The Stats - 1st Jan 2015

This is the third of my updates where I try to rank the difficulty of the various Parkruns I've tried. I said i'd do it every three and with the completion of Kings Lynn i'm now at 12 so here is an enthralling start to 2015 for you all.

It's worth noting that a lot of this is based on personal opinion. Also conditions on the day. I've done Horsham twice now, for example, and the muddy conditions made a huge difference second time around. Take some of these stats with a punch of salt. I've tweaked a couple a little bit since last time as well so these could contradict what i've said in the past. I wasn't going to because it makes me seem even more clueless but on the other hand, if I have run them a few more times then it does make sense to update them with my latest theory. Basically I have just moved Hove up a place and adjusted the compensation figure. After a re-visit and new PB I realised Hove was easier than I had given it credit for.

I'll also say that I include my PB mainly just to help benchmark them against each other. They aren't listed to get a pat on the back for my efforts!

So, in order of difficulty, the easiest (in my opinion) first:

1) Preston Park, Brighton - total ascent: 32m - PB: 20.01

2) Hove Park - total ascent: 52m - PB: 19.22 - compensation vs Preston Park: +0.25%

3) Nonsuch Park Course B, Cheam - total ascent: 33m - PB: 20.24 - compensation vs Preston Park: +0.5%

4) The Walks Course B, Kings Lynn - total ascent: 19m - PB: 19.54 - compensation vs Preston Park: +1.5%

5) Horsham - total ascent: 45m - PB: 20.14 - compensation vs Preston Park: +2% (3% when conditions are muddy)

6) Bushy Park, London - total ascent: 21m - PB: 20.19 - compensation vs Preston Park: +2%

7) Richmond Park, London - total ascent: 57m - PB: 20.37 - compensation vs Preston Park: +2%

8) Eastbourne Summer Course - total ascent: 18m - PB: 21.05 - compensation vs Preston Park: +2%

9) Banstead Woods, Surrey - total ascent: 76m - PB: 21.36 - compensation vs Preston Park: + 3%

10) Tilgate Park, Crawley - total ascent: 63m - PB: 20.52 - compensation vs Preston Park: + 4%

11) Clair Park, Haywards Heath - total ascent: 89m - PB: 20.45 - compensation vs Preston Park: + 5.5%

12) Lloyd Park, Croydon - total ascent: 63m - PB: 21.22 - compensation vs Preston Park: +7%

The compensation vs Preston Park (the one I now deem easiest) is based on all conditions being the same. Obviously my PBs don't back up these figures, but this is because they were all run at different times and in different states of mind! I reckon that for each of these runs, if you ran them at your peak fitness with no illnesses in the same weather conditions etc, the figures I have added in red will be a fairly accurate indicator of how much additional time you can expect to add to your 5k for each of the ones on the list. This blurb will never get read so I can literally say anything here. Penguin.