In our never-ending quest to conquer the South West region, Torbay Velopark has started to stand out as being merely a few minutes over an hour away. There was a reason we hadn’t been yet. When the event first started, early reports were of it being unsuitable for buggies due to waterlogging. Then we decided to go just the two of us, but got caught in traffic and went to Exmouth instead. But we heard on the grapevine that ground conditions are pretty much perfect for buggies right now, so decided it was time to make the trip.
Torbay Velopark parkrun is, perhaps unsurprisingly, based at Torbay Velopark, which is an outdoor closed road circuit used primarily for cycling. More surprisingly, if you don’t know the area, is that it is in Paignton, as Torbay is actually the council area and not the name of a town (Ben will laugh when he reads this, but I genuinely had to Google it as I got so confused). It’s attached to a Leisure Centre, and so is signposted from a little way out. The course page lists Clennon Valley car park by name, which was pretty handy in finding where we needed to be.
Having left home when planned, we had a smooth journey and so arrived in plenty of time to get set up and visit the leisure centre toilets. Runners were clearly visible gathering in the entrance to the Velopark, and the kids were able to have a bit of a run around and play. Ben was still wrestling sun cream onto Lani as the call went out for first timers, so as is traditional only half of us went to it. I didn’t catch much (some tourists bizarrely went over for the briefing but then talked through it), but I did hear that the course was two laps of the Velopark, one lap of a big field, and a lap of a small field.
The briefing location meant that we pretty much just turned on the spot to line up at the back of the field for the start. There were a big group of Couch to 5k graduates near us, which lifted the atmosphere. Lani and I were wearing new leggings, and we were already getting lots of positive comments from our fellow runners. We actually heard the start (yay), and set off around the Velopark. The high quality tarmac surface made for very easy running, and the meadow-like surroundings helped make it feel less like running on tarmac.
The shape of the circuit meant we quickly had people going past in the other direction, which always adds to the community feeling. Lani wasn’t quite feeling it, and so our run/walk balance was a bit more in favour of walking. We ended up skipping, which got some nice comments from people lapping us that really helped lift the mood. Then I spotted that Ben was on track to lap us, and suddenly we were running.
The second lap round the Velopark was actually really nice. Lani enjoyed knowing that everyone she could see was on the same lap as her, and I really appreciated the different views in different directions. Facing inland gave a surprisingly spectacular view of the houses staggered higher and higher up the hill. Having stopped to take a stone out her shoe, Lani was pretty determined to make some places back up.
Finishing our second lap, we turned right to join the path down towards the field, getting high-fives from Ben and KK on the way. The path was similar to parts of Longrun Meadow, with lots of loose rocks in places. Then we reached the field, and to the excitement of my running buddy were then on good quality grass. The path around the edge of the field was well marked out with cones. Like most field sections, there was good visibility that meant lots of other runners were in sight. Or ‘targets’, as I think my increasingly determined 5 year old was viewing everyone.
Having run round the main bit of the field (and made up several more places), we reached the start of the loop for the smaller field. The marshal at this point was fantastic, giving us loads of support and making the effort to give Lani a much-appreciated high-five. There was a (very) short stretch of trail path through trees, which opened out into the (very) small field. The big surprise here was the hill. Sure, it was a small one, but the rest of the course had been flat.
We took the option of walking up the hill, but got our aeroplane arms out to zoom back down the other side of the field (and pass some more people), before making the sharp turn back out towards the main field. The marshal was fantastic again, giving a great boost for the last section of field. Ben and KK were waiting for us at the start of the path. Lani didn’t even mention the surface this time, as she sped up to the finish. Overtaking a group of people just before the line, naturally.
Barcode scanning was easily located a little further down the path, as was the parkrun photo frame. In a break from recent habit, we skipped the café and headed straight back to the car. The long drive of about 5 minutes round the corner took us to Paignton Zoo, where we had a fantastic family day out.
Torbay Velopark is well and truly in my happy parkrun memories section. I loved the course, which had a bit of something for everyone – although Ben said that with the buggy he’d have happily just kept going round the Velopark. The community atmosphere was fantastic. Oh, and Lani smashed her PB by over 2 minutes! A great parkrun experience to start a great family day out. And we’re already planning to go back at the start of next year.
But until then, we’ve got more events to visit. When we first decided we wanted to be regionnaires there were 33 events in the South West (one of which has sadly finished) and we’d done 7 of them. We’ve now done 40 out of 60. So while our quest may be never-ending, we’ve already come an awfully long way. Now, where to next?