Finsbury parkrun (#129)

Today I ended up visiting Finsbury parkrun for the first time… and it definitely was not the original plan. I had originally planned to visit Greenwich parkrun for the first time to fill the last two empty slots in South-East London on my LonDone map. I get on my car at 7:30, with plenty of time to cross town and then disaster strikes: the cold weather and two weeks of solitude in my drive had drained the battery of my car. Drained-drained-drained: no chance to get it to start without some recharging.

Surprised that I did not panic due to the risk of wasting a second Parkrunday in a row, I kept my cool and whipped out the trusted 5K app, to see what was the closest NENDY that I could reach with public transport. It was actually Victoria Docks, but I am not allowed to go there alone. My home-boss, aka partner, has intimated that she wants to go to that one as well, so I have to wait for a time when she is able to extend her honourable presence. The second candidate was Finsbury parkrun, which is actually only one stop on the Victoria Line further than Highbury Fields parkrun. Since I had reached that one easily just a few weeks ago, the back-up decision was taken.

I am starting to run out of easily reachable events I have not visited yet, which is understandable since I am more than 2/3 through my road to LonDone. Hopefully this does not happen again.

As someone who has lived in ‘west’ London all of my ‘London life’, I don’t often go running (or at all) to North/North-East London. However, I have to say I’ve discovered a good number of lovely events up there, from the already mentioned Highbury Fields, to the lovely Hampstead Heath or the neighbouring(ish) Mile End parkrun. I still haven’t gone to Ally Pally and I think I will leave it for better weathers.

Let’s dive into some more info about Finsbury parkrun, then! Or Finsbury Park parkrun, if you prefer…

Trip to Finsbury parkrun and parking

The very reason I went to Finsbury parkrun is that my car suddenly failed me, so I did not really look into parking options. That said, this venue is fairly central, so as for many of similar events, I would always recommend to try going there using the excellent public transport options. If you come from the North and want to drive, the official course page seems to suggest that there is no parking in the park itself (unless you are a Blue Badge holder). The suggestion seems to be to become a customer at Sainsbury’s/the Arena Shopping Park, where you can park for 2 hours if you favour them with your custom.

If going using public transport, you obviously have a lot of Bus options you can check on an app like CityMapper. It is very good, by the way… and this is not a sponsored message, who would sponsor my tiny blog? 🙂

As for Tube stations, Finsbury Park is the closest, while Manor House is also convenient and just slightly further out. The former is served by the Piccadilly and Victoria Lines and the latter by the Piccadilly Line. Mainline trains are also available at Finsbury Park station.

I went to Finsbury Park station. When you get there, do not exit at the first chance, but go around to pick the right exit for FInsbury Park or you will have to walk all around the block. If you pick the right exit, you just have to cross the road to enter the park from an eminently uninspiring access road. About 20 metres through, however, the park will open up in front of you in all is green glory. Or grey and brown drab allure if you visit in winter like me.

Finsbury parkrun: start and briefings

I suspect my experience might not be 100% indicative of the usual Finsbury parkrun pre-run ceremonies, since I visited on a day with pouring rain.

That said, parkrunners met slightly uphill by the Finsbury Park Cafe, also close to the boating lake that sits roughly half way through the park. Remember that little climb, it’s the first hint that this will not be a flat event! 🙂 People were all lining up nicely alongside the cafe building, which conveniently offered a dry area while rain appeared to be stopping. Hint: it will come back with a vengeance just after 9am.

Before the run, the cafe is still closed, but toilets are available. They are small, but better than nothing!

I did not get the feeling there were a lot of people on that day, but I guess some were also waiting elsewhere or were spreading along all 4 sides of the building. On the day I visited there were just shy of 400 parkrunners and I definitely did not realise there were that many.

The First Timers briefing happened around the corner from where I was standing and I don’t think it was announced very loudly. I missed it completely, but I am sure it was perfectly executed.

Just before 9am, people will be lining along the path and walk downhill to the main perimeter road, where the start will be just at the intersection. A good loudspeaker system is then used for the Main Briefing and even in good weather days I am sure it is needed given numbers that seem to show up here. Soon after that it is time for the count down.

Finsbury parkrun course review – star ratings

Finsbury parkrun course review – route highlights

There were 359 parkrunners on the day I visited. Looking at historical results, it looks like this was a particularly small field day for Finsbury parkrun. And I am not surprised, the weather was truly miserable. It seems on busy days Finsbury parkrun can get close to 800 runners, but usually overs around 500. The paths are generally very wide, so I think large numbers can be handled quite efficiently, after a bit of congestion on the start line.

I don’t think there will be other bottlenecks on this route. The narrowest section is probably the steep hill that gets you back up to the cafe/lake area and some of the paths up there, but even there you are looking at a path that can accomodate 3/4 people abreast. Unless there are lake-puddles, that is.

Surface is all tarmac. It is generally decently maintained and a pleasure to run on and on a a good weather day you could also sport your carbon plated shoes, if you are into that. But the draining is awful, probably because of accumulated uncleared leaves and badly patched potholes. So yeah, a good one for rainy days compared to cross country events, but not one without downsides.

Elevation-wise, this course is hillier than I expected. Thera are, essentially, no flat areas except the short detour around the lake. With 68 metres of elevation spread across two laps, we are not talking about steep climbs, but mostly long, consistent changes in elevation that do impact your pace.

In terms of course design, it is pretty simple: 2 laps along the perimeter of Finsbury Park with climb up the central hill towards the end of the lap and a loop around the lake while up there. At the end of the first lap, you descend again and the end of the second, you stay up the hill and finish downhill at the opposite side of the cafe.

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

As said, the start line is on the main perimeter road, facing South. Even if the road is wide, numbers are large so there will be congestion when you hear ‘Go’. If you want to try for an ambitions time, consider it when positioning yourself, otherwise accept that you might lose 5/10 seconds at the start. Not a big deal and certainly not comparable to some of the most congested starts, like Fulham Palace parkrun, for example.

Once you get going, control your enthusiasm! Yeah, I get it, big crowd, wide road, great surface, it can be tempting. And this route is designed to be sneaky and deceiving, it starts on a pleasant and long downhill that is difficult to resist. I imagine the sadistic laugh local volunteers must have when thinking about naive young tourists pushing like maniacs through that initial straight! 🙂

At the bottom of the first straight, you turn left and start another long, wide straight that will lead you towards the North side of the park. On the day I visited, there was a large puddle-lake at that corner which could probably have been used as secondary boating lake. A good tourist opportunity, but not something you wanted on your running line. So, while some people decided to go for a short swim, most people took a wider turn around it.

Once you have gone past the megapuddle and took a picture of the ducks enjoying it, it is time to start the long straight. And now, do you remember the old saying(ish)? What goes down will need to come back up. Yup, this is a long climb, but it is very gentle. If you pace yourself semi-decently, you can take some advantage of the way down while not losing too much in this long way up. This section is also very open: large grass fields to the right, not the most appealing of panoramas and nowhere to hide from wind and rain.

Once you reach the top, you will start a long, wide and smooth turn towards the left. Mostly flat up here with nicer views progressively transitioning towards tall, mature trees on both sides. There a small cafe up here and also an interesting vegetable garden that I have not had a chance to look at.

At the end of this wide turn, it is time to go back down again, on a wide tree-lined carriageway. It is steeper than the first descent: letting go here will be fun. On the day I visited, the addition of megapuddles and many mounds of autumnal leaves made things even more interesting… a mix between parkrun and Alpine Slalom without snow. Cool!

When you reach the bottom, there is a volunteer showing that you should take a sharp left turn and leave the perimeter road. What I found suspicious is that the volunteer was also telling people not to be scared and to take it easy. That never bodes well… and I soon found out why. This is the start of the steepest climb of the course, which will lead you back up to loop around the lake. A permanent lake this time, not a megapuddle, even thought when I visited they looked fairly similar. The climb is pictured in the first pic at the top of this post. It is not dramatic, but it is harder than it looks. Let’s call it Nasty Hill, because it deserves it.

Once on top, it is mostly flat and it covers three sides of a square boxing the lake: the first side is alongside the lake, while water can’t really be seen while running along the second and third sides. You also get to run through a small gated landscaped garden, it’s cute. About 2/3 of the way through, there is a sign to keep right and go towards the start of the second lap. You will soon reach the cafe and this time you will run down to the perimeter road instead of walking. At the bottom, you are officially starting the second lap.

Once you are back and survived a second pass at Nasty Hill, you turn left where you turn right before and will soon see the finish funnel, probably 50 metres down a short downhill.

The funnel is pretty long and all descending. It is pleasant as you recover, but you will need to walk back up if you want to go to the cafe.

Congratulations on completing Finsbury parkrun!

Facilities at Finsbury parkrun

Facilities are pretty convenient at Finsbury parkrun. And if you are picky, the area around Finsbury Park tube station is just 10 minutes walk away and you will have plenty of alternatives there.

Even if a sign on the door says they open at 9am, toilets were open just after 8:30am. They are located in the same building of the cafe, just a few metres away after its main doors.

The cafe is small, but if offers a good range of alternatives and it seems to be of good quality.

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 Finsbury parkrun, I ordered a single espresso, a diet coke and an almond croissant. This cost £5.9, which is relatively cheap for London.

Finsbury 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 Finsbury parkrun, even if it was unplanned and the weather was miserable.

The course is interesting and I think it might also be beautiful in spring and summer. It offers a fairly unique mix of fast potential with challenging features and design, similarly to Mile End. It is not exactly around the corner for me, but I will be back in spring, I want to try it again.

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