Great Denham

Time for a spot of parkrun tourism and I'm drawn to the relatively new Great Denham parkrun near Bedford.

This parkrun has been set up alongside a new build development which seems like a fantastic opportunity taken to set up somewhere with a great new catchment area.  I had seen a few of the early run results and indeed the course had been run my one of my club mates the week before and was confident that this was a quick course.

Getting there was simple thanks to trusty SatNav and I had read up so I was prepared that they would prefer people to park in a car park 10 minutes walk away than postentially annoy the local residents by parking on the street.  There is a plan for a car park right next to the event start in the near future along with a cafe for post run coffees but neither is available yet.

Course map

The start was easy to find and there was a decent sized group of runners on a lovely sunny Saturday morning.  I noticed a couple of others in MK marathon shirts to chat to before the briefing as we were all still recovering from the heat the previous week and sought solace in company.

The course was as flat as I had heard tell with only one short tiny incline near the end of each of its two laps and the surface was hard path with about 2/3 with loose top and the rest solid concrete with only the last couple of metres after a right turn off the path on grass.  As a result of all this it was fast and I was able to post my parkrun PB by a full 17 seconds over my more frequent course at Stevenage.

Course elevation

Returning to the car we passed the current post race cafe of choice, the rather delightful looking eatery which I imagine will remain a favourite for many of the runners even after a closer cafe is built.

The Eatery

Overall I found Great Denham to be a really great parkrun.  The scenery will improve over time, as will the facilities but the course is well laid out, easy to follow, is unlikely to be affected by bad weather and fast...very fast!

Luton Wardown

Waterlogged Wimpole and I'm in need of an alternative venue for the weekly parkrun.  A fortuitous WhatsApp message came suggesting Luton Wardown.

I'd been a little wary of doing this one in the past because of concerns ofver parking but the offer of a lift there was enough to get me trying another now parkrun course.  As it turns out there is no issue with parking as long as you turn up in reasonable time.

The park in which the run is held is rather beautiful with a lake in the middle and indeed the run incorporates going over one of the bridges.

Unusually for me I prepared for the run with a warm up of approximately 3km (that'll teach me to go to parkrun with someone) and then joined in near the start for the briefing.  The briefing was very well organised (if a little on the strict side - no talking at the back) with a PA system and all aspects of the run covered in good detail.

The course is a little over three laps of the park with a short incline across the grass to be done four times the rest of the course is on concrete paths (which were a little icy on the day but in good condition to run on)

Course Map

The course is relatively flat and in less icy conditions would be a pretty fast course.  There is a narrow bridge at the Southernmost part of the course which could have been a bit of a pinch point but the runners were all very aware of each other and it didn't cause any issues.

Elevation

Unfortunately after the run there was no time to hang around and try out the coffee facilities, particularly disappointing as they are great value with biccies thrown in for free.