Gravesend junior parkrun 25 - the half-marathon wristband

If life had taken the path that I had imagined it would, I would have been running the 2015 London Marathon and Matilda would have been in Central London with her Mum and the rest of my family getting ready for a brief encounter with me as I trudged out my final mile or so. But as things panned out, this year was not to be and I withdrew my place.

with her half-marathon wristband and certificate [photo: dani]

With the marathon no longer an option I wanted to do something else and what better than helping the next generation of (marathon) runners. So I put my name down as a volunteer at Gravesend junior parkrun and we headed over there for a pretty special event. You see, a few weeks beforehand Matilda had run at the inaugural Lesnes Abbey Woods junior parkrun and in the process she had achieved her first junior parkrun landmark run by running 11 times becoming part of the junior Half Marathon club (11 x 2 being 22km - ie hitting and then passing the half-marathon mark).

She knew that she would receive a wristband as recognition of her achievement so she was pretty excited and was keen to go even though it was a miserable, rainy morning. By the way, when a junior runner reaches a landmark run a link appears on their personal club progress page and this gives the runner a printable certificate. I hadn't told Matilda about the certificate but I had printed one out and framed it.

approaching my marshalling spot [photo: 7t]

Once arriving at the Gravesend Riverside Gardens I headed over to GjpHQ in order to hand over the certificate so it could be included with her presentation. Once that was sorted I got kitted out in the hi-vis volunteer jacket and grabbed myself one of the legendary junior parkrun foam hands (I picked blue to match the half-marathon wristband).

Just before the warm-up the wristband presentations took place and Matilda was over the moon to receive her blue half-marathon wristband and certificate. As soon as that was complete I took a swift jog over to the opposite side of the park to take up my position at the car park gate marshalling spot. Matilda had decided that she wanted her Mum to run around with her today.

hi-five [photo: dani]

After about 16 minutes of pointing, hi-fiving and cheering, the last of the runners and the tail runner came past and it was time to collect some signs and head back to HQ. It's actually quite interesting seeing the responses I got when I offered hi-fives - the younger ones loved it, but in general the older ones were not so keen.

Once the results had been processed Matilda's results text message came through to my phone and she was really happy when I told her that she had run a new personal best. Her best 2k time is now 15.21; this is exactly one minute faster than her previous best on the course. So although it wasn't the day I had initially had in mind for 26 April 2015, it certainly turned out to be pretty good.

chilling out at home post-run [photo: 7t]

She's even started to talk about running at 'Daddy's parkrun'....

Dartford parkrun 39 - nineteen-forty-six

At my first claim running club we have just started our first ever Grand Prix. Our system gives us two ways of scoring points. The first is by participating at one of the nominated races and the second is by running at parkrun with each runner's best parkrun age grade of each month also being converted in points - this is called the 'parkrun bonus'. Points are awarded based on the runner's age grade score with the percentage converted into points by rounding up to the next integer.

Our race for April was the Darent Valley 10k which hosted by Swanley & District AC. It's a tough course and I'm not fully fit but I came away with a GP score of 67 points (66.04% rounded up). Earlier in the month of April I had put in a 20:01 parkrun time which gave me an age grade of 67.19% and a potential parkrun bonus of 68 points. With this weekend being the last in April it was a chance to try to squeeze another point out of Dartford parkrun.

about 1.8km into the run with adam right on my tail [photo: brian page]

So, the day before parkrun I did a little maths and worked out that in order to move up into the next percentage number I would have to run 19:46, which would give me an age grading of 68.04% and would be rounded up to 69 points. The problem was that I busted a gut just reaching 20:01 and I was sceptical as to whether I could actually knock another 15 seconds off. Anyway, it was worth a try.

So on the day I set off at an aggressive opening pace in the knowledge that within a few short minutes the run would become very uncomfortable and maybe a little painful. According to my stopwatch I hit 1km in 3.50 which was a tiny bit faster than the required pace, then after running through the gardens I headed around the bandstand and reached 2km with the stopwatch displaying 7.40 (another 3.50 kilometre). I was happy with those but knew that it was a tad faster than my actual 5km fitness level.

slightly different shot from the same point [photo: brian page]

By the time I had crossed the bridge for a second time and reached 3km things were getting very tough. The stopwatch time of 12:42 (4.02) at 3km confirmed that my pace had started to slow. All I could do from here was try to hang on. I somehow ran a cracking 4th kilometre (this one includes the second trip around the grass and incline section) and reached the 4 kilometre point with the stopwatch at 15.38. That left 4 minutes and 8 seconds to reach the 5km point.

By four-and-a-half kilometres I had started making involuntary sounds while I was running - I think this may be a first. As everyone that has run a hard 5km race or time trial will know, this last stretch can be complete agony and this really is the best way I can describe it. My running club chairman, Brian, even got some photographic evidence as to how hard I was pushing. Turning onto the grass right at the end I glanced at the stopwatch and it showed a time of 19.36 - so I gave it everything I had left...

at 4.5km and just wanting it all to be over [photo: brian page]

After the run it took me a good five minutes to get on top of my breathing and to start feel fairly normal again. Incidentally my GPS readings tell an ever-so-slightly different story as far as kilometre splits are concerned but it's pretty close. So after standing around and chatting for a little bit, I linked up with Adam - who himself had put in a stonking effort and finished just a few seconds behind me - and we went to collect any remaining signage from around the course.

There were a few problems with the parkrun laptop after the run so the processing was a little delayed and we ended up stuck in the processing queue. So it wasn't until a few hours later that my confirmed official result came through and much to my delight, it was bang on 19:46. This gave me that 68.04% age grade score and an extra point in the Grand Prix. There were a whole load of other really good performances from my team mates so we were all pretty chuffed with ourselves.

please make it stop [photo: brian page]

All over and done with for another week and I started to feel a little sad, fortunately I had put my name down for a spot of junior parkrun volunteering the next day so that's two parkrun days in one weekend, which is just about the right amount if you ask me.

Darent Valley 10k 2015

I ran this race in 2014 and came away with a pretty good result (39.57). It's probably handy to read that blog post (Darent Valley 10k 2014) before reading this one because this one contains a few references to last year's event. For the record the event is superbly organised and hosted by Swanley and District Athletics Club.

dv10k [photo: 7t]

A year later and my running had fallen to bits. A lingering knee injury has meant that my training had been almost non-existent for four months leading up to the 2015 event, and up until 48 hours prior to the race I wasn't going to enter.

However, it had been set as the first race in the 2015 SLGR Grand Prix. I'm not that fussed about competing against my team-mates but the opportunity to run at a race with such a huge group of them was too much to resist. So I gave in to temptation and entered the race via the runbritain website and paid the £13 affiliated entry fee (£15 for unaffiliated runners). I used runbritain because they do not add a fee to the entry price like some other race entry websites (*cough*runner's world*cough*).

sparepenny lane [photo: 7t]

Considering my knee troubles I knew this was going to be a poor performance in comparison to what I achieved at the previous year's race. So my only real goals were to come away without making my injury any worse and to enjoy the morning. I definitely succeeded in one of them. *sigh*

On the day, just like the previous year, I jumped on my bike and headed down to Farningham/Eynsford to the race HQ in the Anthony roper School. I arrived and found the bike racks that I had used previously. If I had driven I could have parked up in the official car park adjacent to the school. Number collection was out in the school playground and involved going to a big board, looking up my name and making a note of my race number, then going to the collection point and quoting my race number.

darent valley path [photo: 7t]

I met up with a small group of SLGR runners who were huddling in a corner of the school hall. There were other groups outside but as it was a chilly, but beautiful, morning I was glad of a bit of warmth - the cycle ride over to the venue had left me with cold knees.

There were plenty of portaloos in another part of the school playground and I got in the queue a little bit too close to race start time. By the time my turn had come around there were only 3 minutes left before we'd be heading off. It was a bit of a struggle getting through the crowd of 623 runners (double 2014's number of entrants!) but I managed to reach a spot that was close enough to the front to mean that I wouldn't be held up.

looking across darent valley towards the race hq [photo: 7t]

After a short briefing we were off. The first thing I noticed was that the main road was much smoother this year (in 2014 it was heavily pot-holed following a very wet winter). I wound my way round the road until reaching the first kilometre point and turning into Farningham High Street.

After passing the lovely St Peter and St Paul Church, and then crossing the River Darent the course started to head uphill. Gently at first, but getting quite a bit steeper after turning left again onto Sparepenny Lane which runs parallel to the Darent Valley path (Dartford parkrun also passes along the same path, but about 10km further north). The 2 kilometre point is shortly reached. Then the 3 kilometre point, which I'm pretty sure is in the wrong place - both times I have run here I have found that I reached the marker in a time that was inconsistent with the pace I had been running.

lullingstone road [photo: 7t]

After spending the next few minutes glancing over at the view across the Darent Valley the road came to an end and it was time head down Lullingstone Road towards Lullingstone Castle, but not before passing underneath the Eynsford viaduct, which never fails to impress! The route then went past the road that leads up to Eagle Heights birds of prey centre, which is also home to some big cats and various other animals.

One more feature that the route passes here is the Lullingstone Roman Villa, which has a visitor centre built around it. The Villa dates back to around 100AD and features some of the finest excavated remains of a Roman Villa in Britain. I remember visiting it as a child. Actually my parents often used to take me, my sister and brother on days out to Eynsford back in the 1980s (it was a proper day out because we lived in central London). It still looks and feels exactly the same as I remember back then.

eynsford viaduct [photo: 7t]

After the Villa the road narrows and starts to undulate as it finally winds its way past Lullingstone Castle and the half-way point. I glanced at my watch at this point and found that I was about a minute off my time from 2014, which was pretty much what I was expecting. It was now time to leave the paved roads and go off-road for a while.

If this race was run in the winter you'd probably seriously consider wearing trail shoes to help negotiate this section, but as it was April and the last few weeks had been pretty rain-free, the soil was bone dry so road shoes did the job perfectly. It's a rocky uphill path to begin with and then the path becomes grassy. It passes through a few separate fields (the brand new Lullingstone parkrun uses part of this section) before swinging downhill along a narrow, tree and bush-lined pathway that contains some protruding tree roots.

just before the 4km marker having run under the viaduct [photo: brian pitkin]

At the bottom there is a sharp right-hand turn and the off-road section is complete. A fairly short, flat road section is followed by a quick detour through Castle Farm and this is where the longest section of climbing starts. The road gets gradually steeper as it reaches the A225 main road. Then as you reach the top, pretty much at walking pace, you turn left hoping for some relief, but the hill continues (albeit at a more comfortable incline) and it seems to go on for ages.

The eighth kilometre has been my slowest split on the two ocassions I have run here. But just before the end of this kilometre, the peak of the hill is reached and the remaining two-and-a-bit kilometres are almost exclusively downhill. The course soon weaves its way past Eynsford train station and then into the centre of Eynsford (Kent village of the year 2006). The course passes the St Martin of Tours Church which is opposite an ancient ford and medieval hump-backed bridge.

neck-and-neck with drr approaching the finish [photo: brian pitkin

Now inside the final kilometre all that is left is to weave along Eynsford High Street, which is now fairly flat but there is a very small undulation that feels bigger then it is when running on tired legs, and then turn back into the Anthony Roper School and cross the finish line.

Post race there was a medal to collect and some drinks, chocolate bars and bananas on offer (in fact, this is one race where I went home with more bananas than I arrived with!) I spent the next hour or so hanging out with the rest of the team as we exchanged stories of our adventures on the course. Quite a large group of us stayed for the prize-giving ceremony where our leading lady won first placed female.

2015 race medal, which continues the theme of using a scene from around the course [photo: 7t]

After a final team photo (there were a few throughout the morning, but sadly not one of them captured everyone from the club together) it was time to hit the road. So I said my farewells, changed back into my cycling gear and had a leisurely ride back to Dartford via the country lanes around Horton Kirby and South Darenth, taking exactly the same route as I had done a year earlier.

The official results were online a few hours later and I was about 2.5 minutes slower than in 2014 but that's just how it goes sometimes - you can view my GPS data on Strava. We had 48 declared first claim members of SLGR running in the race which was amazing. Last year we weren't even an affiliated club and we had about 10 runners running as part of the original 'So Let's Go Running' running group. I'd say that's pretty good progress!

(most of) #teamslgr [photo: ian pullen]

Time: 42.24 (chip)
Position: 76 / 623
Age Grade: 64.71%
Link: Official results

Lastly, I'd just like to add a huge thank you to all the volunteers that helped to make the event possible. And also to all of my team mates, to all the friendly faces from clubs near and far I had the pleasure of chatting to and to Dartford Road Runners Ian Pullen and Brian Pitkin for the fab photos that I have used above!

Dartford parkrun 38 - all the fun of the fair (and pacing. don't forget the pacing)

A bit of a surprise this week was when I received a message showing a poster promoting a fun fair that was due to arrive in Central Park on Wednesday and stay until Sunday. At first I was a little worried that their set-up could infringe on part of the route we use for our weekly five kilometre jog around the park.

the fair rides were all on the grass so we didn't have to dodgem [photo:7t]

So after work on Wednesday I popped over to the park to check it out. The fun fair was contained within the grass areas adjacent to the bandstand and thankfully left all of the paths nice and clear. Fast forward to Saturday morning and everything still looked good when I met Richey (ED) in the park.

Once all the gear was unpacked it became apparent that the hi-vis vests had been taken away for a wash, but were at Adam's house. The thing is, Adam had other plans and couldn't make it to parkrun this week. Thankfully Dartford Harriers A.C saved the day by letting us use some of their vests.

a nice little 21 minute pacing crew [photo: brian page]

The main thing that was exciting me at this event was the fact that it was pacers day. This time around we had 8 pacer volunteers, which was the best turnout so far. Again I went for the 21 minute pacing slot, which I find is a brilliant pace for me to run at and picks up a few more pacees than anything faster.

So the plan was to leave the Garmin at home and just check my kilometre splits as I reached the km points around the course using my stopwatch. Even splits for a 21 inute finsih would be 4.12 per kilometre, but because the course isn't flat, the splits for an even effort run aren't even.

an extreme take on my love of angled photos [photo: brian page]

This plan was to go for; 4.12 / 4.02 / 4.12 / 4.22 / 4.12 which I find is quite a fair way to run based on the profile of the course. When pacing I always check my time at the 500 metre point and I hit it at about 1.56 which is about 10 seconds in front of what the plan suggests, but starts tend to be a little quicker than the average pace and it allowed me to progress up the incline with ease.

I hit the 1 kilometre point in 4.10, which wasn't too shabby. The next kilometre is usually my quickest because it features a downhill which allows for a slightly faster pace without increasing the effort level. I worked my way round and reached the 2 kilometre point at 8.12 which made that split a 4.02, which was spot on.

completing the first lap [photo: ella smith]

Now the third kilometre is where I fluffed it up. I didn't drop the effort level back to 4.12 pace and I ended up putting in a 4.01 split. Realising my mistake, I eased off a little for the fourth kilometre and put in a 4.22 split, which was just as planned. However I was still about 10 seconds ahead of where I should have been.

I tried to ease off even more for the final kilometre and despite feeling like I was taking things really easy, I put in 4.11. Which was perfect pace-wise but meant I was still approximately 10 seconds ahead of schedule. I finally crossed the line in 20.51. That is inside my 1% tolerance so I was happy enough.... but I'm not happy with the third kilometre split that I put in. I'll work on that next time!

stopping my watch at the finish line [photo: ella smith]

This week also featured a parkrun bake-off (that I had completely forgotten about until Richey reminded me the night before) so there was a nice selection of sweet treats on the tables for everyone to help themselves to. Can't really complain about that!

And that was how Dartford parkrun 38 panned out for me...

cake for no reason other than we decided to have a bake-off [photo: 7t]

... I honestly can't wait to do it all over again next week.

Lesnes Abbey Woods junior parkrun 1

In the north-west corner of the London Borough of Bexley lies a 6.3 hectare area of woodland called Lesnes Abbey Woods. It is an area rich in geological history and fossils, including shark teeth, are regularly found. Part of the woods have been declared a site of special scientific interest (SSSI).

pre-run briefing [photo: 7t]

At the northern border of the woods lies the ruins of Lesnes Abbey which was founded by Richard de Luci, Chief Justicar of England, in 1178. The Abbot of the Abbey was an important local landlord. However, the Abbey's chronic financial difficulties eventually lead to it being closed in 1525 under the dissolution of monasteries Act.

warm-up session [photo: brian crane]

The majority of the buildings were pulled down and some of the stone was used in the construction of the nearby Hall Place.

After this time the Abbey was effectively lost and the land was used for farming. In recent times the remains of the Abbey have been uncovered and restored making this a very picturesque and pleasant space to come and wander around. At times it's hard to believe that you're standing in the middle of suburban South East London.

the start line of the first lesnes abbey woods junior parkrun [photo: 7t]

On 12 April 2015 Lesnes Abbey Woods junior parkrun was welcomed into the parkrun family. It was at 8.05am on the day that Matilda decided that she wanted to run, so we had a little panic and headed over to the venue for the 9am start.

Free car parking is available on most of the roads around the venue - the best parking spot is on Abbey Road (B213) just near the footbridge, which is right next to the start-finish area. The nearest train station is Abbey Wood which is only a few minutes walk from the venue.

out on the course [photo: dani]

Unfortunately there are currently no toilet or cafe facilities at the venue. There are plans via the Lesnes Abbey Woods Enhancement Project to build an 'education and community hub' which should address the lack of facilities here. Until then it'll be a case of making do. There are some picnic benches where the runners, parents and volunteers meet.

Junior parkrun start times vary between venues so please always check the individual event's website. As I mentioned earlier, this venue's run starts at 9am.

parkrun [photo: 7t]

We arrived with about 15 minutes to spare which was great as we could mingle with the volunteers and have a look around the remains of the Abbey where there is a Mulberry tree that is said to have been planted by King James I. It's also worth checking out the view across to Docklands where the iconic Canary Wharf skyline can be seen in the distance.

the remains of lesnes abbey [photo: 7t]

The run briefing was expertly delivered by Mel (event director at Bexley parkrun) who has been instrumental in putting together a team of run directors and core volunteers over the last few months.

Once suitably briefed the 20 junior runners were given a thorough warm-up and then headed to the start line.

hi five, marshal! [photo: dani]

The 2 kilometre run is made up of three twisty laps around the remains of the Abbey and the formal garden area. It is gently undulating (although little legs may regard it as hilly) and is run on a combination of tarmac paths, grass and dirt footpaths.

It really is a fantastic little route.

bringing it home [photo: brian crane]

Matilda took her Mum with her on lap 1 and I joined in for laps 2 and 3 where we had at a pit stop to remove a small stone from inside her shoe. Being one of the smaller runners, she did start to struggle mentally with the three laps because it's difficult for her to watch other children finishing while she still has a lap to go.

Plus it's also worth considering that to a four-year-old three laps seems like further to run than the two laps she is used to at Gravesend junior parkrun. Still the encouragement from the volunteers (especially Richey and Angela) made all the difference.

collecting her finishing position token [photo: dani]

Once she got going on lap three and could sense the finish, she managed to get back into her stride. After 22 minutes and 10 seconds she crossed the finish line and in the process entered the junior parkrun half-marathon club (11 runs). She had a big hug with Mummy before getting in the queue to get her barcode scanned by the event director, Olalekan.

barcode scanning [photo: dani]

With all the runners accounted for the kit was packed away and everyone headed off. Apart from me and Richey - we decided that it would be rude to be standing at a parkrun venue and not have a little freedom run, so we got straight onto that.

parkrun [photo: dani]

Looking in more detail at the LAW Enhancement Project you can see all the great plans that have been drawn up for this venue and it is certainly a great place to spend a little longer exploring after the parkrun. There's a recreation area that includes a fair-sized playground. There is a special area that permits digging for fossils and there is an actual fossil bed which looks amazing. There are wildflower meadows, ponds and orienteering trails to explore.

Overall it is another great addition to the growing selection of junior parkrun venues on offer and one that I think we'll come back to many times in the future.

Dartford parkrun 37 - another day in dartford

I don't talk about it much any more, but my knee has been giving me grief since the end of December 2014 and as a result I'm a borderline non-runner throughout most of the week. I've kept my toes in the water by running at Dartford parkrun on Saturday mornings and as a result my fitness hasn't suffered by a huge margin over the last three months (around a minute over 5km).

pre-run mingling (chatting to matilda and alex) [photo:official set]

However, the recover is probably taking longer than it would have if I had just stopped running altogether. I have had to miss out on a few races that I had been looking forward to but on balance I'm happy with the decision I have made to continue running at parkrun every week.

The only running I did in the week since last week's parkrun at Brentwood (and I probably shouldn't have run because I was ill) was when I popped down to Tonbridge to make a video of the Tonbridge parkrun course. Making these videos generally involves about 3.5 hours of short 10-25 second bursts to create the clips. Approx 130 video clips in total.

heading over the ellenorlions bridge(s) on lap two [photo:official set]

So for Dartford parkrun 37, with my knee feeling the best it had for a long time, I decided to put in a hard effort. I started at a fairly relaxed pace and slowly eased into my pace. I hit the 1 kilometre point at 4.04, but then increased the pace over the second kilometre and reached 2km in a few seconds under 8 minutes. 

As I was in the range for a possible sub-20 finish I decided that I might as well go for it, but when I reach the 3km point a few seconds behind schedule, I knew it would be tough to pull it around. The incline on the second lap added a few more seconds to my fourth kilometre and I completed that kilometre with the clock showing 16 minutes. 

the last few footsteps [photo: official set]

I needed a last kilometre of less than 4 minutes in order to squeeze under the magic 20 minute mark. A few twisty corners later and I entered the long straight tarmac path that leads back towards the start-finish area. There was a headwind and I pushed as hard as I could.

I turned onto the last grass section, glanced at my watch, saw that it said 19.50 and pushed as hard as possible right to the finish (as confirmed by my expression in the photo above), but couldn't quite reach the finish funnel in time and had my time confirmed as 20.01 once the results had been processed.

scanning the barcode of our youngest dartford parkrunner [photo:dani]

Before the processing took place there was the small matter of barcode scanning to take care of. This is a great volunteering role and it allows me to run as well as volunteer (providing I get around quick enough, plus there is always a primary scanner to take care of the first few finishers). I had the absolute pleasure of scanning the barcode for Alex who at 4 years old is the youngest runner to complete the course to date. He did it in an incredible 39.29, so I'll be watching out for him chasing me down sometime in the next few years.

Tonbridge parkrun (freedom run) video

for more information please visit the Tonbridge parkrun website

Brentwood parkrun

The origins of Weald Country Park lie in the stunning grounds of Weald Hall, which had parts dating back to the 16th century. Originally forest land, and subsequently a (fallow) deer park used for hunting, the area was beautifully landscaped for Hugh Smith who was Lord of the Manor between 1732 and 1745. Over time, the estate grew and further areas of adjacent land were enclosed - by 1841 the estate grounds covered a whopping 800 acres.

welcome to.... [photo:7t]

After this time, the estate's steady decline started. It was let to farmers in the late 19th century and then sold in 1946 when the land was broken up - a signiifcant chunk of the land was retained to be part of London's green belt. Weald Hall suffered damage during the war which lead to its demolition in 1950-51. The country park, which covers a mere 500 acres, retains its 18th century landscaping complete with tree-lined avenues and lakes. 

looking down towards the lake [photo:7t]

It became home to Brentwood parkrun on 6 December 2014. I had heard great things about this venue during its first few weeks of operation from fellow parkrun tourists and I finally managed to head into Essex with an entourage of 10 regular Dartford parkrun runners and volunteers to take part in Brentwood parkrun event 18. Our ED had been forced to cancel our own event because an Easter Egg Hunt was scheduled to take place and their set-up meant that they'd have vehicles moving around our course mid-run, which simply left no other choice.

heading down towards the lake [photo:dani]

The first thing I noticed upon arrival is that the start-finish field is very exposed to the weather and it felt much colder than the forecast had suggested. The facilities here are good - there are four car parks to choose from for which parking fees are payable. As of April 2015 they are; up to 30 mins is £1, up to 1 hour is £1.50, up to 2 hours is £2.50, up to 3 hours is £3.50 or over 3 hours is £4. As we were planning to hang around for a while after the run, I stuck £4 in the machine. I then got changed into my trail shoes.

the first bridge [photo:7t]

Interestingly, the Belvedere car park uses the site where Weald Hall previously stood and you can find some interesting historic features here. Most notably some brick steps which are still intact and lead up to the remains of the Belvedere (meaning 'fair view' or 'panoramic viewpoint' in Italian) Temple, which was built in the 1740s as a folly from which the estate could be viewed.

during the uphill section in the woods [photo: david hayday (official photographer)]

For anyone travelling by other means, there is a train station in Brentwood town centre which is approximately 3.5 kilometres away from the start line. Cyclists should head to the visitor centre car park where they will find a cycle rack on the right hand side just past the cafe.

heading back past the lakes [photo:7t]

I hear there are buses that pass the venue but the bus stops are on the opposite side of the park and a 1 mile walk (or warm-up jog) is required to get to the start line. There are a number of toilet facilities dotted around the park - the ones adjacent to Belvedere car park (on the map but not visited by me) are the most conveniently placed for the start of the run and the visitor centre best at the end.

at the foe cross-over point [photo:dani]

The run takes place over a single, undulating, figure-of-eight shaped course. Please note that this is the course as of April 2015 - I have read on the event news page that course alterations may be forthcoming so please check the venue's news and course pages for the latest information. The figure of eight is completed by running an anti-clockwise upper portion and a clockwise lower portion. Underfoot you will find a combination of grass, forest paths, dirt and mud (hence the trail shoes).

local residents hanging out on the lake [photo:7t]

The fallow deer have been re-introduced into the park, but instead of roaming free they are kept in an enclosure which the runners pass shortly after setting off on their 5 kilometre dash around the former country estate. The opening section of the run on Belvedere Field sees the runners head down a progressively steeper downhill section through open grassland leading towards the park's lakes (some runners took the option of the firm path instead of staying on the grass). After passing between the lakes, crossing a narrow hump-backed bridge and entering Lake Field on the northern side of the park, the runners then head uphill for a bit before the course briefly flattens out. The grass is pretty lumpy underfoot here (possibly molehills) so care is required to avoid twisting an ankle.

me and richey making our way around the loop of belvedere field [photo:dani]

A sharp left-hander at the most easterly point of the course takes the runners into the woods and onto quite a firm path which signals the start of the longest continuous uphill section of the run. This uphill lasts for just under a kilometre and brings the runners out at the highest point of the course. If you're feeling a little puffed out at this point it is worth noting that this park was originally earmarked as the venue for the London 2012 Olympic mountain biking event but was rejected by the International Cycling Union for be 'insufficiently challenging'.

me and richey approaching the finish [photo: david hayday (official photographer)]

The course flattens out and then starts to head generally (but not exclusively) downhill from this point. At first the runners remain mostly in woodland, but shortly after crossing the course's second bridge they soon find themselves back out in the open. They continue downhill until they reach the strip of land between the lakes again. They cross back onto the southern side of the lake using a different path this time (this one was very muddy when I visited) and in doing so have completed the large anti-clockwise circle that forms the upper portion of the figure of eight.

finish.. [photo:7t]

The remaining 1.5 kilometres are made up of a three-quarter clockwise lap of Belvedere Field which features more (insufficiently challenging!) climbing before the runners pass the original start point and head downhill towards the finish line which is adjacent to the visitor centre car park and the deer enclosure. With all that done a breather is definitely required before having your barcode scanned (results). The Brentwood parkrun experience would not be complete without a visit to the cafe for a well-earned beverage!

the dartford parkrun tourists in the cafe post-run [photo: from richey's camera]

It's definitely worth hanging around for a little longer and exploring the park. Head up to the Belvedere Temple to check out the view, feed the deer (and ducks), find the iron age fort, go to the bird hide to see what wildlife you can spot or just go and explore even more of the park on foot.

oh deer, it's slobbering all over my slgr hoodie [photo:7t]

In the wetter months, this parkrun is in proper trail / cross-country territory and you can see just how tough a course it is by looking at the fastest 500 list - As of event 18 only 11 individuals out of a grand total of 582 have managed to run under 20 minutes here. For anyone interested in viewing the course profile, here is the link to my Strava GPS data. Other than that, it's a great course and another fine addition to the impressive set of venues in the Essex region.