Salento parkrun, Lecce

After enduring the scorching heat of Roma Pineto parkrun last week, why not up the stakes and go further South for a first visit to Salento parkrun? I was enjoying a few days of holidays on the wonderful beaches and cliffs of Southern Salento and I would never miss the chance to drive up to Lecce for a visit to this small and relatively hard to reach event. Was the heat worse here or in Rome? Read and find out, the answer is not obvious.

First of all, if you haven’t been to this part of Europe before, consider coming. It is worth it, without the shadow of a doubt. The beautiful, arid inland landscapes merge seamlessly with an incredible seafront, with some of the most scenic beaches in Europe and a great mix of sand and cliffs creating some beautiful diving and snorkelling spots. Most of the prime holiday spots are further South, about 30 to 60 minutes drive from Lecce. At the very edge of the heel of the boot. But the drive up to Lecce is definitely worth it: this little even might very well become one of the many highlights of a great holiday.

This visit marks the third Italian event I have visited, with Milano Nord to be added to my trip to Rome last week. If everything goes according to plan, I might add a fourth one in September, if not two. I might have caught the bug and add another long term challenge to my list. Should I try visiting all Italian venues? Probably: there are 14 parkrun events in Italy as of August 2024. Three in Palermo and one near Catania might make completion a long term task though. Unless I find time to spend 1 month in Sicily, it will need several trips down to the island. Or even better: let’s wish the Italian parkrun community further success in expanding its network, making this achievement even more difficult!

Anyway, enough with my rumblings. It’s time to dive into some more info about Salento parkrun!

Trip to Salento parkrun and parking

The event takes place inside Parco Rauccio, about 15km outside of Lecce. It is a very large park, with wetland areas, tree covered areas and open, arid spaces. Obviously, to make it more fun, the run uses the latter.

Reaching this venue without a car does not seem easy. While the Park’s website says there is one bus line reaching the park, the official event page says there is no convenient public transport to get here. I will trust the event page on this. Maybe the bus stop is not available at the right time or maybe the bus stop is far from the meeting point, who knows.

If you are visiting while on holiday, you might be based in Lecce to spend a few days exploring this great city, so a taxi might also be an option. However, it is much more likely you will be coming from one of the seaside towns further afield. While Salento does not seem to have proper motorways, it has very good high capacity roads that can bring you to Lecce from most locations. If you use a GPS, heading for Parco Rauccio/Masseria Rauccio will bring you to the general area, but once you are close I would suggest switching to the ‘directions’ feature of the 5K app. It will help navigating the last mile around country roads.

Also, if you have rented a shiny, expensive car for your holiday, be careful during the last mile. The road is actually pretty bad towards the end, you don’t want to blow a tyre or worse. Go slow. Your GPS will bring you to the turn into Via Masseria Rauccio, and here you enter into the park. After about 800m, you have to turn right to reach the car park and meeting point. Unaided by the 5K app directions feature, my GPS was set for Masseria Rauccio and I would have kept going straight at this last turn.

The car park is not huge, but definitely big enough to cover attendance and more. If you are lucky, try to leave your car where there is a little bit of shade not to have an oven waiting for you when you are done. If you arrive before 8:30, it might still be pretty empty, but the parkrun lanyard was already up when I got there early. And soon, you will start seeing why Salento parkrun is truly special.

Salento parkrun: start and briefings

Salento is one of the friendliest and most welcoming parkrun events I have attended to date. And I have more than 90 under my belt. There is something pretty unique about Italian parkrun events: maybe it is due to the small size they still are at, maybe it is because holding events every week it’s a success given smaller pots to fish volunteers from. Hopefully the parkrun movement continues growing in Italy, but it also manages to retain the special ‘vibe’ and character it still enjoys.

Anyway, as I was saying, the unique vibe of Salento parkrun is immediately visible. If you don’t arrive at the last second, the RD will go out of his way to welcome all tourists individually, also bringing people around for a small tour of the facilities and having a small chat. Royal treatment. 🙂

After everyone had a chance to have a walk around and, if in season, wonder around the fig trees and enjoy a couple of ripe ones, it is time to start congregating around the Start sign. There is a tiny bit of shade here, enjoy it! Another nice touch before the dances start, though: the ever so kind RD brought a bottle of water for people to dampen their hats/heads. And it will be needed!

As seen at many Italian parkrun venues, before the briefing, a group picture is taken. Then the First Timers briefing, which I suspect is often at least half if not more than half of the field here. The course is fairly simple, but RD Saverio gives a thorough brief to ensure nobody misses a turn and ends up in the sea and then swims to Albania looking for the finish funnel.

Once the First Timers briefing is over, everybody lines up along the start line on the sunny path and the Main Briefing starts. I visited on Bushy-1000 day, so additional celebrations were briefly held. The Main Briefing is efficient and to the point, but all major points are covered. Particular attention is focused on warning runners about the hard surface of the paths they will soon be running on.

The countdown then comes, loud and clear. 3,2,1.

Go!

Salento parkrun course review – star ratings

Salento parkrun course review – route highlights

There were 18 parkrunners on the day I visited. Salento parkrun is a small event, but this was lower than their summer average levels which seem to float around 20-25. However, it is not the lowest attendance they have seen over the last few months, with a minimum at 11 during summer and 8 during winter. On the other side, the highest attendance I see over the last few months is 53 about a year ago. Paths are wide and we are very far from attendance levels that would make this event overly busy. I guess the limit is probably set by how many cars the car park can accomodate, since there are limited alternatives to get here.

There aren’t any obvious bottlenecks along this course. Also, given attendance levels, you will never ‘get stuck’ or have to slow down for anything other than the heat. A couple of noteworthy points though. After about 1K, there is a 360-degrees turnaround point which will slow you down a bit. Also, the straight that leads to that turnaround point is shared with cars. It is a country dirt road, so cars won’t go far and they all slow down/stop to let runners pass, but they are there. I encountered two over the two laps. Not an issue in any way, just be aware of it to avoid surprises.

Surface-wise, it is nearly all hard path. Very hard, dry path. It is slightly taxing on your knees, but it is better than the hard cement of the first few 100s metres. Paths are rough and there are plenty of rocks and holes, but it is not exceptionally technical. Road shoes were perfectly fine on the day I visited. In winter, I guess if you come during a heavy rain period you might find puddles, but I doubt it can get as bad as the quicksands we can sometimes see in the UK. Wimbledon Common parkrun and Woking parkrun, I am thinking about you.

Elevation-wise, at 9m elevation gain over 2 laps, this course is definitely flat There is one mild climb just before the last turn. It is noticeable, but it is not painful, especially when compared with the main culprit here, the heath. Now, a little digression about it, which will necessarily only apply to the summer months. It was scorching hot and I could feel the sun baking my unprepared Northern skin. However, bing so close to the sun definitely helped. There was a bit of breeze and it felt definitely less humid than a week before in Rome. Painful? Yes, very. But Roma Pineto was harder, in terms of weather.

In terms of course design, the RD described it as a ‘figure-6’ design. And with a bit of imagination, I think you can see it on the Strava plot above. It’s a 2-lapper, with the 2 laps being 99% identical. After you start, you go for a short out and back section that feeds you back into the main loop. At the end, you turn sharp left just before the start line and run 30/40 metres towards the finish funnel which is positioned slightly outside of the loop. There are no marshals out in the course, but getting lost is virtually impossible. Every turn is clearly signposted with arrows.

A quick Relive route plot is on my YouTube Channel, with longer video highlights embedded below.

Once it is time to go, everyone starts on a dirt path with some cement mixed in. Frankly, the cement is so broken down that it does not feel like you are running on a paved path. This is a cross country course, leave your carbon plated magic shoes home. The start is orderly given low numbers and fun, with most people going together and slowly seeding naturally over the first few 100 metres. With the sun firmly on your back until the first turn, it also feels less hot. It’s not, so don’t let the initial enthusiasm get to your head.

Soon, you will reach the end of this straight and take a 90-degree turn right. Here you will have trees on your left and, soon, an interesting building on your right. This is section of the course where you might meet a car. I think I cross paths with two, both going in the opposite direction to the runners, which helped. Not sure what the building is for, but it looks cool. After you pass it, keep going straight for a short section with the traditional regional stone drywalls on your left and a dilapidated building to your right. Then after a short open segment, the environment changes with a short pinetum section.

Great, shade! Don’t get too excited, it won’t last long!

Soon after you have entered the tree-lined path, you will reach a sign recommended to make a U-turn. Turn around on yourself and run the tree-lined section again. You will probably be running around 3/400 metres in total under the shade here and that’s the only shade you will encounter along the whole course. This is also a counterflow segment so you will see faster/slower runners going in the opposite direction, which always makes for an interesting visual impact in my view.

At the end of this segment, when there are no trees around you anymore, don’t keep going back towards the buildings. Instead, turn left and enter the main loop. Now you will have to run what roughly looks like a circle around some farmed areas and the picnic area.

Once you have turned left, you start with a short segment alongside the boundary wall of the pinetum. Then you start a fun section with a few left and right mild turns while running alongside a beatuful field with short trees on your right. Eventually you will reach a wide right turn with stones highlighting its left boundary. At the end, run alongside a surprisingly green field, maybe the edge of the wetlands that are part of the natural reserve North of the course. This is followed by another 4/5 metres of shade provided by a big bush, but that’s really it now.

Transition back to an open, arid environment and you will see the only noticeable climb of the course in front of you. It is not long, nor it is steep, but it’s there. While you are struggling with the heat, it will look threatening. It’s not, believe me. Once you get on top of it, a little more straight in a similar environment before turning right for the last time this lap. Keep going ahead following a slight left bend in the path and you will reach the car park area. The volunteers were in two different positions here encouraging everywhere passing to brave the weather for one more lap. As before the run, they were very friendly and made it fun and motivating.

After probably less than 50 metres, you are back to the start line. At the end of the first lap, keep going once more. At the end of the second lap, turn hard left just before the start. The finish funnel will be in front of you, probably 30m away.

Congratulations on completing Salento parkrun!

Facilities at Salento parkrun

The park is mostly a natural reserve so it is fairly light on facilities. That said, near the meeting point you can find an area set up for picnics with tables and shade. And on top of that runners can also find a clean and functional toilet block which also includes shower facilities if you need them after the run.

There are no cafes anywhere near the start. However, the organisers put up an impressive display with drinks and great food that is shared by all participants. Even better, the feast starts only after the tailwalker comes in, so everybody gathers around at their own pace and can have a pleasant chat while waiting and enjoying the shade. The fresh apple cake was great! Thank you!

As a competitor to the McDonald’s index, I am continuing to collect data for the parkbreakfast index: how much is breakfast at each location?

At Salento parkrun, the great breakfast was offered by the team. This will definitely win the prize when I compile the index, with a cost of £0. Had I known, I would have brought something to share with the other participants.

Salento parkrun: Video Highlights

As usual, I’ve taken a few video snippets during the run to give an idea of the course. If you like it, please subscribe, it’s a fun past time for me 🙂

The other parkrun videos on my YouTube channel are all linked on the course review and video highlights summary page.

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Achievements and performance

Conclusions

I really enjoyed Salento parkrun. Both its course, unusual environment and, obviously, the fantastic local team of runners, organisers and volunteers. It does feel like a family and they welcome everyone with a genuinely warm embrace. If/when I am back in the area, even if not around the corner, I guarantee I will visit again. And I warmly recommend to visit this area and this venue to anyone: it is worth it.

Finally, obviously, grazie, Salento parkrun team for your hospitality!