04/05/2025 Cooks River and Botany Bay Foreshore 10K Race/Fun Run

Dear reader. I am organising a run along my favourite 10K stretch, chosen for uninterrupted running. The start will be at 4pm on the 4th of May (arrive by 3:50pm for introductions). My motivation is to have an event that I can run with my whippet.

Here are some features of this run:

It differs from mass participation events in the following

Anybody is welcome. Anyway, since this event is not sanctioned by Council nor any other level of government, I would not be able to keep anybody away if I wanted to.

Barring a major rain event or natural disaster or something of that nature, this run will definitely be on. My running friends have agreed to keep this event going even if, heaven forbid, something happens that prevents me from attending my own event.

The range of ages of people who have, at the time of writing, already indicated that they would participate will be 24 to 71. The actual age range could, of course, be even wider since I don't know all who will participate. I mention this, in case anybody thinks they are two young or too old. Both men and women have indicated they will participate.

As for the times that can be expected, based on the people who have already indicated that they will attend, I expect that the fastest will take less than 50 minutes and the slowest will be in the 80 to 90 minute range.

Sunset will be at 5:12pm. But of course, there will be plenty of light for another 20 minutes or so. Therefore, you can take 90 minutes or even a little more and you will not arrive in darkness. If you have already taken 90 minutes and you are not within sight of the finish, then please contact me or someone else who is at the finish so that I know what is happening. If you are really struggling, it could be an option to take a shortcut (more on that later). Obviously, that would not be a valid 10K run. But you may prefer that to arriving in darkness.

The Course

We will meet at the Car Park on West Botany Street, opposite Spring Street. Look for a bunch of people who look like runners. If you see a man in advanced middle age wearing a white top, with a black and white whippet, that will be I, unless someone else matching that description shows up.

We will run east. The segment starts as we go past the northern entrance to Landing Lights Wetlands (which is a bridge over the canal to our right). To be sure that Strava picks up the segment (for those of us on Strava), I recommend turning it on 50m out. We'll jog in formation through the start and then it's on. There is a road and a bike path. There aren't many cars on that road and it's wider, so we are better off running on the road, rather than the bike path.

I have marked the path on Google Maps images. I have done this free-hand with the Windows snipping tool. Don't run squiggly lines or run off the path just because I have been a little clumsy in using this tool.

We will follow the road until it terminates in an entrance to car park to your left and an entrance to a walking and cycling path ahead. Resist the temptation to run into the car park and instead run into the path. That path will bend right and go over a bridge. The satellite photo is out of date and what looks like a construction site is now a finished sports area.

Tourist information: Back in 2016 to 2018 there was an attempt by a developer to develop this area and some more area further to the north into a golf course to compensate the club inhabiting a different golf course where the developer was going to build apartments. This proposal is well and truly dead. See link to the campaign

After the bridge over the canal, the path will go along Muddy Creek for another 600m or so and lead to Bestic Street. Turn left. You will cross Muddy Creek. Run past the entrance to the car park and then back into the park lands. See map and photo of entrance.

Now you really can't do much wrong for the next two kilometers. Just run the path along the foreshore, except that at one area there is a car park and boat ramp between the foreshort. First, the path will go along Muddy Creek. Then it will go past a Hockey field. The path will go right, and this is where the car park is between the path and the foreshore. The first time you pass the park, it will be easy to avoid the car park. On the way back, though, you need to be careful. You need to turn left to avoid the car park. Easy to make a mistake and just run straight and find yourself in the car park. After the car park, the first time you pass it, you will run along the Cooks River with the airport to your left.

You will run under Endeavour Bridge. There you need to turn right and then left. Don't run into any sort of car park.

After a few hundred meters, you will come out of the park and run straight onto a back street. Believe it or not, this is actually a part of the Grand Parade. You will see a hippotamus sculpture at the corner. You have two options: You could run on the road or on the foot path. The road is smoother and wider and you can get out of the way of the infrequent cars that come from the front or from behind. Or you can run on the foot path. I have marked both options on the map. I prefer the road.

Tourist information: Along the quiet stretch of Grand Parade, you will run past a house which looks like a temple. Look out for it. Maybe you will find it a little kitschy but I like it. I imagine that a child had a dream to live in that kind of house and then, as an adult, had it built it like that. And that is what appeals to me.

We come to the point where General Holmes Drive and the quiet part of the Grand Parade meet the busy part of Grand Parade. Again, I have drawn in, for the quiet part of the Grand Parade, both the option to run on the road and the option to run on the path. If you are running on the road, look out for the ramp, which is where the two options converge. If you miss it, you will have to run over a kerb.

Now the course goes along a busy road for a few hundred meters until the turning point. You know you are getting close when you get to the building between the path and the water. Run between the building and road.

When you get to the end of the building, run past the stairs and ramps immediately after the building, run for another 60 meters or so where you will see the opportunity to go left and then left again down a ramp. This is where you need to go.

The picture below shows you what the turning point looks like, as you approach it.

Now, you will run along the beach. Just before the path along the beach ends, there is a ramp going back up. Take that ramp and continue on the path along the road.

Now that you are on the path next to the road, simply continue on and run back to the starting point the way you came.

You might wonder: why did I construct the turning point like that? I didn't want an abrupt stop to run back the other way. It just felt more natural to me to run around something and run without stopping. Both top and bottom have their own advantages: The top approach to the turning point is flatter and the path away from the turning point is more scenic and less noisy.

If you are struggling - The short cuts

As I said at the start, if you are struggling, there are options. It's up to you. Maybe you have others that are with you and you are happy to just push on. Just keep people in the loop. But if you are prepared to take a shortcut and admit to it, so that you can be back in 90 minutes or so, here are your options:

Some tips

Here is my favourite video on running form by my favourite YouTube running coach, with an analysis of Eliud Kipchoge slow motion running footage. Running with good form is less jarring which has the following advantages:

Perhaps this event will be the first time you run 10K. And that might be ok, if you are younger person, at least. And even for an older person, if you run 7 or 8K from time to time and you are fine, you will probably manage 10K.

However, you might consider doing some 10K runs beforehand. If you are used to running shorter distances, for example, 5K at whatever pace, then, maybe once a week, run slower and build up distance. You can still do shorter, faster runs, no problem. Just once a week, or at least most weeks, focus on distance rather than pace, until you reach 10K. When you can run 10K in one go, keep running it once a week, or at least most weeks, and now you can focus on pace.

Here is what works for me: On Thursday nights, I run my 10K segment at an I-earned-my-rest-day effort (with Zeus the whippet, of course). I push harder for the last 2.9K from Endeavour Bridge to the finish. I created a strava segment for those last 2.9K That's the hardest run of my running week. That's why my two running rest days are on Wednesdays and Fridays. I want to be fresh when I do that run and I need to recover after it. I am not suggesting that everybody should run five days a week. You can be a quite reasonable runner with running twice a week. Less, even, depending on what other physical activity you do. If you do run consecutive days, I recommend you have easy days in between your harder days.