COURSE INFO & REVIEW
This Parkrun is located at Burnage Rugby Club, Varley Park, which is actually in Heaton Mersey in Stockport and not the Burnage area of Manchester.
The start point is beyond where the Rugby Fields are on this picture, just a few minutes walk from the Clubhouse.
There is convenient parking either at the Rugby Club Car Park or on the nearby road - Battersea Road.
Route map below taken from my run on Strava
The course starts out with an out and back section along the River Mersey and there are times during this part of the run that the path can get a bit overcrowded which makes it more difficult to pass easily. After doing that section you do two big loops which contain a smallish incline at one point and a section of stairs at another.
Picture below shows the section that gets overcrowded near the start of the race (but you come past this point more than once, so this was later on in the run where the runners were more spread out).
Below shows the route alongside the River Mersey
The picture shows the stairs section which does slow you down a bit.
The course is also very mixed in terms of ground underfoot. There are parts with tarmac, hard paths and gravel paths so it is also worth bearing that in mind.
I found this course to be a bit similar to the one at Worsley Woods, but I slightly preferred this Parkrun to the one there.
The winning male time was 17:10 and the quickest female time was 19:16.
MY RUN ON THE DAY
Picture of me below after Burnage Parkrun
I had decided to take this run easier than usual because with it being the track season and my focus being on middle distance running, I wanted to do a track session after it. My target was to run under 4:30 per km pace and since I wasn't running for a quick time, I was able to stop and take a couple of pictures while I was running round. I finished in 21:32 which was around 4:23/km pace so I felt I had enough energy going in to my track session which was focused on short fast reps.
Overall I found this to be a nice enough Parkrun but with a few challenging sections if wanting to get a quick time, especially with there being steps. Overall, I would say it is a medium difficulty.
FURTHER INFO
Date - 04/05/2024
Time - 21:32
Position - 26th out of 209
Distance - 4.90km
SPLITS & DIFFICULTY
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