Chalkwell Beach parkrun

Chalkwell is a ward within the town of Westcliff-On-Sea and also a suburb of the unitary authority of Southend-On-Sea, in Essex. Southend-On-Sea as a whole has a population of around 183,000 people and 10,000 of these reside within Chalkwell itself.

The name Chalkwell is taken from the Chalkwell Hall Estate which was the centre point of the farmland which covered the area until it was developed for housing in the early 20th century. The current Chalkwell Hall, built in 1830, sits in the centre of Chalkwell Park.

Usually at this point in a blog I would go into more detail about the park, however, we were not in Chalkwell for the park, we were here for its seafront. The seafront and stony-sandy beach at Chalkwell is nestled alongside its more well-known neighbours of Leigh-on-Sea, Westcliff-On-Sea and of course, the one and only, Southend-On-Sea.

We visited to take part in Chalkwell Beach parkrun and had travelled by car. There are a couple of options for parkring. Firstly, right next to the start-finish area are 120 parking spaces which stretch along the seafront area - the main method of payment is via the Mobon app, but I hear that there are machines that accept cash. If you don't mind being further away from the start area (and want to save a couple of pounds), there are various residential side streets where you can park for free - to use these you will need to park about 1km away, essentially you're looking to aim for the roads north of the train line in the vicinity of Chalkwell Park.

If you were to travel by train, Chalkwell Train Station sits right on the seafront, about 500m to the west of parkrun start area. Toilets can be found right next to the start. The course here is a straight-forward single out-and-back along the seafront path - underfoot is tarmac and the profile is totally flat. As noted on the official course page, part of the course does have a camber, but fortunately it doesn't last for too long.

Interestingly, only the first and last couple of hundred metres of the course take place alongside Chalkwell Beach, the remainder of the course goes through Westcliff-On-Sea and then the western end of Southend-On-Sea. The out-and-back itself is straightforward with no chance of taking a wrong turn. The participants need to stick to their left-hand-side as they progress around the course.

There are lots of items of street furniture all along the seafront (benches, bins, speed cameras, etc) and the course is not particularly wide, so it's worth keeping them in mind as it'd be fairly easy to accidentally collide with one. You'll find the reassuring sight of parkrun marshals at various points along the seafront. Also bear in mind that, as is normal for seafront courses, it can suffer from stronger winds than you may usually find in-land.

You pass a few interesting sights and landmarks along the way. First is the stone pillar out on the mud-flats near the start. This is the Crowstone and it marks the historic eastern boundary of the Port of London Authority's jurisdiction in the Thames Estuary. When we visited there was an art installation on the beach called 'Waiting for Climate' consisting of 15 pillars topped with small characters which symbolise our passive relationship with climate change. The course also passes a statue, unveiled in April 2024, of Sir David Amess, who was the MP for Southend West and was sadly murdered while hosting his weekly constituency surgery in October 2021. Shortly after his death, the Queen agreed to grant city status to Southend-on-Sea, in honour of Sir David, who had campaigned for this for many years.

Once in Westcliff, the course passes a seafront casino. In 2009 this became the very first casino in the UK to be granted a wedding licence - it's unconfirmed, but possible, that it was actually the first casino in the world to host a wedding. You'll also see The Cliffs Pavilion up on the cliffs facing the estuary, this is one of two theatres in Westcliff-On-Sea and is most famous for hosting a 'secret' Paul McCartney unplugged show in 1991.

In the distance as you look out along the estuary you can see Southend Pier which is a grade II listed building, and at 2.14km is the longest pleasure pier in the world. And then just as the course reaches the turnaround point, you can see the Southend Cliff Lift - a funicular railway which was constructed in 1912.

The return leg passes all the same points of interest all the way back to Chalkwell Beach where the finish line can be found on the grass right next to the original start point. Barcode scanning quite conveniently takes place right there on the grass, and there are a couple of cafes on hand to provide some well earned post-event refreshments.

Once we were nicely refreshed, we explored the beach a little more, but then the torrential rain came and we were drenched while making our way back to the car. A short while later our results messages came through and we saw that there were 193 finishers at event 6. If you'd like to see the GPS data for the course, you can see mine here: Strava: Chalkwell Beach parkrun. Also you can see the Relive course fly-by video, here: Course fly-by video.

Even with the dodgy weather, it had been a lovely morning out and the volunteers all around the course had really made us feel welcome. Thank you.

2024 update: We revisited in July 2024 and I can confirm that everything was still absolutely identical. The attendance figures have risen quite a bit since our first visit and the event is now regularly attended by well over 450 people, with the number sometimes breaking into the 500's. 

Related:

• My Chalkwell Beach parkrun GPS data (August 2021)
• The Relive course fly-by video (August 2021)

• The Essex parkrun venues (blog7t page)

Hove Promenade parkrun

Hove is a town in the ceremonial county of East Sussex. As of 1997, it was merged with Brighton for local government purposes and in 2000 the borough of Brighton and Hove was granted city status by the Queen. With around 275,000 residents, it is the most populous seaside resort in England.

We (me, the ladies and Richey) headed down to Hove on the first weekend of May 2017 to finally visit Hove Promenade parkrun, which has been active since July 2015. Although I like going to Brighton and Hove for its sheer number of vegetarian/vegan restaurants and shops, the town is very busy and parking either difficult, expensive or both.

hove, actually

When we arrived, we parked in one of the pay and display spaces on Kingsway which is the seafront road that runs adjacent to Hove Promenade. It's worth noting that these spaces fall within the Brighton and Hove 'inner' parking zone and are pretty expensive. We had planned to have lunch in Brighton after the run and the parking cost £10.40 for the full day (thanks, richey).

If you were just staying for the run, you'd probably be alright with 1 hour at £2 or 2 hours at £4.20 - another option would be to park further to the west in the 'outer' zone where the fees are halved. The nearest free spaces I am aware of are over 2 kilometres away on the side streets adjacent the original Brighton and Hove parkrun.

start area

Had we travelled down by train, we would have headed for Hove station which is the closest of the options (1 mile away). Alternatively there is Brighton station (1.5 miles away). If you are fairly local, there are a large number of bus option that will get you within a five minute walk of the start. Cyclists can of course use the city's extensive network of cycle lanes to reach the venue. Toilets are available and they are located on the promenade about 100 metres west of the start-finish area.

The run itself starts on the promenade right next to The Lawns Cafe and this is also used as the post-run tea/coffee social venue - it only has outdoor seating so I imagine the numbers of people at the post-run gathering are largely dictated by the weather conditions.

the western section and turnaround

This parkrun features an out-and back style course, but the start-finish is right in the middle of the course rather than being at one end. Some people may refer to the course as 2 laps and that does make some sense. It is a flat course and the promenade is very wide. The runners are asked to keep to the southern half of the prom (the half closest to the sea) and the turnaround points are run anti-clockwise (left hand turns).

From the start, the participants simply head west past the colourful beach huts and after a 180 turn at the turnaround point, they head back to the east. In the distance it's now possible to see the ruined remains of the West Pier which was originally opened in 1866. It was the first pier to be given grade I status, but due to repeated fire and storm damage it has now been declared as 'beyond repair' by English Heritage.

heading eastwards

Participants will also spot the 162-metre-tall i360 observation tower - it is the world's first vertical cable car and the world's 'tallest moving observation tower'. As the name suggests, passengers (up to 200 at a time) on board have a 360 degree view of the surrounding areas including the Isle of Wight, Beachy Head and the south downs.

Where was I? Oh yeah. The runners continue past the start area and continue until reaching the eastern turnaround point, which is just a few metres away from the Angel of Peace statue which marks the Hove/Brighton boundary line. Both of the turnaround points are marked with cones and are accompanied by wonderful marshals.

the eastern end turnaround point

The halfway point is found back at the start-finish area, and all that is left to to is repeat the double out-and-back or, if you prefer, the second lap. It's then time to dive into the finish funnel, collect a token and have it scanned along with your personal barcode.

While out on the course, it's worth checking out Hove Lawns (aka Brunswick Lawns) which separate the Prom from the main road - they sit on an area of land which is protected by an Act passed in 1830 which states that no building may be erected south of Brunswick Terrace (which is just just across the road). The lawns have seen many interesting events such as the landing of a biplane in 1911 - you can find lots more information on the very interesting 'Hove in the Past' blog.

the second lap

With this being a seafront course, it does suffer from the effects of the wind. When we ran here, we had a head wind blowing from the east, which was hard-going running into, but we did take advantage of the tail wind when heading the opposite way!

One of the natural processes that takes place along the sealine is longshore drift, which means that pebbles and shingle can end up covering the promenade as they are moved around by the wind and sea. In extreme cases this could lead to the event being cancelled, so keep an eye on the event's news and social media pages if you are planning a visit.

heading towards the finish

The surface is fairly smooth tarmac (suitable for buggies and wheelchairs) and is nice and wide. Cycling is not allowed on the promenade as there are bespoke bike lanes adjacent to the main road, so there shouldn't be any issues with passing cyclists. However, I did see plenty of cyclists ignoring this while I was there, so keep an eye out just in case.

We visited the venue on 6 May 2017 at event #92. There were 286 participants and the results were processed a short while later. I recorded the course GPS data and you can view it in detail, right here - Strava: Hove Promenade parkrun.

A big thanks to the day's official photographer and to Dani for the running photos.

post-run fun

We had made our own post-run lunch plans so we headed off into Brighton to a vegan cafe called The Loving Hut which is located in a park called The Level (update: now closed down). It was quite a walk from the parkrun venue, but so very worth it. I tried vegan fish and chips for the first time and was blown away by how amazing it was! We'd had another great day out in Brighton and Hove, and I have now run at all four of the city's parkrun venues.

My blogs from the full set of Brighton and Hove parkrun venues:

Brighton and Hove parkrun
Preston Park parkrun
Bevendean Down parkrun
Hove Promenade parkrun

East Brighton parkrun

Also, the full list of Sussex parkrun venues can be found here:

The Sussex parkrun venues