Parke’s first Parkrun

Saturday 5th April saw the inaugural Parkrun at Parke in Bovey Tracey. If you are unfamiliar with the Parkrun idea, it is really quite simple. Parkrun is a free timed 5km run which occurs at a series of venues across the world every saturday morning at 9am. For more details about Parkrun at Parke – see here.

The National Trust has been really supportive of Parkrun and we host a number of events around the country – in Devon we host them at Killerton and Plymbridge and of course now Parke. We launched the Plymbridge Parkrun in September 2012  – see here.

Over 100 people turned up to run at Parke – a great turnout! The Parke course was also fantastic – ok one steep slope but otherwise glorious.

Here are a few photos from the day.

Myself and Fred Hutt – Parke’s Ranger before the start

At the start with Tony Owen who organises our National Trust Wild Tribe 10 Tors teams with me

And they’re off

Fred’s nearly finished

Some time later ….

Difficult to tell if this is before or after the race …..

The Parkrun team of volunteers – a big thanks. Parkruns rely on volunteers so it you would like to help contact Parke Parkrun here parkehelpers@parkrun.com

Parke is a lovely Estate for a walk and a cup of coffee and cake at Home Farm Cafe as well

Parke’s a bit muddy but not very muddy ….

Thanks to Nick Smith of Home Farm Cafe for talking the pictures and feeding runners after the race – great bacon butty and coffee …

 

 

What a great place for a run…..

Sunday saw the running of this year’s Drogo 10 – the 10 mile off road running race through the Teign Valley. Over 500 entrants – amazing considering what a gruelling race it is. The fast racer was in in under 1 hour! Full race details can be found here.

I took a few pictures to capture the spirit of the place and atmosphere of the race. The full photo set is here.

 

The Teign Valley around Fingle Bridge always looks amazing in the autumn and this year is no exception

These guys finished 1-2-3 respectively – all finishing in under an hour

Runners in the landscape

This spaniel was first dog in but his handler really held him up

One of our Dartmoor Rangers – Stuart Mathieson running through Fingle Woods (which we recently jointly bought with the Woodland Trust) – Stuart completed the race in just under 1 hour 23 mins – impressive! My quickest time ever for the Drogo 10 was 1 hour 55 mins …..

Show boating on Fingle Bridge.

Amazing autumn colours.

Well done to all involved – runners, volunteers, organisers and supporters – the busiest Drogo 10 yet I think!

Trail Running NT special – a Dartmoor addendum

The latest issue of Trail Running magazine has 31 National Trust trail running routes highlighting the brilliant nature of the Trust’s special places for running. Well done to @NTSport (Rob Joules) for sorting with the magazine.

There were several Devon routes in the magazine but none from Dartmoor so I thought I would add a few here for you which you can check out.

Parke – near Bovey Tracey – parkland, woodland, riverside and disused railway trails

Teign Valley – near Castle Drogo – run up and down the Gorge and along the river

Shaugh Prior – Dewerstone Woods – run up the Plym on the footpath to Cadover Bridge and back – spectacular

The Upper plym around Trowlesworthy – moorland running up to Hen Tor and then down to Shavercombe Valley and back along the Plym

Hembury Wood near Ashburton on the Dart. Plenty of footpaths throughout the wood – very up and down

Holne Wood, New Bridge on the Dart – great track up the Dart

Explore and enjoy!