PARKRUN REVIEW: GROE, BUILTH WELLS, WALES

Groe Parkrun was my first parkrun in Wales and means that I have now covered each country in the UK having done quite a few in England, Aviemore & Crighton in Scotland, and Limavady in Northern Ireland already.

This was also my first parkrun using the new running buggy, now that my son is over 6 months old. Using the buggy will give me a new set of times to target, so even though I won't be as quick as usual, I will be able to keep aiming for a "Running Buggy PB". On this parkrun though, I just wanted to enjoy it with my son and not worry about the time. My general aim was to run it in about 25-27 mins.

With my son and a friend who was also doing the parkrun, before the parkrun started

The Running Buggy I am using is called the Deryan Bolt and was just under £200.

COURSE INFO & REVIEW

The parkrun was located at Groe Park in Builth Wales (Powys, Mid Wales). I chose this one as it was the closest parkrun to where I was staying on a weekend break with friends. We were staying about half an hour away in Llanwrtyd Wells.

I parked in what looked like the main car park for the town and it cost me £1.50 for an hour. The start point of the run was just beyond the car park so it was convenient. I am not sure if there is any free parking anywhere as we didn't bother looking.

View from the car park where you can see marshals and runners gathering in the distance.

Strava Map for Groe parkrun

The course starts off at the end of the Car Park and you initially run alongside the River (Wye). It is just over 3 laps in total and I personally liked the route as it became easy to know the route after doing the first lap.

This was where everyone gathered to start the run. I started near the back

There were a few narrow sections though so that was the only slight negative with the route.

Heading towards the Church and you can see my running buggy on the picture

The winning male time was 17:11 and the quickest female time was an extremely quick 17:26 (the female came 2nd overall).

MY RUN ON THE DAY

This was my first 5K with the running buggy so I did find it a bit tiring at certain points (especially on my arms). I started near the back, which I regretted as I found it difficult to pass runners who were ahead, as some were running side by side across the whole path. Thankfully I was able to use the grass at the side of the path to overtake on the first lap though and after that I didn't have any issues when trying to overtake.

At the end of the run

I started off slower (around 5:30/km pace) and then gradually tried to increase the pace closer to 5:00/km as the run went on. In future runs with the buggy when I want to give it a quicker effort, I am going to try and bring the time down to between 21-23 mins ideally.

FURTHER INFO

Date - 23/08/2025

Time - 26:12

Position - 61st out of 135

Distance - 5.02K

Shoes worn: Nike Invincible 3

SPLITS & DIFFICULTY

The difficulty level of this Parkrun is a 2/5 in my opinion (easy) because it was just roughly 3 laps and almost all of it was flat. The winning male and female times were both in the 17 minute range which shows that it's possible to run a fast time as well.