Skip to main content

Gorleston Cliffs parkrun

Having made so much progress towards the Fibonacci Sequence, I couldn't pass up the chance to run event 610 at Gorleston Cliffs today! As an added bonus, a third "G" event also means completing Stayin' Alive challenge - three "Bee"s and three "Gee"s!

The area

Gorleston Cliffs is located at the eastern boundary of Gorleston. The town of Gorleston lies south of Great Yarmouth, on the opposing bank of the river Yare, and is a popular destination for beach breaks owing to its sandy beach. The town was historically considered to be part of Suffolk, with the river proving a natural boundary, however, the town officially became part of Norfolk in 1835, owing to its close ties with neighbouring Great Yarmouth.

The Gorleston Cliffs run the length of the town's border with the North Sea, with facilities including tennis courts, basketball courts, gardens, shops, and cafes along its length, as well as providing an excellent view over the bay's sandy beach, and out to the offshore windfarm.

Gorleston Cliffs from the peninsular at the mouth of the river Yare

The course

The course follows just under two laps of an almost out-and-back route along the seafront, with the start located at the top of the cliffs, and the finish located at the bottom. Owing to the start / finish configuration, runners climb the cliff once, and descend twice resulting in a net elevation decline over the whole route. In addition to the net decline, the course is run entirely on tarmac, resulting in the potential for a fast run (though the one hill will probably limit any PB potential).

Parking is available along the length of Marine Parade, in addition to a number of free car parks. Public toilets are available in several locations along the promenade, including near the start area, as well as a range of cafes and other places offering refreshments.

The run

Upon arriving, I was immediately reminded of Clacton Seafront parkrun, which has a very similar layout, with street parking a short distance from the multi-level course along the seafront, except it was slightly cooler when I ran at Clacton!

After a quick warm up, it was time for the first timer's welcome, where it became evident just how many other people were chasing their Fibonacci sequence while enjoying a day at the beach, with many tourists in attendance!

Start area during the run briefing

After a quick summary of the Fibonacci Sequence, and highlighting that Gorleston Cliffs is actually the 14th ever parkrun which is what's allowed it to reach this milestone, we were off! The heat was a big factor in today's run, along with the flies! Flies were everywhere at the start area, landing and distracting runners, and they didn't relent during the run! Around 3.5km, we were attacked again by an entire swarm, which suprised the runners ahead of me, but gave me chance to close my mouth before reaching them! The really suprising thing about the flies, was that none were to be found when I was running on the same paths after the event!

Thanks to all of the smiley marshalls for helping with today's event, who seemed to be positioned almost every 100m, and well done to all of the tourists who were also ticking off event 610!

After the run

After the run, I decided to take advantage of the relaxed reputation of the area explore the area in the warm weather. I repeated the course to add some extra distance to my running, before wandering around the town. The town has a strong maritime history, which was evident just walking along the river Yare.

Gorleston lighthouse nestled amongst other maritime-oriented industry

After exploring the town, I also wandered along the cliffs, which includes gardens, tennis courts, basketball courts, and plenty of benches to relax, as well as the beach, which was very pleasant thanks to the nice weather.

Garden at Gorleston Cliffs

Links: Results | Strava

Labels:
Location: Gorleston-on-Sea (Beach), 6 Pier Gardens, Gorleston-on-Sea, Great Yarmouth NR31 6BU, UK

Popular posts from this blog

Coldham's Common parkrun

As my recovery from injury is still underway, I decided that I would attend a flat course this week to avoid any potential for reaggrevation. Unfortunately this means I will need to pause my completion of the Essex events, as the remaining courses are all somewhat lumpy. Having visited all of the other Cambridge parkruns, including Storeys Field parkrun, Fulbourn Hospital parkrun, and Cambridge parkrun knowing that they are all relatively flat, I decided that this week I would complete the Cambridge set. The area Coldham's Common has a long history, serving as both a hospital during the 17th century smallpox outbreak, and a quarry during the 19th century, as well as a rifle range also during the 19th century. The course The route follows two laps of the perimeter of the common through an hour-glass shape, connecting two fields through a five-bar-gate. The course is all on grass, and is all flat. Limited parking is available nearby, while toilets are available in...
Read more

Delamere parkrun

Being the festive season, I decided to pause my exploration of the East of England in favour of visiting events closer to family in Liverpool. While there are a number of events closer to Liverpool, I decided to visit Delamere parkrun, being somewhere I hadn't explored when living in the area previously. The area Delamere forest is all that remains of a much larger forest in the area. The forest spent some time as a Royal hunting forest, before being handed to Forestry England. The course The course follows a single lap of a lollipop route, through forests, and around the Blakemere Moss lake, starting and finishing near the visitor centre. The visitor centre includes paid parking, toilets, and a cafe, while free parking is also available in some of the other forest car parks, though they are further from the start line providing a great opportunity for a warm up! The route is all on a mixture of gravel and trail, and is mostly flat except for one short but steep incl...
Read more

Aldenham parkrun

Icey conditions in days leading up to parkrun day meant many events were cancelled this week. While I would have ideally been able to visit another event in Essex, I decided that I valued having options more in the event of cancellation this week, and so I instead headed to the cluster of events surrounding the Watford area. The area Aldenham Country Park is located near Watford, and centres on Aldenham reservoir, with grassland and woodland surrounding the reservoir itself. The reservoir was excavated by French prisoners of war during 1795 as part of the wider management of the Grand Union Canal's water levels, and now serves as a reserve water supply. In addition to the reservoir, the country park also supports the breeding of a number of rare species of farm animals, including cattle, goats, pigs, and sheep. The course The course follows two laps of the reservoir, with the second lap skipping the inner peninsular. The course is flat, and is run mainly on trail pat...
Read more