We headed to York Community Woodland parkrun. Yes I got a lower number for my Wilson Index, and it is always good to get a rarer letter Y, but the parkrun adventures are about much more than just completing a 5K. You guessed it we went for the community! This time it was for the first of the Boomerang Reunions.
York Community Woodland parkrun, Northfield Lane, York, YO26 6QZ
York Community Woodland parkrun Facilities
- Free parking at Dobbies Garden Centre
- Also accessible by bus or on foot
- Toilets in the Park and Ride just across the road from Dobbies
- Note there’s a short walk from here to the start/finish
- Food and drinks available at the Dobbies Café
- We used our free drinks with our membership but then also discovered that it was only £15 for our two breakfasts. They did a fabulous job of keeping us feed that I left a Google review for them.
The Course at York Community Woodland parkrun
The York Community Woodland parkrun course is two lollipop shaped laps on a hard-packed gravel trail. Winding through a newly-established woodland, with the start and finish near to the entrance. Largely flat (Strava says my elevation gain was 11m).
The start does have a path but with people able to start on the field and go around. Sure enough they always do and cause a bottle neck. I warned a lad behind me that I didn’t think he was far enough forward and sure enough he did have to come off the path and go round on the grass.
About the Boomerangs From Australia
You may recall that initially there were 10 Boomerangs, then this grew to 20 and now there’s a special Bon’s Boomerang (SB1) going around Australia too!
With a series of organised reunions around the UK (and one in Poland). Ali (from HQ) had very kindly brought us some treats over from Australia! This included Mango Tim Tams (thank you).
There was also a book/diary but I never got a chance to write in it. To be honest there was a queue and then I forgot!
Community
When there’s a parkrun arranged meet up it is always a nice community feel. Seeing people you’ve met before and meeting the new.
Nick
Luckily one of the people heading to the Boomerang reunion was Nick. Last time I saw him we had swapped phone numbers. Or so I thought! When I went to use his number it turns out the photo I had taken of his phone screen hadn’t taken properly!
Was quite strange that he was in the car that parked next to us in the carpark as we had left really early and literally just moved our car.
Other Boomerangers
Obviously there were lots of other Boomerangers at York Community Woodland parkrun, who it was also good to catch up with. As well as, of course, meeting Ali, from Boomerang HQ!
Rik
And hello to Rik! Whilst I was eating my yummy vegetarian breakfast (definitely recommend) in Dobbies Rik asked me if I was Joy and told me he read my blog every week. Lovely to meet you and thank you for coming to say hello.
Turns out he was at the same parkrun as my youngest the week before!
My Experience of York Community Woodland parkrun
A lovely parkrun. Well done to Melanie who is new to sign language support – that was quite a lot to sign! It was a through briefing, so much so that we didn’t start until 7 minutes past. A dog was getting quite impatient but its owner very sensibly moved it nearer the front/side.
The Start
Despite the warm weather it was a quick start. Managing to keep a decent pace until I saw my husband walking. For once I hadn’t looked at my watch either. By 2km I decided to not stop and walk but slow down. Thinking that Nick would over-take me soon that I would keep on going until at least then.
Walking
By 3km I still hadn’t been overtaken and did end up walking. From then on in it was a mix of running and walking. With my husband re-overtaking me, saying that he’d run with me but knew I would leave him!
A kind man who had finished encouraged me about 300m from the end. So I asked him how accurate the course was and he said very, which was reassuring for my sprint.
Finish
Needless to say I did sprint past my husband in the end. Even getting ahead of another lady. Getting my pace down to 2:50/km and people commenting on a nice finish! It wasn’t quite 5km on my watch so I kept moving slowly (after the finish funnel) until I knew my Strava would accept it!
Officially a time of 27m 04s and age grading of 60.47%. Happy with that seeing as it was hot and I walked quite a bit in the end.
York Community Woodland parkrun Results – Event 27
Times ranged between 17:14 (well done a new PB!) and 1:09:26 at York Community Woodland parkrun event 27.
Matthew Lunn (17:14) was the first male across the finish line and Nicola Carter (22:10) was the first female finisher
- 444 sub 1 hr
- 425 sub 50
- 377 sub 40
- 215 sub 30
- 161 sub 28
- 81 sub 25
- 37 sub 23
- 21 sub 22
- 11 sub 21
- 6 sub 20
- 3 sub 19
- And only the one quicker than 18 minutes (the 17:14)
Highest age grade was 81.65% (VW55-59) in 22:10 and for men it was 79.46% (VM45-49) in 18:25. For a junior it was 65.50% (JM15-17) in 20:55. The female junior with the highest age grading was 57.23% (JW11-14) in 28:27.
- 39 PBs
- 34 volunteers
- 449 participants – 232 male, 208 female and 9 unknown
- 10 people doing their very first parkrun
- 246 tourists
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