parkrun Castle Demense (Ireland)

The parkrun Castle Demense is in Macroom about 10 miles West of Cork (Ireland).

I got the first bus from Cork on a cold but sunny morning to this town for my 151st parkrun and first international parkrun :-)



This gave me 15 minutes to get to the venue if the bus was on schedule,as parkruns in Ireland start at 9.30am.

Luckily it is easy to find a castle entrance in a small town.



They had the use of the sports hall for leaving barcodes and a change of clothes as was just a few degrees above freezing, plus they had tea and biscuits already setup :-)



The other parkrunners, volunteers and event director were friendly it felt a nice community parkrun.



The 100 parkrun kit was a good ice breaker, as I was the first 100 club member at this venue. I even got a mention before the start of the parkrun, which meant I could not take it easy.



The course was a lap around the GAA (Gaelic football) pitch which even the locals were saying it was cold. You then headed out of the pitch gates on to pathway to the start/finish line.



The route then went down a hill before starting a 2 lap section.



This next section was along a footpath.



You had to make sure you did not hit the wall :-)



Then there was a sharp turn on to a hill before and out and back section past a golf course.



You ran than ran back to the footpath and started the 2nd lap which when completed you headed back along the to the finish.



However there was a nice steep hill at the finish which you ran down at about 0.5km. You just got to the top of the hill just about running before turning right and a few steps crossed the finish line.



I completed the parkrun in 22:35 which was a good time for me on a testing course on a cold morning.

I then headed back along the route as a cool down and supporting the other runners, while also taking some photos.

The barcode scanning was in the sports hall which was a bit warmer then a nice cup of tea and biscuits, I think I even saw somebody eat some of the fruit!!

After heading out of the castle gates I found another local cake shop as I was up early this was lunchtime :-)



Along with being one of the friendliest parkruns it has the best entrance to a parkrun being through a castle gate!!!

I think I will be back again when next in the area.