Barking parkrun

This parkrunday I took one more step towards conquering East London events with my first visit to Barking parkrun. After visiting Harrow Lodge parkrun last week, I liked it so much that I decided to double up on the long distance crossing of the capital. I have to say none of the events I’ve visited in this Eastern cluster have disappointed so far. Both Beckton parkrun and Raphael parkrun were beautiful, unique in their own way and extremely welcoming. High expectations for the ones that are left on my list towards LonDone: East London seems to be blessed with great events!

I was not planning to cross the capital again on the lead up to parkrunday, though. Somehow, I had heard that a new event was supposed to start very close to where I live and I was very excited to visit an inaugural for the first and last time. Yes, I know, we are not supposed to chase and collect inaugurals. And I would not do that, I could have walked to that event. Anyway, all the excitement seemed to be for nothing, so I went to sleep knowing I would be exploring further afield once again.

I also did not realise Barking parkrun is fully on tarmac. Not that it can ever become a last minute choice on a wet week, but I will put it up here prominently: no mud! It makes a big difference with the miserable weather we have around here.

Anyway, enough with my rumblings. It’s time to dive into some more info about Barking parkrun!

Trip to Barking parkrun and parking

Barking Park is located in East London, just North of the Thames. It is a outer borough, and people travelling from Central London will have to go past the Isle of Dogs and the various industrial estates that sit just after Canary Wharf. This is helpful, because you can take advantage of the fast, relatively traffic-free motorways of the area. It does not look like a beautiful part of town, but once you leave that cluster, you seem to be rewarded with great spots.

According to the official event page, the closest station is Barking, which is served by the District and the Hammersmity&City lines. From the station, then the team suggest to catch a bus for a further 5 minutes trip. I assume a warm-up walk would also work if you have time.

Looking at my trusted Citymapper app, had I decided to travel by public transport, it would have taken me roughly 1 hour 40 minutes from where I live in Wimbledon. Not too bad, to be honest, but I am a lazy man.

I ended up driving, and it took me little more than 1h to go there and nearly 90 minutes to come back. The way back from parkrunday always takes longer, since traffic picks up and all those lost souls who did not join a parkrun start their days.

If you are driving, the postcode indicated above will lead you to side of the park, in Longbridge Drive. The official course page suggests to drive on for a bit until a small free car park can be found near a cluster of allotments. I did not see any allotments during my visit, but I am sure the free car park will be there. Instead, I entered the Western Car park, which the team suggests not to use because it is chargeable for stays longer than 1h.

This does not seem to be correct, at least at the time of writing: signs in the car park show that stays are free up to 2 hours. It is a large car park with plenty of room to spare for normal attendance days and it is less than 5 minutes walk from the meeting point.

Barking parkrun: start and briefings

If you are coming from the car park, leave it from the little path entering the park from the opposite side to where you came into it by car. It will lead to the playing fields. Then walk towards a squat, unremarkable building to your North, turn into a beautiful tree-lined path and you will soon start seeing people. Keep going around another building to alight in a small clearing with a children play area and the cafe to its sides. This is where the magic begins.

There are toilets to the back of the cafe and they are open before 9am. Not 100% obvious to find if you are not a regular, but I asked for help and it took me 10 seconds to find someone who was happy to point me towards them.

The team is extremely friendly and welcoming. Locals seem to come at the very last minute though: this is one of those events where you wonder where most people are until you suddenly see nearly 200 people around at the time of the main briefing. I always find that funny.

The New Runners briefing takes place in the clearing and it was very efficient and welcoming. The course is not complicated, but the couple of things to know where highlighted very clearly.

A few minutes past 9am, everybody started walking away. Oh, we start somewhere else! It was not a long walk though, as a line started forming quickly just behind the buildings, on the tree-lined ‘Avenue’ we came from. The Main Briefing was welcoming and fun and it was soon time to get going.

Then, without any need to move elsewhere, you hear the countdown. 3, 2, 1.

Time to go!

Barking parkrun course review – star ratings

Barking parkrun course review – route highlights

There were 173 parkrunners on the day I visited. Looking at historical results, this seems to be in line with average attendance levels, that hover around 150-190 every week. The recent attendance record appears to be 390 on Christmas Day 2023, maybe because of nearby events not happening. Except the very first few seconds after the start, 170 runners never made this event busy. I suspect at double that, some of the tight corners would have been interesting.

There is only one real bottleneck here. At the end of the initial segment, you will need to take a very tight, 360-degrees turn to start the lakeside portion of the run. This is not only sharp, but it also comes with a downhill and bollards immediately after the turn. The first time I got there I was a bit surprised by how suddenly the bollard appeared, but there was still enough room to navigate around it. And we had been warned during the First Timers briefing. If you read this before going, here you go, I have warned you as well.

Surface-wise, it’s all paved. Tarmac all throughout, with very good conditions across. The only exception being the first 100m after the start, where there will be potholes to navigate and a bit of risk of tripping up if you are not careful, especially when surrounded by the initial stampede. Just be careful and everything will be fine. On the positive side of things, this will be a fantastic course for all seasons: mud will not be a concerned, even during the never ending rainy season we have to endure.

Elevation-wise, at 12m elevation gain over two laps, I think we can all agree this course is flat. There are two little bumps, at both ends of the the lakeside segment and one more when turning right towards the fields again, but that’s about it. They are very short and not really an issue, to be fair. This will never be one of the fastest courses around because of the tight turn with the bollard, but it could definitely be a PB course for an average runner.

In terms of course design, it looks very complicated, but in reality it is actually pretty simple. One back and forth along the lake partly on parallel paths and a diversion around playing fields. Twice.

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

Before the Main Briefing, everyone starts walking from the meeting point to the start line just around the corner. You will line up at the end of a beautiful tree lined avenue and listen to the briefing there. The path is pretty wide, so people can spread around without major issues. Once it is time to go, people of different speeds were mixed up together, so it took a bit of alert navigation for the first 30 seconds or so, but all worked out fine.

The first 30 seconds or so, you run back towards the meeting point and go around the intersection there. Then keep going towards the next building, which is the outside of the Splash Park. The building on your left, open green field on your right, you keep going after a gentle left-leaning bend. Once it turns straight, you move towards the edge of the lake and towards the end you start seeing faster run doubling back on lower ground on your left.

At the end of this straight, a left turn, then a sudden downhill. At the bottom of it, you need to turn sharp left and avoid a bollard before being again on stable footing. A short uphill with another gentle turn, now right, and once you leave the small copse of vegetation you will emerge on a footpath running along the lake. It looks beautiful and its a good path, fast under foot and wide enough for 3-4 people to run abreast.

Half way through this segment, you will run by the cafe and the funny swan pedal boats moored there waiting for guests. Once you reach the the end of the lakeside path, it is time for another 360-degrees bend, this time wider and gentler. It is slightly uphill again and at the top, a Marshall will greet and encourage people and set them off for the next straight. You will now have to run straight in a tree lined path running parallel to the lakeside one you have just left. Once again, you can see runners on lower ground, this time the slower ones still going along the lake.

You keep going up to the cafe building again. You passed before, now you turn right and run by its side on a light uphill gradient. One on top, turn right again to start the loop around the playing fields. Three sides are in open terrain, passing the car park half way through the first side. The last lap is again under three cover, if not consistent and it goes back again towards the cafe.

At the end of the first lap, you turn right when you reach the intersection in front of the cafe and this will be the start of your second lap. At the end of the second lap, instead, it is time to keep going straight at the same intersection and get to the finish funnel. Or not…

This is a funny quirk of Barking parkrun, apparently. Strictly speaking there is no finish funnel. You get through a a wide finish line with timers on its side and a volunteer giving out tokens inside what reminds a small arrival pen from a road race. It is kind of cool… no idea how they deal with peak arrival volume, but I guess it works.

Congratulations on completing Barking parkrun!

Facilities at Barking parkrun

Barking Park is not huge, but it is well organised and it seems to offer quite a lot for locals and visitors. The nice lake has Swan boats, there are a lot of playing and training areas and the Splash Park is an original, interesting feature. It was not open when I visited, but there is an aerial picture I’ve taken with my drone below.

When you are at the meeting point, the very unremarkable building between you and the lake is the cafe. As said, it houses toilets on its back. The building does not look nice, but it is welcoming inside, with plenty of choice and a great outside sitting area facing the lake on the other side. Strangely, nobody used it after the event, but I was happy to sit there briefly for my well deserved warrior rest.

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 Barking parkrun, I ordered a single espresso, a diet coke and a croissant. This cost £5.35, which is a great price for London standards. It is net of a 20% discount offered to parkrunners with their barcode visible and the lady at the till applied it without any need to ask for it. Kudos to her, she was very friendly even while dealing with the weekly horde of famished parkrunners.

Barking 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

Barking parkrun is a great event. It has a lot going for it: flat, paved, fast with a beautiful lake full of birds and trees teeming with squirrels. I really enjoyed it. However, what I enjoyed the most was the company of the local parkrunners and volunteers. We always say parkrun events are friendly and welcoming, and it is usually true. However, at Barking, it felt special, with many people keen to have a chat before, during and after the run.

It was a lot of fun. If it wasn’t so far, it would definitely become one of my regulars. No doubt about it.

Finally, obviously, thank you, Barking parkrun team for your hospitality!