We were all set to go parkrunning at Wythenshawe, as usual, but icy conditions had us alert to their Facebook page. Sure enough, a message from run director Tristan at about 8.15 confirmed that he had deemed the conditions to be too icy for a safe run.
Whilst others turned up and did the run anyway on an unofficial basis, we knew that Woodbank parkrun in Stockport never cancels, so we popped down there in plenty of time for the 9 am start for 151 runners on the cold morning.
Vernon Park and Woodbank Park are next to each other in Stockport. I had a go at orienteering here in December 2009, and Sue and I did the parkrun here on 16 January 2016, on another icy morning that was too much for Wythenshawe.
There had been a sprinkling of snow, as evident from the top picture taken outside Vernon Park’s posh but rather impersonal (compared with Wythenshawe) café.
Normally, Woodbank parkrun takes place over two laps, including a steep hill. But today’s icy conditions had them using a three lap course that my Garmin measured as a little short of 5 km. Sue walked around in 35 minutes so as not to aggravate her Achilles injury, and I jogged gently round in a little under 27 minutes. We were both registered for an event the following day (see next posting) and I spent some time chatting to a dog walker who was also taking it easy for the same reason, whilst Sue’s walking pace was fairly brisk as she tried to stay on the coattails of a chap called Chris Bryans, running with a numb leg in the 80-85 age category.
We adjourned to the café and watched the tail enders negotiating a very icy corner near the end of the course. This is pictured below, with the finish visible in the distance.
Here’s the café. Rather shockingly posh compared with Wythenshawe’s friendly Courtyard Café.
The results, for what they are worth, are here. There were more participants than usual, possibly because of other cancellations, including a few other familiar faces from Wythenshawe.
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