WEDNESDAY 3 January 2018
The next PENRITH PARLAUF will be held on Wed 3 January 2018
What is the Route?..
The ER webpage has map on it – click on ‘This Week, go to the map box at the bottom right and tick the Parlauf box…an expandable map box will appear.If for some reason you can't see the map, I am hoping to bring printed copies on the night of the run, and there should be a copy on the Noticeboard
Basically, it's a loop round Penrith, over which teams of two will compete. I hope everyone will join in with the spirit of the event. Yes it will be competitive, but hopefully not at the expense of being enjoyable.
How does it work? We will start/finish at the bottom of Wordsworth Street at the Methodist Church, on Drovers Lane. But first, before we leave the RC, we will need to sort the runners into teams of two - pairing fastest with slowest, 2nd fastest with 2nd slowest, etc. The idea behind this is to try to make each pairing as close to equal average speed as possible. All starting at the same time, one half of each team runs the course in opposite directions. When the two runners from each pair meet, somewhere on the far side of the course, each will turn round and run back the way they came. The winning team is the first one with BOTH runners back at the start/finish. The TOTAL route length is around 5.4miles, so the 'fastest' runners may cover around 6miles (as they will run more than half the route), while their 'slower' partners will run maybe around 4.5miles.
Route (Clockwise).
Start - foot of Wordsworth St on Drovers Lane at Penrith Methodist Church
Go South along Drovers Lane/Meeting House Lane/Folly Lane
At far end of Folly Lane turn sharp right onto Carleton Road
At end (traffic lights), turn sharp left onto Bridge Lane and think about crossing onto RHS
At next junction (traffic lights), turn right and run up the road between Penrith Leisure Centre(on your right) and UCC (on your left) towards Wetheriggs Estate (watch for speed humps)
Through the white metal gate, Turn right onto Wetheriggs Lane/Castle Hill Lane/West Lane,
Bear Left into Great Dockray
Left again onto Castlegate, uphill
Bear left at the top, past the Station Hotel, onto Ullswater Road
Along Ullswater Road, cross onto right hand side
Past Cranstons, bear right at roundabout, past Go Outdoors/ Atkinsons, along pavement into Gilwilly
Follow Haweswater Road parallel with M6, under railway, towards Magnet
APPROX HALF-WAY POINT -Right into Mardale Road before Magnet, anticlockwise around the Magnet 'loop'
Right again back onto Haweswater Road, until T junction (new roundabout) is reached
Turn right onto the Greystoke Road, towards Castletown & Penrith town centre
Follow this road through Castletown until after crossing the Castletown railway bridge, then
Turn left(so that Morrisons is directly on your right) down Brunswick Road (do NOT cut across Booths carpark)
Immediately past Booths, turn left along Brunswick Terrace leading into top of Brunswick Square
Turn right, down Brunswick Square
At the bottom, turn left up Scotland Road, past chippy etc..
Turn right up to climb up Salkeld Road, towards Beacon Edge
Along Beacon Edge,past top of Graham Street, then
Turn right down steps (take care) and into Croft Avenue.
Down Croft Avenue to FINISH at the bottom.
Those running anticlockwise obviously run this route in reverse. If anyone wants me to put the anticlockwise route into words as above, then let me know(!)
Yes it sounds complicated but it really isn't. I've tried to make it interesting without being too involved, but still challenging. Let's see if we can make it work.
I think the route is street-lit all the way, but as ever, wear hi-viz and always be aware of traffic and non-runners (it's not their fault). If it goes according to plan, most runners should meet their respective partners somewhere in or around Gilwilly estate, at which point each runner turns & retraces his/her steps back to the start/finish.
I have tried to think this through as carefully as possible, but still I expect that there may be a few questions - if anyone has any, please let me know. Equally if you spot any glaring errors or omissions, likewise.
Eden Runners - as if life wasn't complicated enough.....
Alan