I know of Rotterdam because of its famous marathon, as well as it being one of the many places The Beautiful South sang about. More recently, it was the site of unrest the night before but it dawned peaceful and dry. I rolled up around a quarter to nine to find the course laid out and volunteers chatting before the start. I parked in the street to the South of the start, Plaszoom, as that was slightly easier to reach than the car park by the restaurant, De Schone Lei. That restaurant is on the route, and you pass it on the way out and back, though I didn’t notice it till the way back. The Plaszoom is marked by a couple of windmills, for an early morning distinctive Dutch feeling.
The pre-run briefing was in Dutch. Three of us there were English speaking, but hadn’t made ourselves known, and could follow along well enough in any case. I even caught on to the “give way to cyclists” that was added in a postscript – this is thinking particularly of the spot where the route comes back onto the lakeside, as it crosses a bike path (and bear in mind that here those aren’t narrow afterthoughts, but two-lane bike freeways).
The start is straight, and then there are a couple of tight-ish turns to get over the bridge, as shown below. There are no signs here on the way back, so just remember to make the turn right after the bridge, rather than run down the cycle path (though I’m sure you can still finish if you go that way).
The lake is 5k all around, but the parkrun decided they couldn’t use that route because there are a few crossings. Instead, it heads into the forest for around half the route, before heading down towards the lake and making a left turn to follow the lakeside path all the way back to the finish.
With Autumn turning the leaves many shades of orange and yellow, running through the forest is a delight. There is just one marshal out on course, by the lake (and that bike path crossing), so the rest is done by signs. There are just enough of those, with the course otherwise relying on you following your nose. If there’s no sign to say turn, then keep heading in your direction till the next sign. It worked for me, and I’m far from the best at following routes.
After the briefing we moved along to the start with no delay. That shows a certain relaxed approach from the run director, as he didn’t have a timer at that point – as we got to the start, the timer rode up, hopped off his bike and was ready within seconds, which amused everyone. A just-in-time timer!
According to my GPS this had *double* the elevation of last week’s run in Amsterdam. That still only amounted to 2m, and I was never conscious of going uphill. Blah, blah, Netherlands flat, etc.
There were plenty of other people exercising in the woods, so I was conscious of the need only to try and follow the people actually in the event. As it happened, that soon became irrelevant, as I latched briefly onto a group, ran past them and then lost sight of the runner ahead, despite thinking that now I might work on getting closer to him (he ended up over two minutes ahead of me). I just had to trust that I was on the right route, but the general “proceed until told to change direction” principle worked well.
I’ve run in a few countries while parkrun was new, and found it relatively untroubled by the faster local runners. That is not the case here, with each run I’ve been at having a few quicker runners at the front. Today, two runners completing their first parkruns set the 4th and 6th quickest times yet seen here, and it was great to see them yomping off into the distance. I was also pleased that it wasn’t a course with laps, so I wouldn’t be lapped!
After the event they head for “De Nachtegaal” for coffee etc. I didn’t take a camera on the run, though, so went for a wander to get some pictures instead. Anyone fitter than me and wanting a cool-down run is spoiled for choice – experience the woods again? Head all the way round the lake? Explore a bit more of Rotterdam? There is loads to see, and Kralingen Lake is a great start.
Round the world tour 
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