I made a longer journey than usual to get to Lincoln, and was rewarded with the very-gently undulating terrain of the leisure centre parkrun - it’s rarely flat, but is also not remotely hilly. The good tarmacced surface all the way round brought out a number of modern shoes, the first time I’ve heard the noise some make squeaking past. It’s a good course for a PB attempt - although there are plenty of laps, so much lapping of others, there’s plenty of space. As the course is 3-and-a-bit laps, with the ‘bit’ done first, the faster runners are lapping people (like me) who are on their first time round the top-right loop while still on their first big loop, but I didn’t see any problems.
Look at that wide path! And it’s so handily placed for people living nearby - playing ‘spot the houses’ on the picture above will only divert you for a second.
There’s plenty of parking, and toilets (not the ones in the leisure centre, but the ones in use are right next to the start/finish). As you might expect from the laps, it’s all on a fairly compact site, so everything is nearby. The stroll to the leisure centre for a drink afterwards takes you back towards the car park, so even that is very convenient.
You can see above that the finish funnel is smartly placed, well to the side for those lapping round. This area is very near the start, so the team set it up after everyone has set off.
I had headed to Yarborough to say hello to Alison, who runs the NZ Runs with a Barcode substack. Many, possibly even most, of my readers have come via that site (hello! Thank you!), so she’ll be known to many of you, and well known to some. As a bonus, above is a picture of Alison taking a finish token from her son. It was great to have time for a catch-up afterwards, and made the trip worthwhile.
To add to that sense of a constructive day, I visited Lincoln and its cathedral afterwards. It’s only a mile or so from the leisure centre, though I drove half a mile closer, where there was more free parking. There’s also 2-hour parking right next to the cathedral - not much chance later in the day, but there were a couple of spaces at 10:30, had I chanced it.
The walk in from the North is easy enough, though, and the cathedral magnificent. I decided that wasn’t enough, and went down ‘steep hill’ which lives up to its name. It has a handrail, and places to stop on the way. It’s quite something.
The centre was bustling, with two separate choirs entertaining us, busy shops and plenty to entertain you. I contented myself with some charity shop book buying, to complete a good day of exercise by ensuring a heavier load walking back up the hill.
Results from Yarborough Leisure Centre parkrun #61, 27/4/24; 231 finishers
Lovely to see you there - and thanks for that pic! We loved our visit to Lincoln and would definitely return, the cathedral was magnificent (and learning about its previous spire helped my sister earn a quiz point a few days later).
We piked out of Steep Street, maybe next time.