Damhusengen parkrun
Copenhagen, Denmark
Copenhagen had one parkrun, then two, three and since 11/9/21, four. This is that fourth one, a little further from the centre than the others but still only 7km from the central station. It’s also well served by buses and trains. We hopped on the H train, leaving every 20 minutes for a 20 minute journey from Østerport to Jyllingevej (or the previous stop, Vanløse). The former is closer to the park itself, but for the meeting point at the SE corner, they’re not too different; 1.2km from Jyllingevej, 1.7 from Vanløse.
With the excitement and relative convenience of having this extra run on a Monday and one in Sweden tomorrow, a whole pile of tourists appeared in Copenhagen mainly for parkrun. I wasn’t there till mid afternoon the day before, after a train ride from Hamburg, which is ample time but ruled me out of the canal cruise on Friday afternoon.
This event is far enough out of town to not be quite as busy as the others - 150 finishers here, with 189 at Fælledparken, 402 at Amager Fælled (both had 4 first-timers - what a day to be there!*) and over 600 rumoured at Amager Strandpark where the results are still being processed as I write.
As I’ve been saying a lot recently, the route is flat, and mostly on the sort of dusty paths you see above, making for another tiny dust storm at the start as we moved off. The section by the lake, at the top of the course, cuts across a bike path and onto concrete, before turning back into the park and the gravel underfoot. It’s all a good surface.
Before the event I waved at a few people I knew, and caught up with a couple I hadn’t seen since 2016. One remembered me, one didn’t - it had been that long. I had booked a 12:30 coach from Copenhagen to Gothenburg which tempted my travel companions to do the same so we couldn’t hang around for long afterwards, leaving much of the happy crowd finishing, talking, eating and comparing notes on past and future travel. The journey back to town was just as slick as that to the park, leaving us with time to shower, check out and visit a bakery on the walk to the bus stop.
The course doesn’t run beside the lake for long, but the finish is right there, so there’s plenty of time to admire it before and after the event. The park is pretty enough, with parts shaded and others exposed. This was another warm day and I enjoyed all those conditions. It wasn’t so hot that the shade was needed, exactly, but it was still welcome.
See the course page for travel info, or use the local ‘DOT Tickets’ app on which you can also buy tickets (same price as ticket machines - 24kr for the 2 zone ticket we needed. Damhusengen is on the edge of the 2nd zone if you’re coming from the centre).
Results from Damhusengen parkrun #92, 5/6/23; 150 finishers.
*It is now compulsory in tourist run reports to say “we hope you come back!” or words to that effect, so, yes; obviously that.
Out of the four Copenhagen events I think I would have gone with this one too, much prefer a smaller event!! I ran Amager Strandpark in 2017 and there were 91 that day, 644 would have been suffocating.