h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Curiously, Andover is this week's parkrun profile:
http://blog.parkrun.com/uk/2018/11/27/parkrun-profile-andover/
Though when I ran it we weren't allowed on the flat sports field in the top photo and had to run on the cambered slope to the right of where everyone is running.

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You might want to add that North Harbour was for many decades the UK HQ of IBM, and that it’s then-futuristic building was a filming location for Doctor Who on more than one occasion.

I know it appears in 'Revelations of the Daleks':
http://www.doctorwholocations.net/locations/ibmnorthharbourbuilding
Talking of IVMI've run round the grounds of IBM Hursley a few times – they've got the grounds of a picture-perfect Queen Anne Mansion with an immaculate cricket pitch linked to concrete carbuncles. IBM Hursley has quite a debauched reputation locally, with rumours of wife-swapping and orgies happening in the 80s and 90s…

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I visited Hursley once, but I can't remember why - it certainly wan't for the activities you describe. Probably an interview.

It's funny how these places get reputations - probably perpetuated by those who live nearby and don't know what goes on behind the barbed wire, etc.

The Admiralty offices in Portland (now redeveloped) were forever associated with the spy scandal.

In January 2019 RunBritain re-graded the UK's parkrun SSS scores, this time out of 580 (the previous rank was out of 513, with the lower the number the easier the course, the higher the number the more difficult).

Courses that stayed about the same: Andover, Fareham, Lymington Woodside, Rushmoor, Whiteley, Winchester
Courses considered easier: Basingstoke, Lee-on-the-Solent, Portsmouth Lakeside, Southsea
Courses considered more difficult: Medina IOW, Alice Holt, Eastleigh, Havant, Netley Abbey, Queen Elizabeth, Southampton

Medina I.O.W.
Average SSS & Difficulty: 2.89, 347th
2019 Average SSS & Difficulty: 3.27, 437th

Alice Holt
Average SSS & Difficulty: 3.47, 416th
2019 Average SSS & Difficulty: 4.49, 541st

Andover
Average SSS & Difficulty: 3, 362nd
2019 Average SSS & Difficulty: 2.86, 363rd

Basingstoke
Average SSS & Difficulty: 2.39, 230th
2019 Average SSS & Difficulty: 2.25, 214th

Brockenhurst
Average SSS & Difficulty: 2.47, 251st
2019 Average SSS & Difficulty: 2.83, 356th

Eastleigh
Average SSS & Difficulty: 3.32, 398th
2019 Average SSS & Difficulty: 3.92, 509th

Fareham
Average SSS & Difficulty: 2.61, 291st
2019 Average SSS & Difficulty: 2.56, 296th

Havant
Average SSS & Difficulty: 3.06, 374th
2019 Average SSS & Difficulty: 3.62, 484th

Hogmoor Inclosure
Average SSS & Difficulty: (Unavailable)
2019 Average SSS & Difficulty: 3.51, 468th

Lee-on-the-Solent
Average SSS & Difficulty: 2.12, 146th
2019 Average SSS & Difficulty: 1.87, 111th

Lymington Woodside
Average SSS & Difficulty: 3.00, 364th
2019 Average SSS & Difficulty: 2.96, 382nd

Netley Abbey
Average SSS & Difficulty: 2.64, 299th
2019 Average SSS & Difficulty: 2.79, 346th

Portsmouth Lakeside
Average SSS & Difficulty: 1.87, 87th
2019 Average SSS & Difficulty: 1.70, 66th

Queen Elizabeth
Average SSS & Difficulty: 4.30, 449th
2019 Average SSS & Difficulty: 4.68, 551st

Rushmoor
Average SSS & Difficulty: 2.00, 116th
2019 Average SSS & Difficulty: 1.93, 124th

Southampton
Average SSS & Difficulty: 1.64, 38th
2019 Average SSS & Difficulty: 1.73, 70th

Southsea
Average SSS & Difficulty: 2.23, 187th
2019 Average SSS & Difficulty: 2.07, 164th

Whiteley
Average SSS & Difficulty: 2.27, 195th
2019 Average SSS & Difficulty: 2.31, 234th

Winchester
Average SSS & Difficulty: 2.24, 188th
2019 Average SSS & Difficulty: 2.25, 216th

If we assume courses ranked 1-150 can be considered particularly easy and those ranked 430-580 can be considered particularly challenging, on the whole the Isle of Wight and Hampshire has a good mix of easy, difficult and in-between courses:
Particularly Easy: Lee-on-Solent, Portsmouth Lakeside, Rushmoor, Southampton
Particularly Hard: Medina IOW, Alice Holt, Eastleigh, Havant, Hogmoor Inclosure, Queen Elizabeth

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This entry will be out-of-date on Saturday when Mountbatten School (Romsey) starts.

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I don’t run these things, but I understand Southsea’s a flat jog along the prom, isn’t it? How can anything possibly be easier? Southampton must have some gradient to speak of.

Southsea is indeed a pancake run – perfectly flat. It is a nice, smooth surface, tarmac and concrete so you're not running on shingle, sand, mud or – worst of all – cobble stones. You're running in a straight line so not a lot of weird twists and turns to throw your running rhythm off balance so you are right, you would *think* it is an easy run. And on a (rare) nice day you would be right.

But Southsea can be the windiest place I've ever been to, and that wind really is a killer. With hills you can see them, you can get into a rhythm to match the hill and keep going until you know you are at the top. At Southsea if the wind is up, it is against you all through the second half of the course. It isn't a steady breeze but in strong gusts. You can't get into a rhythm to match the wind as the wind has no rhythm and starts and stops at different intensities without warning. You can't see the wind coming or know what it will do from one second to the next.

You're running essentially the same route as the Great South Run (with the Great South Run they close the road to traffic so you run on the road, for parkrun you're running on the pavement) and when I did my entry on the Great South Run (A87854313) I found some quotes about that stretch from professional athletes:

" [In 2002] I went down on the Friday... and went for a 90-minute run and it was blowing an absolute gale. It was the worst possible conditions you could imagine." - Sonia O'Sullivan, 2002 and 2003 Women's Race winner, who set the unbroken women's 10-mile World Record at the Great South Run in 2002 at a time of 51 minutes.

"I was trying to push all the way but I've never run against such a strong wind. I struggled in the last two miles. I didn't seem to be going anywhere." - Kenyan athlete Florence Kiplagat, half-marathon world record holder and world cross-country champion.

"The course was nice but it was very windy and became tougher for me as the race went on... I tried to push the pace against the wind in the last two miles, but it was very difficult." - Kenyan athlete Emmanuel Bett, male 2013 winner

If professional world-class athletes find it a challenge it isn't surprising that it is considered difficult.

Southampton has a hill, true, but depending on which route round the Common they're doing, you do the long route uphill at the start when you've lots of energy, the short hill halfway and then run downhill at the end. The gradient is quite gentle so it isn't difficult.

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Interesting, thanks for that.

The wind must have dropped when O’Sullivan got that record.

I remember an Alf Garnett sketch where he says the Kenyans run so fast because they’re being chased by a lion when they go out and train.