running and rolling together

Next up on the parkrun tour was Queen’s – our 13th out of 25.  This is an easy parkrun to find, not far beyond the roundabout at the top of the Malone Road, with plenty of carparking for 100+ runners each week.  The clubhouse is a new modern building so seemed very accessible and user-friendly for toilets etc.  The run brief is held in front of the main building and the run starts about 250m back along the tarmac path / internal road (closer to Dub Lane, which is where the old clubhouse was when I was at Queen’s a long time ago).  The run involves two laps in a clockwise direction, mostly following the perimeter of the sports pitches and along a path on part of the boundary with the grounds of Malone House/Barnetts Demense.  It is a very pleasant course, especially on a lovely sunny day (it might feel a bit more exposed on a wet windy day) and there aren’t too many hills.  The course is on a mixture of road, tarmac and gravel paths – the paths are a little uneven and there are a number of sections with quite deep gravel, this was ok for our jogger with its’ all-terrain wheels but would not suit a conventional chair.  There course is narrow in areas and there were a couple of bollards/posts that were off-centre and can probably only be passed on one side so you need to stay alert while running / chatting! It does however finish with the opportunity for a sprint finish - if you have any energy left - and the support around the course and at the finish was very encouraging. Barcode scanning is just inside the main building and refreshments are in the bar/viewing area, which is a lovely bright open space that Ben would have happily stayed in all day (or at least until the biscuits ran out). This is not the easiest course for a wheelchair or jogger but the challenges are definitely countered by the warm welcome at this very disability aware and inclusive parkrun.

team kerr

queens