We headed to Uerdinger Stadtpark parkrun for the Saturday of the Bank holiday weekend. It was just myself, husband and youngest son. For me this would make my second parkrun in Germany but their first. This also qualified my husband to be a “World Tourist.” This also happened to be just before the Netherlands extra Special Day parkrun on the Monday.
Uerdinger Stadtpark, Nikolaus-Groß-Straße 4, 47829 Krefeld.
Obviously this helped with a U in more alphabets and was also a low event number that I still needed. See parkrun Stats and Challenges.
Facilities at Uerdinger Stadtpark parkrun
- We drove over to Germany and found free parking easy enough on the road next to the park.
- There were no toilets. However, it was let’s say a shady park with lots of trees.
- Arboretum where you can leave belongings underneath at your own risk. It was also a good place to get some shade from the sun.
- Water fountain.
- Lots of play areas.
- Nearby café – we were all shown how to get there in groups. Great windmill outside, so worth a visit for that alone. The café afterwards obviously also had a free toilet.
Uerdinger Stadtpark parkrun Course
3 beautiful flat laps of the park. A sand path so road shoes. Well-marked out with lots of signs and cones. Only one was just in German which I believe told you which side to keep – but common sense was enough! There was a marshal at a turning point too.
Start and finish in the same place.
The course we walked a very short away from where the briefing was, and then turned back towards the direction we came from. This is good to know for self-seeding – not normally a problem on this course but when higher numbers mostly from UK tourists it may well be!
My Experience
My initial thoughts were want a beautiful park it is. Loved some of the play equipment. The Uerdinger Stadtpark parkrun team were very welcoming and I was grateful that English was spoken.
Friends Old and New
Then I was getting my photo taken at the sign by my wonderful husband when Nick turned up! Apparently he also ran at Bushy parkrun and Valentines parkrun at the same time as me – but I only ever seem to see him at parkruns abroad! Therefore, my husband had never met him before!
It was such a wonderful community meet up and we had a World Tourist Mini Meet-up photo. Also I got to say hello to a lady who was at the same holiday camp as us. Only discovering her the night before on Instagram. Unfortunately she did not know about the extra parkrun on Monday and was heading home.
Also, mainly due to my outfit, a local lady spoke to me. It was her little girl’s first parkrun and she was very excited. The little girl that is. She did amazingly well completing one lap as it was ever so hot.
Briefings and Start
At Uerdinger Stadtpark parkrun there were a nice mix of where people were from, but most were from the UK. In fact they even asked if it was okay just to do the first timers briefing in English. With the main one being in both English and German.
The first timers was nice and prompt at 8:45am. However, the parkrun itself didn’t end up starting until six minutes past 9.
The Run or Rather Jeff
It was very hot. That, coupled with the fact that we would be doing three days of 5ks in a row, meant that I decided that I was going to Jeff. Setting my watch on a 30:30. However, after the first beep to walk a mix of feeling okay and it being a bit too much of an inconvenience to others I decided to keep going. Making the decision to do a 90:30.
Jeffing Uerdinger Stadtpark parkrun at this ratio did not then seem to be a problem.
Each lap you did the run director was there with a mushroom teddy so you could “power up.”
Finishing
Incredibly my husband finished in 27m 33s. Of course this meant he was then to encourage me at the end and get photos! With my sprint finish pace going down to 3:18/km.
Managing to finish in 30:29. As this year I am aiming for sub30s unless there’s a reason to be over. Of course with the heat it definitely was!
Our youngest managed it in 36:31. Not bad seeing as he doesn’t really come with us anymore. Did I also mention that it was VERY HOT!
Finally a nice man thanked me for encouraging his son on the course.
Uerdinger Stadtpark parkrun Stats
- 86 finishers between the times of 19:18-1:06:09
- There were 13 men who ran sub 25.
- First female, and highest female age grade, was Katie Woodward. VW35-39 and 59.88% in 25:23. Just ahead of the runniest runner Nick Riches (741 parkruns).
- 33 sub 30
- 8 first timers
- 56 tourists
- Fantastic five getting PBs in the heat!
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