The Queens parkrun is one of the longest established of Norn Irn’s parkruns. It is nowhere near the main University building – it’s at its Sports Centre in Finaghy, known as “The Dub”. The course is 2 laps around the tennis courts and playing fields. It’s hillier than you’d think, some of the turns are quite sharp, and the terrain changes from car-park asphalt to gravelly path.
Access: Located close to the sign-post House of Sport roundabout, it’s easy to get to this parkrun either from the Outer Ring, or from the M1 via Stockman’s Lane. There is ample parking, and facilities in the modern building are excellent.
Gear: When I first did this run I’d only just started parkrunning, and I was taking part in an accountants’ charity weekend. So I got a lovely new T shirt to wear!
not quite on the cover of a magazine…
Crowd: As you’d expect, there are a fair few students and academics who regularly run this course, but it’s also popular with Lisburners looking for a change of scenery from Wallace. Attendance is usually around 60 (at time of writing – it’s increased a fair bit since then!)
Strangely Appropriate Song: Reelin in the Years, by Steely Dan, made me reminisce about times past when I’d attended Queens University……
Time: I’d done this one pretty early in my parkrun career, and came in at 31:15, still chasing the elusive 30 barrier.
Update January 2015:
It’s been quite icy recently, and unfortunately this does lead to parkrun cancellations for safety reasons. Queens is pretty weather-resilient, though – it’s a busy centre with lots of activities on each Saturday morning, so the staff are really good at gritting the surfaces. After a Wallace cancellation, I made a quick decision to re-route to Queens, especially since my running mate Minnie hadn’t tried it yet. It was a bright blue-sky morning, there were over 100 runners, including a few Wallace stable-mates, and we had a pretty enjoyable run. I found some of the paths a bit narrow – it’s easy to get hemmed in at the start, especially with a dog! But we managed a very satisfying 25:44, and I got those coveted letters PB after my name. The welcome from the regulars and volunteers was lovely, and I’m sure we’ll be back again soon.
List of all the parkruns I’ve completed.
Filed under: belfast, Parkrun, running | Tagged: parkrun, queens |
Dancing At Lunacy 
Skype has opened up its web-based buyer beta to the world, soon after introducing it largely from the
United states and U.K. before this four weeks. Skype for Website also now can handle Chromebook and Linux for immediate online messaging interaction (no
video and voice yet, those call for a connect-in installation).
The increase in the beta adds support for an extended set of spoken languages to help strengthen that worldwide functionality