Stavanger parkrun is a lovely long flat run looping clockwise round Mosvatnet lake, after a short downhill swoop towards it. Then someone decided the views of the lake weren’t enough on their own, and added a punishing climb to more lovely views over the city and the water. It also takes you into a park, Vålandsskogen, which perhaps help with credibility. Essentially, much as it’s wonderful, it is a tough part of the run, though coming back down is as easy as going up is hard.
I had become a short-term expert on long-distance buses in Norway, because my original choice of run was cancelled. The more sensible (for access to Oslo) Skien Fritidspark will wait for another day. Nor-way and Vy will both take you from Oslo to Stavanger as will the trains (see entur.no, soon to have a name change, which will give you buses and trains), taking about 8 hours. Vy were more expensive when I looked, and much of Scandinavia uses Easter to carry out maintenance on the trains, so there were fewer options. The bus journey hugs the South coast via Kristiansand for much of the route, and the views took me through snowy peaks, fir forests and a mix of frozen and watery lakes. The season is clearly turning, despite my plane landing into flurries of snow on Thursday, but isn’t quite into the warm bit of Spring yet.
The parkrun volunteers reported they’d seen the last of the snow a week or so ago, which was proven right for that part of the country - the city and surrounds have access to lots of waterfront, which probably helps with melting ice when the temperature rises a bit.
The run director on the day was English and greeted those few of us who were new to the course, including an Australian (oil and gas industry), an ex-chain-smoking Norwegian (oil and gas industry) beginning to get high on the joys of exercise and me (oil and gas? Ah, no). Many of the others, perhaps all, spoke English, and the briefing was also in English. I hope that’s their standard, not just for us, but either way it was very welcoming.
The course is easy to follow, and marked with arrows in all the crucial places. On the way back down from the hill, at the top of which you do a loop, I had to make sure to make the left turn - it wasn’t specifically signed, but the signs directing us up the hill from the other direction were there - and as I ran along the trail heading back to the lake my idiot “could get lost in a straight line” head looked at the turns to the right and wondered if I should take them. I should not, and did not - straight on unless otherwise told - and found my way back to a hairpin turn back to the cycle path and the arrows by the lake (below).
There’s one last bit of uphill to get to the finish - wherever you’ve walked from to get to the event, it’s likely you’ve seen it, so it’s not a surprise, even if not totally welcome at that point.
Usually people head to a cafe very close to the start/finish but it was closed (as were many other things - I had brought supplies more as a hedge against Norwegian prices, but they were useful on Friday) for Easter. The swimming pool provides toilets, though they may also have been closed this day. I stayed at the hospital (they have a hotel) which is just over 1km away, and has a midday checkout so makes visiting and still fitting in a shower afterwards very easy. Others had walked or cycled from town, which is under 3 km from much of the centre.
This is a lovely, scenic route, full of friendly people and volunteers, with a great community feel - it felt like I was joining a local event, which is always a highlight. Just be ready for the hill.
Results from Stavanger parkrun event 176, 8/4/23; 36 finishers.
