Falkirk Parkrun Number 18

Results | Fastest 500

This was my second Falkirk Parkrun and looking at the weather on Friday night I thought it was going to be a washout. However the weather was clear and crisp and made for a great race. While over at the pre race briefing I had a scan round the runners that were gathered and could only see about 1 runner from Lothian RC (Colin Partridge) that looked as though he’d give me a run for my money.

The race started and once the young guy running alongside me ran out of steam I pulled into the lead followed by Colin. As we pulled up the hill in the forest the multitude of footsteps slowly faded as we pulled away. then about a 3rd of the way through the forest I could hear footsteps coming through quick, I had expected to see a Lothian RC vest come through but it was the Lime and Tangerine of a Carnegie vest that whizzed past. It seems that Andrew Wright arrived just after we started and worked his way through from the back of the field.

I tried to hang on for a bit but he was really shifting so I eased off. As we emerged from the West side of the park onto Kenper Avenue I could see Andrew ahead and was still towing along Colin. As we ran along the road through the park towards Heartbreak Hill (a short steep hill about 2/3 of the way through that takes several scalps each week) I noticed I was gaining on Andrew so dug in and pushed a bit harder opening a bit of a gap on Colin. I kept about the same distance between myself and Andrew going up Heartbreak Hill but as soon as he hit the top he seemed to change gear and really took off.

Winding through the forest tracks I had Colin hot on my heals again before I hit the gradual descent out of the forest where I decided to put in a bit of effort and open a gap, I emerged out the forest with I think about a 20m lead on Colin to power along the home straight without much chance of losing second place.

1st Andrew Wright – 16:13 (2nd Fastest Falkirk Parkrun)
2nd John Denovan – 17:33 (7th Fastest Falkirk Parkrun)
3rd Colin Partridge – 17:41

It’s well worth a trip through for the Falkirk race, it seems very different from the Glasgow Parkruns with it being mostly on forest trails. You won’t break any 5k PB’s but it’s a good challenge and a great little route. Perfect for honing your XC performance as well.