Horton Park in Bradford is a 19th Century municipal park to the Southwest of Bradford city centre and last Saturday became first Parkrun Tourism destination since I started my blog. The parkrun is relatively new and was started to take some of the pressure of the main Bradford event at Lister park whose numbers are getting quite strong.
 |
| Setting up on the Park's central avenue. |
By contrast to the Bradford and Huddersfield editions the run at Horton is very small usually around 50. This leads to a very different atmosphere when running. At Huddersfield there is always someone within a metre or so but here at Horton it can get very stretched out fortunately, though, there was quite a bunch of us that finished within about 15 seconds of each other which meant we didn't back off at the end when we were tired.
The day itself was cold with a brisk and as the race started we got a few flakes of snow which held off for the 3 and half laps of the park. In the small field I found myself very near the front as I went down the hill for the first of four times (Four downs and three ups we were told at the briefing although they forgot to mention how steep it was). A quick count up revealed I was in seventh position and I set my sights on taking the next couple of guys in front of me.
 |
| Just after the start. |
Over the next two laps I managed to battle my way past three guys on the descents and hold them off on the climbs where the wind was right in our faces. I am at my best when running freely and I struggle climbing hills like that!
On the last descent I was in fourth with quite a few runners close on my heels. The third placewas man a long way in front. This is where you find out whether you have left enough in the tank for the finish and evidently I hadn't because I got pipped on the run in and eventually finished 6th in 23 minutes. It was slower than last week but given a hard week's training, the tough course and the wind I was reasonably happy.
 |
| About to start the last rise, having dumped my hat on the previous lap |
The park is very nice and has some intersting features and I'm sure that the formal gardens will look great in Summer and I do intend to get back and race here again. It's a lovely run and my thanks go out to the event team and the regular runners, and in particular Jason, who all made me feel very welcome.
Click here for the
Garmin trace
Click here for the
Strava page.
No comments:
Post a Comment