Well now. Every parkrunner knows the story of how it all began, all those years ago with 13 runners in Bushy Park, London.
Not many people know that there are other Bushy Parks. Including one in Dublin. Which only recently began a parkrun there!
So along with quarter/half/full-cowelling, alphabeteering, regionairing, and spelling out words like “parkruncornetto”, parkrun tourists now have new challenge: Double Bushy. Appropriately in Doublin.
Last year I’d attended the Dublin Scottish Dance Club’s 50th anniversary celebrations, and used the weekend to visit Marlay Park.
This year, I wanted to try a different parkrun, and was thrilled to discover that Bushy Dublin was a short drive away from where I was staying.
Access:
The park is in Rathfarnham, and in fact the recommended car parking is at Rathfarnham Shopping Centre, which is what I plugged into my sat-nav. It got me there, roadworks notwithsatanding, and I parked as requested in the middle, rather than encoraching on the space where the car washing folks are plying their trade.
After crossing the road, and a wee bridge into the park, I turned right, and was a bit misled by a bootcamp group that were setting up by a shelter.
But I had an inkling they were not parkun, and continued my usual “wander until you see recognisable signs” meander. I must have looked particularly puzzled, as a cyclist stopped me and asked if I was looking for the parkrun start. Yes! I answered enthusiastically, and he replied that so was he. We set off in search together, allowing me to utter the phrase “Follow that bike!”
If I’d turned left instead of right at the bridge, I’d have been there in 100m. But hey, made it in time!
Crowd:
There were a lot of people arriving by bike, and my new friend offered to let me use his to hold my bag of post run essentials (coat, car keys, water). A fellow 100 shirt wearer came and chatted to me, he was doing his 170th run and was quite emotional about the journey it has taken him on. Ther were a good smattering of younger runners too. I’d had a bit of banter with them on Facebook beforehand, and they were really friendly and chatty afterwards, and even gave me a name check in the run report!
Lots of parkruns have Duke of Edinburgh award folk doing their bit as volunteers – here it was some great chaps from Terenure Mens Sheds – thanks lads!
Facilities:
There isn’t anything in the park itself. Parking as mentioned is in the nearby shopping centre, which is also where the loos are ( I couldn’t find many of these) and also post run coffee in Partners (where customers can use the loos. Well, Partner’s (sic) customers can use them, it’s 2 yoyos for others).
Course:
There’s about a km along the side of the Dodder river, which can be quite slippy and has a few water channels to watch out for. Then it’s into the park itself with 2 laps around the pond, and a little extra leg. There’s a small bit of this extra leg which has runners going in both directions, and the turnaround point is well indicated with cones. Back out onto the riverside walk, and you know you’re 1 km from the finish line. There’s no real inclines to worry about, and the paths are wide enough to accommodate the current 100ish crowd. The park allows dogs to be off-lead until 10-00 am, so that’s a factor to be aware of.
Gear:
My Garmin is starting to really play up, may need to start looking at replacements. My 100 shirt was a talking point. No other cow cowls sighted. Although the paths are all tarmc, they were slippy, and trail shoes would be a good option. As the morning had dawned mizzly I hadn’t bothered with sunglasses. So of course the sun came out! But the mostly tree-lined course made sure this was not a problem.
Strangely Appropriate Song on Shuffle:
It’s Eurovision Day – I know, what am I doing away dancing and so missing the show! But I’ve been watching the semi-finals, suitably attired, and me and my running chums really enjoyed “Running On Air”.
Time:
This is a pretty fast course, so run times are good. Mine not so good, still suffering from some foot niggles, so I had to be content with a sub-32 result. First in my age-cat, though!
And the rest:
I was staying in a lovely wee Air Bnb place on Ballinteer Ave. I enjoyed a super supper on the Friday night at the gastro-pub across the way – fish platter supreme with proper baby Guinness!
I’d tried and failed to make these during my Euroviz party, to enjoy during Ireland’s performance. But they wouldn’t stay separated. Which may be a political prophecy.
After my parkrun I explored Dundrum Town Centre, which is not the same as the town centre of Dundrum. I had the most lovely pasta dish
in Dunne e Crescenzi overlooking the dancing fountains.
This place ( ie shopping centre) fancies itself somewhat, and is proud of having a branch of Harvey Nicks. Shame they can’t spell confectionary, though.
I took a trip to Airfield, a sort of open farm / formal gardens place, and was most impressed by the stunning colours of the flowers.
The evening was taken up with the Dublin dance – 20 well chosen dances, and a fabulous supper, a truly wonderful evening. I arrived back at my lodgings just before midnight to enjoy…..
Celebrations:
Consensus has it that the suitable celebration for running a Double Bushy is to have a double Bush – a large measure of Bushmills whiskey, from the oldest distillery in the world, and near where I grew up on the North Coast.
I couldn’t find any Bush, so being in Dublin I settled for local tipple, Jamesons.
Slainte!
Filed under: Dance, Dublin, Parkrun, running | Tagged: dublin parkrun, running, travel | 2 Comments »
We’re getting into a good groove now – my husband lets me know when he has business trips to parts of Ireland, and I work out which one has a nearby parkrun I’d like to visit. On this occasion it was to the city of my mother’s birth, and the capital of the self-styled Rebel County, Cork.
It’s a wee walk to the start of the run at the Regional Park, where there are a limited number of parking spaces. And also a loo, though it’s one of those plastic pods which demands 20c off you.
There are markers at each km, and also a countdown at the finish. Useful info is chalked onto the path at the start, as well as an encouraging message near the finish.
Dancing At Lunacy 