Harrow parkrun (#126)

After a break from touristing new location with my latest visit to Kingston parkrun, this weekend I started my slow crawl towards LonDone again and I visited Harrow parkrun for the first time.

Harrow was one of the last two locations I had not visited yet in NW London, so after this visit I only have Canons left in that part of town. I am sure I will get that ticked off before the end of 2023.

I was clear this week I would progress on my LonDone completion track, but during the week I was not 100% sure where I would go. Then the rain picked it for me: a venue which had paved paths. Harrow parkrun climbed to the top then, even if the 3.5 laps kind of scared me after the mildly traumatic experience at Highbury Fields just a couple of weeks ago.

I had also never been in Harrow before, unless we count a few times just driving through it. From the little I’ve seen, it seems to be an interesting part of town, worth a longer visit with better weather.

Let’s dive into some more info about Harrow parkrun, then!

Trip to Harrow parkrun and parking

The connectivity between SW and NW London is pretty abysmal, having to go through central, so public transport options for me would have been pretty time consuming.

That said, Harrow Recreation Ground, the location for Harrow parkrun, is located within 10 minutes walk from Harrow on the Hill tube station. The station is served by the Metropolitan Line and National Rail.

By car, and coming from Wimbledon, it took about 50 minutes and it meant crossing west London nearly vertically South to North. Early morning, it is ok-ish. At 10am on parkrunday for the way back, it is a pain. If you can, use public transport.

For the first time this year, I got out of the house and found my windshield totally frozen: winter is here, unfortunately. It was 2 degree at 7:30 and even by the time I got to parkrun, gloves season was definitely here.

Following the postcode suggested by the official course page (HA1 1RR), Waze brought me to a local road about 300 metres from the actual Rec public parking. I could see the parking on the map, so got there easily, but be aware that you will need some minor navigation towards the end.

The parking is accessed via a sharp right turn and through a very narrow entry road. It is not big, but probably more than enough for even the busiest parkrundays for this venue, given average attendance.

At the time of my visit, parking here was free.

Harrow parkrun: start and briefings

Once you get to the tiny local parking, one one side there will be a children playing ground and on the other side a gate to the Recreation Ground. Once past the gate, you can easily see the Pavilion in front you at the end of a tree-lined path. That’s where the volunteers will already be, setting up everything to ensure a successful parkrunday.

Maybe it was because of the weather, but there were only 5 or 6 first timers on the day I visited. One true first timer to parkrun (welcome!) and a few tourists. Not the most crowded tourist destination, so the First Timers Briefing felt like a pretty intimate affair. It was held at the corner of the paved area in front of the Pavilion.

Soon after, the main briefing took place straight in front of the same Pavilion. I wonder if things spread out a bit more when the ground is less muddy. It was really squishy and slippery today.

Once that’s done, people move to the back of the Pavilion, where the start will be, on the perimeter path that will host most of the event. I was surprised all briefings were done well before 9, but that came handy. Given the awful state of the fields and grounds, the transfer to the start, which cannot be more than 30 metres, took a while because we went there single file 🙂 There is only a very narrow paved edge around the Pavilion’s North side and everybody patiently went that way forming a long and well behaved queue. Very British. 🙂

Harrow parkrun course review – star ratings

Harrow parkrun course review – route highlights

There were 225 parkrunners on the day I visited. Looking at historical results, it looks like attendance hovers around a 150-280 range, so average to moderate levels for London standards.

If you don’t have to reach the start in a single file queue because of mud, I suspect the start should usually not feel very congested. In general, given the 3 laps and a bit, you will always have someone around you and, often, someone overtaking you or to overtake. Paths are great, but not very wide, so at times it will feel a bit busy, but nothing to be worried about.

Surface is consistently tarmac and even more, I don’t think I’ve seen any puddles! Quite incredible given recent rains. Road shoes all the way for this venue, regardless of weather or seasons.

Elevation-wise, this course is deceptively undulating, but never steep. The North-bound section goes up, the South-bound section goes down. The decline feels more pleasant than the ascent feels painful… somehow. Maybe I was just in a good

In terms of course design, it is as simple as it gets: 3 laps around the perimeter of the park with a quirk. The quirk is a loop through the centre of the park that you run only once, about 2/300 metres after the start. It sounds kind of boring and frankly, it could be, but I did not mind. Elevation changes and a few turns, together with a busy field, kept things interesting, even with limited setting changes.

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

The start is on the tarmac perimeter path, like most of the run. The path is wide, but not a motorway, so the first 1/200 metres will feel busy and overtaking will take some effort. Pretty soon though, it will be time to turn left and run alongside the car park, before a sharp right that brings you North, passing between the car park and the cafe where I went for parkbreakfast. About 50m and instead of going North, you turn left to start the mini loop that will be a feature of the first lap only.

This is a small version of the simplicity in design that is a feature of this venue. You run the E-W cut-through across the park, circle around and come back near the car parking, where you turn left again and keep going North to continue the main lap. By the time you are done with the mini-loop, you will have 700m under your belt.

So, this time you keep going straight through the little ‘gate’ where you turned left before. This is a long straight that will bring you to the Northern edge of the park and it also represents the main ascending incline of this venue. It is very gentle and definitely not steep, but it is pretty long. The trees to the side of the path looked gorgeous in their autumnal colours.

Once you reach the top, it is time to turn left and the descent starts immediately and it will last for the whole short North side of the rec table and the long straight going back South. It felt steeper than the ascent to me, which is clearly impossible, but hey, gotta enjoy it when you can. Gravity helped a bit with the effort here, but I don’t think either ascent or descent will necessarily be material enough to affect performance at Harrow parkrun. Kind of a fake-flat venue.

Along these two sides there will be a few interesting park features. At the end of the short side, before turning Southward, you will run by a modern exercise area with some cool machines. Soon after that, you will run pass a few tennis courts to your left and then an historical cemetery to the right. Where failed PBs went, I heard.

Once you get to the end of the straight, another left turn and you will quickly see the finish funnel. Don’t get overexcited and keep going: you will be allowed to enter it only the third time you get here. Two more to go. So once you make sure not to give in to temptation and avoid setting a World Record, keep going around the back of the Pavilion and after a few seconds you will be at the start. Ready for lap 2. And lap 3. Just remember: no mini-loop anymore!

Once you reach it the third time, you can get off the path and onto the grass to enter the funnel.

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

Congratulations on completing Harrow parkrun!

Facilities at Harrow parkrun

The Pavilion by the meeting point is pretty basic, but it offers all basic facilities needed. Toilets, changing rooms, a roof if it rains and a ‘cafe’.

Toilets are open before the run.

The cafe is more similar to the kind of hole-in-the-wall greasy spoon of a rugby club-house than a fancy cafe, but it serve its purpose. It reminded me of the one at Upton Court parkrun.

After the run, I went for the alternative option by the children playground near the car parking: Seva Park Cafe. It is pretty basic as well, but it offers the kind of produce you would expect for a mid range high street cafe. It also has a nice outside sitting area which must be pretty enjoyable with good weather.

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 Harrow parkrun, I ordered a single espresso, a diet coke and a chocolate brownie. This cost £6.8, which is very much in line with average prices in London so far.

Harrow 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

I enjoyed my first visit to Harrow parkrun.

It definitely retains its spirit as a local community event, which is a very good thing when many events have become very large in London. The team managed to make very good use of smaller park and its nearly 400 events to date show that the community has received it well.

I don’t think I will be back on purpose given distance, but who knows… maybe one day it will be closer to my home base.

See you next time, Harrow parkrun.

And obviously, thank you, Harrow parkrun team for your hospitality once again!