Parkrun Italia!

Puff!

Having just completed the Etna parkrun in Sicily we had someone take a nice photo of us. The Italians, especially in Sicily, have gone nuts about parkruns and there are already 4 of them on the island with more planned. This run was a pleasant four laps round the woods (but it was their 'B' course as due to tree felling activities their regular two lap course was unavailable. Behind us with volcanic smoke drifting into the sky was Mount Etna! The park in question was already a third of the way up and we certainly felt the altitude. We then drove up to the summit visitor centre passing enormous lava flows from recent eruptions - this is very much an active volcano!

Etna - 2001 eruption!

Am I being followed?

This photo depicts Vicky's very nice '50 up' Parkrun t-shirt. It also gives you an idea of the very pleasant trail taken by the Favorita Parkrun which consist of two laps round the woods. This is only a couple of miles out of central Palermo and considering there are over a million Sicilians living in the metropolitan area, it's a quiet secluded area, perfect for a parkrun. (Although when we recce'd the area the evening before we did spot several 'ladies of the night' patrolling a spot very close to the start of the run!) We didn't realise it at the start but we were victorious in the 'parkrun ashes' - we finished ahead of the other tourists this week, Graham and Deirdre from Brisbane, but that might have something to do with their late start!


And guess who was first lady - here's a record of Vicky's run - gender position 1st!

Stop Polizia!

We are the police!

Here's a typical Italian police car - this one belongs to the Polizia Municipale, Palermo branch parked on via Maqueda in the heart of the city. You might perhaps expect Italian police cars to be Fiats but no - this one's a Renault. Police cars are generally the only cars to be seen with no dents

We'll protect you.

But then what's this parked a few yards away? These are the civil defence guys, their remit, according to Wikipedia is the prediction, prevention and management of exceptional events. We used to have a civil defence corps in the UK but this was disbanded in 1968. (Just as I became old enough to join!)

Smart car!

But aren't the police in Italy called carabinieri? Yes that's right but these police are a division of the army. They are the equivalent of the French gendarmes and they have nicer cars! They played a significant role in suppressing the Mafia in Sicily since they don't have local connections.

We'll always catch you!

And of course if you're going to get pulled over while speeding (which we never saw happen to any of the Italians who went flying past us at well over 100 mph), it will be by a fast blue car (often with Polizia Stradale written on the side.) They're not all Lamborghinis by the way!

We're the tree police!

And we're just some local police!

The prison police!

The financial police get involved with everything!

2 x 5K

Gosh Martin looks keen!

A frantic last week of running in March - two 5K races in four days! I competed in the low key Denbighshire 5K and finished in 3rd overall (21:57) - there's me on the left of the picture with the yellow gloves. John M on the right (orange vest) is looking worried on his return to racing after a year out - no need to worry as he won the race with comfort. And just four days later I ran in the very competitive Wirral Seaside run from the Leasowe lighthouse - although I was 49th I still managed to come in sub 20 in my best 5K time for years (19:41).


Here's a snap of the Leasowe lighthouse on a fine day - race entries are taken in the lighthouse (on the ground floor!) and we start somewhere near the point where this picture was taken - we turn right and right again to run along the promenade to the finish - it's a nice warm down jog back to the start (unless it's a cold windy day as it was last Wednesday. I did however carry a lightweight windproof top which helped.)

Weather is pretty dreadful for this time of year with lots of rain, snow and cancelled races but all will change in April hopefully!

At Loggerheads

Catch me if you can!

This me being chased by Dan and Paul at Joe Cooper's Loggerheads Trail 5K race. They tried hard but couldn't catch me, I finished in 5th place on a fine morning through the woods. On finishing my race (one lap) I ended up doing an extra lap as Joe asked me to go around again, catch up the last 10K runner (2 laps) and tell the marshals they could go home. Vicky was up for the two lapper and was well clear of the tail runner, her technique of going straight through puddles worked very well.

It's quicker down the middle.

 I did manage to get in a Parkrun the following weekend in Nottingham. Took this one steady - there was an absolute gale wafting down the long straight at the Forest Recreation Ground in Nottingham and I was hoping for a good time in the Vale of Clwyd 5K in the morning. I was wearing tracksters, a long sleeve vest, a short sleeve vest and two windproof tops and still wasn’t overheating (that’s me in green towards the left of the photo). But blow me down a snowstorm meant that the following day’s race was cancelled and I could have had a blast here! This was a friendly run in not the most salubrious part of Nottingham and I was particularly impressed at the vast number of Notts Women Runners in their purple tops - all with big smiles on their faces. I only found out after the event that this park has for many years hosted the Nottingham Goose Fair, one of the best known travelling funfairs in Europe. 

Brrrr!

The XC Season is Over - Hooray!

Underground Parkrun perhaps?

This is the second Parkrun run we've done at a venue that used to be a colliery, in this case it was the Rising Sun Colliery at Wallsend, near Newcastle on Tyne. One of the world's largest deep coalmines, it contained over 60 miles of tunnels and coal was hauled to the surface by pit ponies. Now it's a wildlife park home to various species of plant and birdlife, oh and a very popular Parkrun. Not much sun rising on this dark wet February morning though but we did scoot round quite rapidly to the finish to get out of the wind. I topped the age graders with 80.23% and a time of 21:05 - I thought I'd gone very well and the organiser told me that the course was actually "a wee bit over distance". Vicky  rushed round in 36:21 and promptly got changed into her work gear for a 10 am start at the office!

Certainly the muddiest cross country season I've ever encountered and we both completed all five fixtures earning first male V65 first and third lady V60 awards. I was also surprised to get a medal for our club being second team in the men's 2nd division hence gaining promotion - we turned out in force in the final fixture at Oswestry to pip Wrexham to the post.

Another Atlantic Half!

Chasing the Pack!

The Madeira Half Marathon - January in Madeira sounded like a nice escape from the cold winter of North Wales, but the rain followed us south. It was warm rain though and quite refreshing during the Funchal Half Marathon. We both gave this one a go and despite it being along the coast road it was far from flat! Here's Vicky in the blue top chasing hard through the tropical drizzle.

Looks like a model but this is for real!

The capital of Madeira is Funchal, which is where we stayed at a very pleasant hotel close to the seafront - we were among the youngest there and many of the incumbents seemed to be there for the winter. High above the city and frequently obscured by low cloud, is the village of Monte. We took a hair-raising  bus ride up the steep narrow roads to reach the Monte Tropical Gardens an astonishing creation of follies, lakes stocked with giant Koi Carp, waterfalls and themed gardens. We saw an amazing orchid garden, quite something considering this is not the orchid season, we visited an African sculpture museum, an underground gemstone museum and wandered among the maze of different sights.

All the way?

One way back down to Funchal is on the traditional toboggans. Steered by teams of costumed locals these are pushed down some alarmingly steep streets - there are no brakes and stopping relies on the stout boots that you see the men wearing. And I didn't see any seat belts either! We took the bus back down.


Beer in Madeira is synonymous with Coral Lager, the local brew which is found everywhere. In our hotel the bar font didn't even have any indicator of what poured out - the assumption seems to be that if you ask for a beer you want Coral Lager. We managed to find the only microbrew bar down a side street in Funchal where we found a selection of taps dispensing Portuguese craft beers including a tasty IPA and a smoked porter - marvellous - we went back the next night and the night after!

Home on the Range

Hope they've not sent me round again!

A bit of a gloomy photo but then it was a gloomy day. Highlight of the cross country season in North Wales is the Rhug Championship event near Corwen. It's a course with a difference because it's run on Lord Newborough's estate and race HQ is the  estate farmshop which is famous for its bison meat. There's been a herd of North American bison here for several years and they've become a bit of a tourist attraction in their own right. Meanwhile we are on the opposite side of the road and the very wet course is laid out on rough pasture -  no well worn paths to follow here! Two laps for the ladies, four for the men, apart from the older men who just do three - how can they keep count? You might well ask! This race is always in January and staying afterwards for the presentations is a challenge as it's usually freezing - today was no different - but I guess it was worth it. The Harriers won a number of medals including a team silver and an individual silver for yours truly.

Lord Newborough is always up for new ideas for attracting new customers and making more money and he's taught one of his bison to jump up onto a prominent position next to the main road - here it is standing on four wooden pillars with an exhausted runner posing underneath.

Bison Burger anyone?