The biggest adventure of them all, my 48th parkrun found me getting on a plane and going to another country, all because one of my closest running buddies Andy Collins decided he wanted to celebrate his 99th parkrun by going to a parkrun which contained his own name. This blog is going to be a bit different from the others, as I will go into a bit more detail about the trip as well as the parkrun. Anyway this turned out to be a fantastic parkrun, at the first Eco park in Ireland with a very friendly and welcoming core team team, a great course both flat and with PB potential (so much so that I almost died, more on that later), and a very pretty venue with loads of wildlife and some wind turbines.
[I first visited this parkrun on 28th May 2022]
Travel
We travelled from Milton Keynes the day before, taking a train to Birmingham Airport and then a plane flight to Dublin (Andy was disappointed it wasn't a proper plane having only propellers not jet engines - to be fair we were asked to move seats on the plane ride home to balance the plane apparently 😯), best to book these in advance so you get the best deal on tickets. We booked into Dublin One Hotel a pleasant and reasonably priced hotel (for it's location) on the edge of Dublin City Centre, which gave us the opportunity to explore a bit of Dublin the night before and the morning after parkrun. It's about a 20-30 minute walk to the centre of Dublin, and the original plan was to use the DART to get to Father Collins in the morning but unfortunately it was down for maintenance so we took the bus to the parkrun instead, it was a 1km walk to the Number 15 bus which was €2.70 each way (exact change only, the drivers don't take cards or notes). However this bus route does take you all the way to the park. Top tip, make sure you do your check-ins digitally before arriving back at the Airport, I didn't and it caused me a missed flight on the way back. In my defence I don't travel often and the self check-in machines were not working either... It all worked out in the end though because I was originally on a different flight to my running buddies and I ended up coming back on the same flight and spending a bit more time with them, mostly at the Airport bar where I sampled my first pint of Guinness of the trip - not bad although it doesn't taste any different to the Guinness we get in Britain.
The Night Before
Never to neglect correct preparation for a parkrun, we decided to walk into the city centre and find some food and drinks. Before too long we found ourselves in a proper Irish bar (Mooney's on Abbey Street Lower) complete with Irish singers and fantastic food, it was so nice we stayed here the whole night... It should be noted at this point that food is priced similar to the UK, but drinks are more expensive. The cheapest round of the weekend was actually at the airport (I suspect that tax/duty has a role to play here).
Arriving at parkrun
After a fairly heavy night, we all woke to find ourselves in surprisingly good condition. Grabbing a Coffee and Croissant from the hotel we headed off for our walk to the Number 15 bus, they really only take change, we managed to get the driver to take a €5 euro note and bunged all our loose change in the bucket and headed off to parkrun. The bus takes you to just around the corner from the Eco park and we were early so headed off to find the run director and have a chat, on the way we saw a swan and some signets, it's a really pretty park and very quiet at 9:00am in the morning. By the way parkruns in Ireland start at 9:30am rather than 9:00 a much more civilized time than UK parkruns.
parkrunabú
Unknown to us before our trip, our visit coincided with a takeover by parkrunabú (which literally translates as parkrun forever). It is a movement where Irish speakers are being encouraged to take part in a number of #parkrunabú! events around the country this year, where they can wear their ‘Tá Gaeilge agam’ ( I speak Irish) wristbands. It meant that we got to learn some Irish language and Irish phrases. We also got given 'Tá Gaeilge agam' drinks bottles and wrist bands. We were very pleased we got to experience this as part of our visit, I've included some photos of the posters containing common parkrun phrases in Irish.
Briefings
There was no separate first timer/visitor briefing, but the main briefing included a very good description of the course and the parkrun rules. Because of the takeover by parkrunabú, the briefing was also conducted in both Irish and English with an enjoyable Irish lesson along the way, and it included a shout out for Andy Collins and the visitors from Milton Keynes, I've included a video of the briefing lower down in this page.
The Course
The start/finish area and briefing take place on a concrete jetty which runs North/South through the wetlands in the centre of the park. You start at the far North End of the Jetty near a waterfall sculpture. You then head South past the start/finish area all the way to the South end of the Jetty, turning right you then start a clockwise lap of the park, basically a large rectangle, first heading west, then north, then east and then south, to bring you down the east side of the park, at the bottom of the park you reach a skate park, and rather than completing the large rectangle, you are instead directed right and North, to do a smaller inner section of the park, which basically takes you around the jetty and start finish area without actually running along it again, at the top of this inner section, you will pass and go around the waterfall sculpture to head back down the park heading south until you reach the larger rectangle for the second time, and going around the outside of the park again for lap 2. Lap 2 is the same as lap one, basically going all around the park again, doing the inner section of the park again, except at the end of lap 2 you will be directed left after the inner loop to re-join the Jetty and then head North along the Jetty to the finish. It sounds a little complicated but as long as you follow the signs, the marshals and the other runners you should be fine.
Difficulty
There a no noticeable hills or inclines, and the route is entirely on good footpaths. The most difficult element of this parkrun is that the course is a little confusing, but this is easily a 1 out of 5. Road shoes all the way and go for a PB if you are in good shape. Just don't do what I do and go out so fast that you trigger an asthma attack halfway round. I still got an overall parkrun PB, but it was very unpleasant for the best part of a KM. This is not the fault of the course however, just stupidity on my part.
Elevation
With 12m of elevation according to Garmin, this is flat. I wasn't aware of any significant incline on the course at all.
Facilities
For locals there is plenty of free parking. The Clongriffin Park and ride is located at the end of Clongriffin main street. There is also plenty of Parking beside the park on Park avenue and on Marsfield Avenue. Father Collins park also has two kid’s playgrounds, a skate park and a very large pond with ducks and swans. To my knowledge there are no toilets at the park itself so make sure you go before you come.
Sightseeing
After the parkrun we went to do some sightseeing. Dublin Castle if you’ve not been is a little disappointing, as the original castle has largely been rebuilt with a more modern building on the same site, but if you do go make sure you walk all the way around as it’s slightly better from the rear! There are a number of museums and religious buildings but we didn't really have time to check those out while we were there. We also found a number of bars, the Beer Temple well worth a visit if you like beer as is J. W. Sweetman on the river. One highlight of our trip was the 'Erection at the Intersection' which is absolutely massive and has to be seen to be believed! Dublin is a very pretty city, you should also check out the river area if you can.
Summary
A beautiful park, an interesting fast and flat course with PB potential. An incredibly friendly and welcoming core team, who also taught us some Irish. Great bars, sightseeing - including a castle (sort of), a massive erection, lots of ales, a pint and a half of Guinness, a burger soo large that my friend Foo struggled to get it into her mouth, one missed flight, two actual flights - including a balancing manoeuvre, some trains including the Birmingham airport shuttle train and one very friendly couple who we had to ditch in a bar the night before the parkrun.
Far too many stories, photos and escapades to cover in this blog. All in all a fantastic weekend and a highly recommended parkrun experience.
Links
Link to official parkrun site for this course - https://www.parkrun.ie/fathercollins/
My YouTube Video of the parkrunabú themed Briefing: