For my mini holiday I had to go Clacton, Essex home of many a happy holidays back in the 1970’s at Uncle Jim’s caravan at St Osyth with my parents, that is very poignant at the moment with the sad loss of my dad back in February it was like a kind of pilgrimage back to happy times with mum this week!

So Clacton-on-Sea with a population of 56,874 is a traditional English seaside resort on the Tendring peninsula, well renowned for their pier and gardens is perfectly summed up by Visit Essex, “If you are in search of the traditional pleasures of the seaside with a modern twist, and would like to relive some treasured childhood memories, then Clacton-on-Sea is the perfect destination.” well said indeed!!

True inspirations

What never ceases to amaze me at any given parkrun event I can always find true inspirational members of our community this time from a soldier running in full kit on a blistering hot day to a top tourist couple with lovely story to tell.

Armed Forces Day

On a very hot day to run I met Mark Smith an inspirational soldier promoting Armed Forces Day, he decided to run this parkrun in full combat gear as shown below, amazing considering us mere mortals were having trouble just running in this heat with traditional running clothing!

You are a credit to your profession sir and we all stand in awe of the sacrifices you all make in the defence of our county!!!

Tourist couple

Touring so many different parkruns it was always my pleasure to meet fellow kindred parkrun spirits and at Clacton I was lucky to meet the lovely ultra tourist couple of Peter & Paula Speechley and hear about their amazing story!!

These guys have exact same parkrun totals at as of writing 371 events run and at Clacton this weekend was their 165 different location, they even finished with the same time at Clacton, wow is the only word I can say!

Peter told me a lovely story that when Paula was injured a while back, so he volunteered at parkrun so they would still be on the same parkrun total when she recovered. Finally for the record they are the two of the nicest people you would ever want to meet at parkrun!!!

Course

Just a short distance after the start you run 3 clockwise laps of the promenade, first you bear left just after Greensward Café up a steady incline to the top of the promenade towards the pier!

Next just before the garden of remembrance you do a sharp right turn down a sloped path onto the seafront promenade section, run all the way back the way you come to start the next lap, after the 3rd lap you run this time straight onto the finish that is just past the start of the event!

Points to note

• The event is entirely run on tarmac paths
• The direction of the sea breeze has a great impact on your time
• Steep path down to the seafront promenade is quite narrow for overtaking for the faster runners!
• First Saturday of every month they change the direction of the course, which should potentially be a lot faster!

Considering the hotness of the weather I was quite happy with my time of 34:08 that is averaging 34 mins per parkrun at present for me, but I must do some speed work to get under 30 mins again!

Facilities

There is paid parking available at this event Sat Nav CO15 1BW at £2.50 for up to 2 hours stay and toilet facilities are available prior to the start at the Beach Diner bar!

For the obligatory post run coffee we retired to The Beach Diner Bar and lovely it was too sat outside on a beautiful summers day next to the sea, heaven!!!

Other Attractions

There is so much to do in this seaside town after the parkrun including a must have detour onto their famous pier and I visited a true gem of a cinema at Century Cinema, Clacton not only do they show the latest blockbusters but at an amazing prices of £2.50 per ticket, yes that is right!!!

Final verdict

I would like to say a great thank you to Run Director Lorraine Grindrod and Event Director Mel Willsmore you made me feel extremely welcome to the point that I thought I was back home running 🙂

Well done to the rest of the team in your support around the course, also loved the massage table at this event for the weary runner, top stuff guys!!!!!

So all I can say is reading this why have you not run Clacton Seafront yet, with beautiful views over the seafront, great parkrun community and top seaside town to explore, you have been told!!!

Best

Mark aka Silent Runner

Extra News

This past Sunday the 1st July it was my pleasure to be part of our inaugural Wardown Juniors parkrun that had 79 happy juniors testing out our course and ringing our PB triangle!

Very well done to all the members of the core team led brilliantly by our Event Director Rick Hares, with special thanks to our parkrun ambassador Tam Quinn who lead us smoothly through the development process!