son decided to leave me! At first I thought I had just slowed down but then my knee really hurt and I just let him disappear into the distance. In fact, in the end, he finished 41 seconds ahead of me. After this point I decided to Jeff. My watch was already set for a 30:30 but when he was with me I had thought I would be able to straight run it all.
The Finish
In the end I did manage a bit of a sprint finish. It was nice that Nigel had stayed until then too.
Definitely a lovely event and one we would return to.
Cosmeston Lakes parkrun Stats
- 188 participants
- 16:18-53:05
- First lady 21:03 (5th place) (VW45-49)
- One sub 17
- Two sub 20
- 41 sub 25
- 104 30 minutes or under
Highest age grading 82.91% – VW60-64 24:05
Male highest age grading was first finisher Adam (79.14%) SM20-24
Well done to Nigel coming second in his age category
Other parkruns nearby I have completed:
Grangemoor parkrun (2.5m), Barry Island parkrun (4.2m), Cardiff parkrun (5.6m), Llanishen Park parkrun (7.7m), Newport parkrun (11.8m), Clevedon Salthouse Fields parkrun (13.8m)
Visit these other bloggers who cover parkrun: Sarah at Mum of Three World, Jackie at Never Imitate and Chrissy at It’s Me Chrissy J and Nickie at I am Typecast