is the Cardiff parkrun a short course or just REALLY fast or brings out all the top people?

There is another fairly obvious suggestion which is as far as I am aware there is no compulsion for parkrun courses to be certified by Jones Counter.

Is the finish near the start? Is it measured in accordance with IAAF standards?

The start and finish are at the same point, the measurement link I provided earlier is to the Association of UK Course Measurers

http://aukcm.org.uk/

http://coursemeasurement.org.uk/

This is what British Athletics (Run Britain) says

https://www.runbritain.com/blogs/road-race-course-measurement--registration

What I find interesting a.d super impressive is that the club Cardiff A.A.C. had no fewer than 27 guys in that race that ran sub. 16 mins! That is indeed impressive depth at the sub. elite level.

It takes commitment or natural talent to run sub. 16 for 5km, although there are many low mileage guys (30 mpw) who can run around 15.20-15.30 ...but still the depth at that mid range level is indeed impressive.

Do not wish to be negative, but I think the course is probably short.

If you tabulate all the pb's achieved in the race, that would indicate a short course.

Ghost in China

Oops, seems like I may be wrong in my thought that the course may have been short, after reading more info. re the measurement.

Is there a re-emergence of solid depth in distance running, like in the 70s/80s...

Ghost in China

Ghost1 wrote:

What I find interesting a.d super impressive is that the club Cardiff A.A.C. had no fewer than 27 guys in that race that ran sub. 16 mins! That is indeed impressive depth at the sub. elite level.

Whilst Cardiff are one of the top UK clubs right now, I think you have misunderstood what the OP posted, these are the all time bests on the course.

Simply put, as an Englishman, I don't really agree with this. Very few schools (before the age of 18) have track/XC teams at all. You're right in that fee paying schools (which are simply impossible for the vast majority of the population to attend) are far, far more likely to, but I don't know a single state school in London that does, for example. Not in the sense that they have an actual coach, do any training together, races as a team etc etc.

Pretty much all of the juniors at my club DO go and compete at English Schools etc. but do all the training with the club, are coached by the club and represent their club OR their county depending on the meeting. Wearing a vest of your school simply doesn't exist in my experience. Everything is done through the club.

Perhaps there's more of a clash at university level, where there are a few big universities with good training programs, coaching etc. St. Mary's, Loughborough, Leeds, Birmingham, but even so I don't think there's a ton of clashing. The athlete will most likely have been brought up by the club, will continue to race for them where possible (travel being a limiting factor fairly often) and after university in all likelihood go back to racing for the club once they finish university, assuming they return to the same city.

The idea that high school or collegiate athletics has ANY money or prestige behind it is simply laughable though. It doesn't. It's all in the hands of the clubs, which are often a lifetime relationship and essentially run by volunteers. There isn't a running fan in the country who could name a single high school known for it's running because that isn't a thing. Likewise no one would be able to name high school records or record holders, state records etc. It's just not present.

But back to Parkrun, my local course is actually 30-50m long for most people, mainly due to the need to overtake for the 2nd and 3rd laps for the faster runners, yet had a young man run 13:58 on it a few weeks back.

It never ranks highly on the 'speed' scale measurements but it's certainly the quickest course I know. IE, those rankings lists don't tell the full story.

I won my local Parkrun in just over 22mins at the weekend. Ultimate hobby jogging.

It was muddy and hilly and I wasn’t pushing it , blah , blah...

HHH Runner wrote:

But back to Parkrun, my local course is actually 30-50m long for most people, mainly due to the need to overtake for the 2nd and 3rd laps for the faster runners, yet had a young man run 13:58 on it a few weeks back.

That wasn't just anyone though . . . .

I've run Hackney one while on vacation. Flat and fast, with some decent depth up-front, but the course had a couple of 180 turns.

Well, yes, I'm well aware who it was.

I guess my point was simply that any rankings claiming the fastest courses are full of it. One even closer to my house is technically much flatter than Dulwich but runs way way slower. Flatter but with 6 corners sharper than 90 degrees and 1 180 turn in an incredibly exposed park meaning the wind can ruin your day quite easily. Whilst Dulwich is mildly undulating but completely sheltered and a gentle 3 laps of one loop.

Regarding course measurements, I've done some park run trials as well and every single one is measured slightly long to err on the safe side. Can't vouch for Cardiff personally but it would be a shock if it wasn't legit.

Parkrun is just seen by many club runners as a key part of their weeks. Free, social and if there's not a race that weekend it's a perfect opportunity for a quality tempo effort/shot at an old 5k PB. If you live in a city you'll more than likely have multiple options too. I have Burgess 200m from my door (flat but exposed), Brockwell 4k away (v hilly) or Dulwich (quickest course for me) 4.5k away. It's perfect. All have decent quality up front, normally won in sub-16 or thereabouts when it's not a big race in the city.

Sorry, the way it read was the course is so fast that some kid nobody had heard of had turned up and dropped a sub-14. If Farah turned up practically anywhere that wasn't hilly and tried at all he would shatter the record.

The_Saint_SD wrote:

Sorry, the way it read was the course is so fast that some kid nobody had heard of had turned up and dropped a sub-14. If Farah turned up practically anywhere that wasn't hilly and tried at all he would shatter the record.

So you're telling me Mo Farah could run faster than 13:48? Whoa calm down there buddy. Got any more hot takes?

Subway Surfers wrote:

Coevett wrote:

Hahaha, if you can elbow your way past the 1000 others turning up next weekend with the same intention.

Hackney it is then?

The snooker legend Ronnie O'Sullivan sometimes shows up at the Hackney Parkrun. He ran it in 18 minutes at the age of 40.

There are very few Parkruns in UK that are exactly 5k.... some are long, some are short, and mostly are "about right"... there is a wide range of surfaces they are run on, some easier than others.... and of course the altimetry profile is very different one from the others.

Hackney Marshes gets a lot of good press, but there are two 180 degrees, which are not easy and people tend to turn early.... Dulwich (where Alex Yee run under 14' recently) is a much better course, wider and better tarmac... just to stay in London

The bottom line most of the serious guys use Parkruns for an extra weekly workout, no tapering no nothing. Plus is fairly difficult to go flat out when you quite often end up lapping people and have to avoid regular users of the venue. Those stats of fastest course really mean nothing....

Coevett wrote:

Subway Surfers wrote:

Hackney it is then?

The snooker legend Ronnie O'Sullivan sometimes shows up at the Hackney Parkrun. He ran it in 18 minutes at the age of 40.

He is also often seen at major Athletics events in London, including Night of 10k PB and Met League, although i dont think he is in that shape right now..... ))

KAV wrote:

Coevett wrote:

The snooker legend Ronnie O'Sullivan sometimes shows up at the Hackney Parkrun. He ran it in 18 minutes at the age of 40.

He is also often seen at major Athletics events in London, including Night of 10k PB and Met League, although i dont think he is in that shape right now..... ))

Yeah, I haven't seen him post on Instagram his morning run for ages - he was doing it daily a while back.

I think he's knuckling down to his snooker practice. He wants to equal or beat Hendry's record and realizes he doesn't have too many more years to do it.

DC12 wrote:

So you're telling me Mo Farah could run faster than 13:48? Whoa calm down there buddy. Got any more hot takes?

My point wasn't to demonstrate my staggering insight that Farah is fast, it was to show that a very fast runner turning up on any course and running an exceptional time might mean that a course is fast, but they might do the same anywhere reasonably flat (and accurate).