Highbury Fields parkrun (#124)

This parkrunday, I was planning to go visit Kingston parkrun again and, somehow, I ended up having my first visit to Highbury Fields parkrun. I wonder how it happened?

Highbury Fields had been my NENDY for a vert short while, only a week actually, after I visited Sutcliffe last parkrunday. And I had no real plans to visit it any time soon. For starters, it is supposed to be a fast venue, so I wanted to keep it for a time when I am back to a more decent shape, hopefully. And on top of that, the 5 laps kind of scared me. However, the non stop rain of the last few days/weeks made me re-think about going to Kingston and somehow I got inspired to try Highbury. And I think it was a good choice, but read more to find out.

I had no parkrun challenges chasing ulterior motives today. Nice exploration, filling up of the fun challenge maps and one more tiny little step towards LonDone.

Let’s dive into some more info about Highbury Fields parkrun: will 5 laps be as boring as I thought or an enjoyable experience?.

Trip to Highbury Fields parkrun and parking

In ‘central’ North London, just in tfl zone 2, Highbury Fields parkrun is as central as it gets. Not sure if it is the ‘most’ central parkrun in London or if that crowm goes to Mile End parkrun, but it must be a close call.

This means that even if you are as lazy as me or if you take personal pleasure in killing trees and bunnies, public transport will most likely be the most convenient option even for you.

According to the official course page, the nearest station is Highbury & Islington. And it really is ridiculously close: once you get out of the labyrinthine station, you cross the road and you are in front of the park. You can get here using the Victoria Line, the Overground and National Rail services.

From where I live (Wimbledon), it was just 40 minutes, via the Northern line and the Victoria Line. There is a strange peace in snoring through empty tube cars early morning on a Parkrunday. Surprisingly, I kind of enjoy it and I do it.

Could you go there by car? Sure… if you want to pay whatever congestion charge you are liable for and if you want to brave leaving Central London mid morning. On a weekend. Potentially, under a rain-induced deadlock. Fun.

I did not test the parking situation myself, but I doubt there is any large parkring area nearby and most streets seem to be residents only.

Hint: use public transport in central London.

Highbury Fields parkrun: start and briefings

Once you get into Highbury Fields from the station, you can keep going straight on the beautiful tree-lined avenue or turn left and go around the building and play area if you are trying to find a toilet. I tried that, unsuccessfully.

Either way, as soon as the view opens up on a large field cut by a West-East path in the middle, you will see the meeting area and start/finish funnels. Everything is there, on the Southern half of the field.

People seem to come pretty late here, either just being comfortable or running one or two warm up laps around the park. And I can see why they would do th, you want to enjoy the route and you will only have FIVE laps to do that during the event. Need to steal a sneaky one before to fully take it in 🙂

The New Runners briefing right by the start funnel, given by an inspired volunteer who introduced the course in a pretty funny way. She was particularly honest in warning everyone that 5 laps can be kind of boring. Good sales pitch to be honest: set expectations low if you have a captive audience anyway. You can only surprise to the upside. Double kudos for getting the megaphone to work. I could actually hear her.

Once that’s done, very quickly people start congregating in the wide start funnel and a few steps before the start line, they listen to the main briefing. Or pretend to listen to it, since this time the megaphone did not want to help and I was not able to hear a single word. So this part was a few minutes of silence, two or three shouts and then it was time to go.

Highbury Fields parkrun course review – star ratings

Highbury Fields parkrun course review – route highlights

There were 500 parkrunners on the day I visited. Looking at historical results, it looks like attendance hovers around a 400-500 range, so medium-large for London standards. The combination of a very open meeting location and runners flowing in late had an interesting effect: I honestly had no idea there were so many people and thought we would not even reach 400.

Regardless of the numbers, it never really felt congested. The start area is wide and the first turn into the path is gentle and a couple 100s metres on, so the field will have slightly tinned by then. As long as you don’t run into the garbage bin that is there to help you, you will be fine. Also, if you run into it, it is a big bin, so it will hold several parkrunners before it starts overflowing. Paths afterwards are decently wide: there will be a few spots here and there where overtaking might take a big of wiggling around, but no real choke points.

Except the first 200m on grass, the course is all on paved paths, so good quality, decent draining and virtually no mud. Apparently they have a corner they call ‘mud-corner’, which i can only guess it is the South edge where there was a grand total of two tiny puddles. Cute… locals should try courses like Wimbledon Common or Roundshaw Downs to see what real mud is. :). And I am sticking to London events only.

Elevation-wise, this course is mildly undulating. 40m of elevation gain over 5 laps means that each lap nets very little, but there are essentially no flats. The first half of the lap is (slightly) uphill and the second half is more noticeably downhill. Nothing steep enough to impair a PB attempt.

It is a 5-lap course. Yes, 5!!!! As the New Runners briefing volunteer said: it is boring. To be fair to the event, it is not that bad, as long as it is a tourist thing and not a recurring thing. The venue is nice and the crowds are pretty welcoming, but yeah… going in circles 5 times will not make for the most scenic run you’ve ever done. Nor it will do wonders on motivation if you having issues with that.

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

As said above, you will listen to the briefing already positioned within a wide start pen. You can try to position according to expected pace, but it seems to tend towards bunching up since it is wide enough to accomodate many people side to side. On the day I visited, hearing what the run director was saying was virtually impossible, so the countdown came a bit suddenly, but the crowd will help pushing you along. 🙂

The course description is as simple as it gets: run around an oval park 5 times. Count your own laps. Don’t cheat or overdo it. Don’t cut through. Yup, 5 freaking times. Do you remember the school days running laps around the field, the very thing that made you hate running until rediscovering it later in life? Or what you were told to do as a punishment at football practice for talking over your coach? That kind of thing; only difference is that now you choose to do it with other 500 people. On Saturday early morning. How life changes, doesn’t it? 🙂

I guess the step-by-step route description won’t be too long for this one given the 5 laps. Did I say you run around the park 5 times yet? Ok, just wanted to make sure I had not forgotten about it.

The start is on grass. Once you get going, the stampede proceeds towards the path on the left side of the park in a straight line. The terrain was quite uneven, with many more bumps that I had realised beforehand. I guess it is in part because of the weekly mass start? It is however fairly well drained considering the amount of rain we have had recently.

After about 100/150 metres, it is time to turn left into the path. The turn is fairly gentle and wide and I did not see people having to slow down or start walking to get through it. Mr Big Bin is there waiting for you and providing shelter if you can’t turn because of too much enthusiasm or if you literally succumb to peer pressure.

Once on the path, the S-N and the N-S section on the other side are wide, tree lined and pleasant. Good surface, nice surroundings, more than enough space to overtake and enjoy even with the large numbers. The first straight is moderately uphill… a gradient that would probably be considered flattish anywhere else, but you do feel it (a bit) here because of the design of the course.

Once you get up on top, a tighter turn left gets you on the North side of the course. The shortest one, but also the only one with some mildly wiggly elements. Relatively flat and narrower, you will run around a vegetation feature and alongside a couple of benches with the open field to your left. It is cute and short. It will very quickly open up onto the next straight going down the West side of the park.

This is more noticeably downhill and kind of fun. It must be just perception, but I felt the downhill more than the uphill and let gravity do its thing freely. If you don’t suffer the mild uphill and let yourself go on this downhill, then you might be in for a good time. At the bottom, a wide, half turn left again will bring you by the children play area and the the gym building. The path gets narrower here, with a few bollards, a bike rack and a few more road features to negotiate. Nothing dangerous, just watch your step.

You will soon run out of downhill and turn sharp left one last time (per lap) and re-enter the long straight up. A couple 100 metres and you will be at the mid point where joined the path after the start. Do not turn, count and keep going. Enjoyed it? Good, you will have to do this 4 more times. Then 3. Then 2. Then one last time, you get the drill… 5 laps. 5: 2 more than those boring 3-lappers.

At the end of the last lap, turn left onto a slip path, then sharp left into the paved path cutting through the middle of the park and finally off into the grass for the last sprint to the finish funnel.

Funnel and scanning activities were fast and efficient, with plenty of volunteers available.

Congratulations on completing Highbury Fields parkrun! All 5 laps of it!

Jokes aside, the 5 laps are not as bad as they might seem. Yes, it’s not the most inspiring route and I would not run it every Saturday, but it is in a nice setting, with good surface and nice people all around you. It does make for a pleasant parkrun if you are in the area or spending the weekend in central London. I would probably pick Mile End or Hampstead Heath for a weekend in town, but that’s purely subjective.

Facilities at Highbury Fields parkrun

There is a Better Gym franchise at the South side of Highbury Fields, but the parkrun course page does not point at it as an option for a toilet trip. As such, I did not try to see if they would have pity on my bladder, also because it looked like the ‘members’ barrier was straight after the door. There is mention of a ‘public toilet’ on the course page but I saw no signs of it. Maybe somewhere around the big children playing area.

Plenty of cafes around the station in case of emergencies

And these cafes are also where you will probably go after the event for refreshments. The course page does not suggest a specific one: you are free to choose without calling for the wrath of the parkrun gods and having to buy 10 Contra t-shirts to atone!

I chose Black Sheep coffee, a good quality, moderately hipsterish chain you find in several locations in London. The Highbury one is 50 minutes to the right of the station, looking at it.

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 Sutcliffe parkrun, I ordered a single espresso, a diet coke and a pain au chocolat. The croissant was surprisingly warm and it tasted better than it looked. This cost £7.43, which is roughly what I expected.

Highbury Fields 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

Have I mentioned it is 5 laps? I think I have.

That said, it is a very pleasant 5 laps in a nice park with a very friendly vibe all around. And very good surface to get through the 10 months of rain we usually get in England. To top it all off, it is incredibly convenient to reach using public transport.

I know I will be back here, maybe to try it in spring/summer and to try getting a more respectable finish time.

See you next time, Highbury Fields parkrun.

And obviously, thank you, Highbury parkrun team for your hospitality!