Zielona Góra is a city in western Poland, popular with parkrunners keen on completing the alphabet challenge (i.e. to run parkruns beginning with every letter of the alphabet).
Zielona Góra parkrun takes place on Saturdays at 9 am in a forested area just behind Sulechowskiej Recreation and Sport Centre, a couple of miles north east of the city centre. It’s about 500 metres from the recreation centre to the start.
Getting There
Probably the easiest way to reach Zielona Góra from abroad is to fly to Berlin. It is just over 100 miles from Berlin Airport. The start of the parkrun is just off the S3 expressway, so easily accessible by car. By bus, the no 44 stops by the recreation centre.
Note: Zielona Góra parkrun appears on Google Maps. Don’t try and follow this if you’re driving, as it will take you to the actual start. On a trail. In the middle of a forest. And then you look stupid sitting in your car amongst the joggers. And we should know!
Parking
There is plenty of free parking at the recreation centre and more free parking by MOSiR tennis courts, which are closer to the start but harder to locate.
Toilets
There are no facilities at the start – it’s in the middle of a forest. There are toilets at the recreation centre.
Zielona Góra Parkrun Course
The course consists of two loops, with an out-and-back section part way round each loop. Note: there is no marshal at the turn – you just have to look for the marker and turn around. When I ran, the lady behind me cheated, turned 200 metres early and ended up in front of me.
Terrain
The course takes place on trails in a pine forest. It is very flat – a total elevation gain of 24 metres. However, the ground is quite soft in places, with the added hazard of tree roots to avoid. In some places, the ground is compacted, while in others, potholes appear to have been filled in with actual, much softer sand. Hitting these softer section can take you by surprise. I managed to get caught between a hard and soft section and land on my knees. Not fun!
Shoes
Probably trail. It’s a rough trail with stony, sandy and rooty bits.
Difficulty
The course is fairly flat, but times were quite slow due to the terrain. That’s assuming you manage to stay upright!
Fun Factor
Zielona Góra parkrun is very small, with an average turnout of just 31 finishers. The week we went, there were 21 participants, and that included 6 Brits who had turned up solely to run a parkrun beginning with Z. I fell over, so it’s safe to say that the morning was not much fun. In addition, once the cheating lady had disappeared into the distance, I was alone in a forest with no other runners in sight, which was a bit scary. On the plus side, the locals were very welcoming and the Brits all went to breakfast together, which was very pleasant.
Where we Stayed
We stayed at the Qubus Hotel Zielona Gora. The advantages of staying here is that it is near the city centre, thus convenient for sightseeing and just a couple of miles from the start of parkrun. In addition, it boasts a breakfast buffet of over 100 items, which is available until 11 am at weekends. So you have ample time to get back to the hotel, shower and still make breakfast. The disadvantage is that we found everything to be rather flimsy, with thin walls and curtains which made sleeping problematic.
Nearby Attractions
Zielona Góra is quite small, but has a nice pedestrianised city centre with lots of mini drunken Bacchus statues. There’s also the pretty Winny Park with its Palmiarnia. We ran Zielona Góra parkrun as part of a one week Polish road trip. To read more about things to do in Zielona Góra, plus what else we got up to on our trip, click here.
I hope you found the above information useful. For guides to more destinations in the 50+ countries we have visited, check out my full list of Independent Travel Itineraries here.
Jane's Midlife Journey 
Leave a reply to Kraków Parkrun Guide – Jane's Midlife Journey Cancel reply