Hanworth parkrun

Short break from my tourist exploration this week, for a second visit to Hanworth parkrun. While I build up towards LonDone status, I am always slowly going through the remaining London events I had already visited before starting this site. And Hanworth parkrun was one of them.

Hanworth sits at the edges of West-London, very close to Crane Park parkrun and close enough to Heathrow Airport that planes are visible taking off above the trees every couple of minutes. This part of the Capital is blessed with a lot of events, including some of the historical giants from parkrun history: Bushy Park, Wimbledon Common and Richmond Park. The counterpoint to the having these great events in the area is that a lot of the smaller, local ones sometimes end up being forgotten. And this allows them to retain low numbers and a very local, familiar feel. This is what you will find at Hanworth parkrun.

Hanworth parkrun is on mixed terrain, with an extremely short section on tarmac. And it is nearly fully exposed, with just a smattering of trees providing shade. What does this mean? That you will be swimming in mud in winter and cooking under the sun in summer, I guess. One more reason to visit now: spring and early fall are likely to be the best times to visit this event.

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

Trip to Hanworth parkrun and parking

Hanworth parkrun is located in Feltham, Hounslow, very close to Crane Park parkrun. As I have already written when I visited the latter, public transport in this part of London is less than ideal for these locations. Possible, but you will not have a tube station just outside the park.

According to the official event page, the closest station is Feltham, about 15 minutes walk from the meeting point. It is served by SouthWestern, so when they go, they tend to be ok. But you are not guaranteed service on weekends these days. On the day I visited, the estimate from Citymapper is that it would have taken me about 90 minutes by public transport… and I live in SW London!

If you drive, there is decent info on the official course page, but it might be a bit confusing if you have not been there before. The meeting point is roughly in the middle of Hanworth Park, so aiming for it on a GPS app won’t be very helpful. You can approach it from 3 different directions.

Forest Road, where I left my car the first time I’ve visited, is the closest to the start point. Free off street parking in the middle of a logistic/industrial estate. No problem finding a spot, but not exactly a lively area on a Saturday morning and far away from the finish funnel or even further away form the cafe. The Hanworth Air Park Leisure Centre car park: a large payable car park in front of the cafe and relatively close to the finish funnel. Finally, a small free car park off Houslow Road. This is across the open field from the start and fairly close to the cafe. I recommend using this one, postcode TW13 5EG.

If you park here and get here early, by all means relax in the car for a while if you want to. But don’t wait until you see a horde of people across the field before you get going crossing it. It’s a small event and you might not see many people there until they are actually holding the briefings! And walking across the field will take you at least 5 minutes.

Hanworth parkrun: start and briefings

If you are coming from the car park I’ve recommended, you are crossing the main field to reach the meeting point. Look at the aerial picture at the top of this post: the car park is just out of the frame on the bottom left corner of the picture, across the dirt path. And the meeting point is at the left side of the patch of trees seen on the top right corner of that picture.

There are toilets at the leisure centre if you need them before the event. These are 5 minutes walk from the car park, adding to the distance from the meeting point.

When you get to the meeting point, you are welcomed by what seems to be a group of recurring friends, not a mass gathering like most London parkrun events. It is a pretty small event and it shows in the way things are handled. It’s a nice contrast to many of the London mega-events.

The New Runners briefing takes place just a few metres away from the bench that acts as focal point for the meeting point. Mostly tourists, as if often is the case. In a small event tourists are even more visible and at all points we were all made to feel very welcome. The route is very simple, so it does not need a lot of explaining.

Afterwards, everybody is asked to line up on the open area a few metres back from the bench and the Main Briefing is held while all are ready to go. Be aware that the bag drop is at the finish point, which is about 400m onwards along the course. Closer to the car park and the leisure centre. On the second picture above you can see the end of the trees patch in the distance: that’s where you start from, seen from the finish funnel.

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

Time to go!

Hanworth parkrun course review – star ratings

Hanworth parkrun course review – route highlights

There were 74 parkrunners on the day I visited. 100 less than last week in Barking and I considered that event relatively small for London standards. This means Hanworth parkrun is really unusually intimate for the Capital! Looking at historical results, this seems to be in line with average attendance levels, that hover around 50-80 every week, with a few spikes in the 80s and some quieter weeks in the 40s. The recent attendance record appears to be 90 on 13/1/24, magic of New Year resolutions.

The course is very open, there are really no bottlenecks. At no points you have to slow down or stop to negotiate a tight turn with large crowds. Given low numbers, there will be long stretches where you will be running alone, taking in the beauty of the fields and, if you are lucky, sunny open views.

Surface-wise, it’s technically mixed. You start on low grass, transition to a brief paved section, then continue on hard path with a short paved segment in the middle and have two crossings on higher grass. I visited on a dry week at the end of May, so it was dry with no issues with mud of slippery grass. That said, I am sure in wetter months trail shoes would be helpful here.

Elevation-wise, at 8m elevation gain over two laps, I think we can all agree this course is flat. The short segment from the start to the paved path seems to show a very mild uphill, but don’t be fooled by the picture below. It only looks step because of the scale, it will not feel like a hill at all.

In terms of course design, it is very simple. Run around the perimeter of the park twice, the keep going for another 400m during the second lap to reach the finish line. There are a couple of spots where there are some trails heading off from the main path where you could, in theory, get confused and they are both guarded by Marshals.

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

As I said, just before the Main Briefing starts, people line up a few metres before the bench. The section of low grass is wide enough for everyone to find a comfy spot over 2/3 rows. Definitely no congestion here. Once it is time to go, a quick countdown and people start running in a NE direction. Surface is pretty good and fast here, but there are 2 or 3 small holes in the ground. They are signed with cones, so avoid the cones!

At the end of the first segment on low grass, you come to a wide right turn that connects to one of the two paved path sections. Keep running straight on this harder, faster surface until you pass by the bag drop. Next time you pass here, the finish funnel will be up! After you get past this point, another half turn right and you transition to a good unpaved hard path. At the end of this section you will have reached the end of this side of the park, so it is time for a sharp right around a mature tree. The hard path continues and you are now running in front of the car park I recommended above.

After the car park, you continue on this path with taller vegetation on both sides briefly, before the path opens up again and leads to a long, gentle curve left heading towards what I think are Rugby outbuildings. Once you reach the corner, hard right again for a short segment siding the building.

It is now time to head inside the fields, towards a few tall, mature trees. This segment was a puddle and mud feast last time I visited, but it was nicely dry on the day of my last visit. Reach the trees and turn left, to cross this nice shaded copse for 15/20 metres. On the other side, turn right on another paved path alongside a children play area. As you keep running on this path, enjoy the beautiful church tower in front of you on the left and then turn right around the next tree-covered area. Here you will run a wide curve on hard path again, then continue for a short straight.

At the end of the straight, turn right again, wiggle around a bit until it is time to enter the fields again. A short crossing on short grass will now lead you back to the start line. Sorry to disappoint, not half way yet! 🙂 Keep going from the start line and you will reach the finish funnel that is now going to be up and some of the very speedy guys might be through already.

Now it is time to repeat it all again. At the end of the second lap, when you reach the first paved section, don’t turn on it. Take a tighter turn and stay on grass, for a short sprint towards the finish funnel.

Congratulations on completing Hanworth parkrun!

Facilities at Hanworth parkrun

Hanworth Air Park is not a massive park, nor it is overbuilt. It’s a nice green oasis with well tended fields and it’s focal point is the Leisure Centre. In the middle of the tree covered area you could find Hanworth House. It is fenced off and, apparently, abandoned now. A shame, you can see an aerial pic below: it looks grand and interesting, but I understand finding a commercially viable use in the area might be difficult these days.

The leisure centre offers toilets, a cafe, a library and what seem to be well stocked gym and swimming pool. The cafe only opens at 10am, so you might have to wait a bit after the event. Also, it is definitely not very well stock when it comes to food, unfortunately. And the late opening means that any parkrunner who wants to grab something will be there at the same time.

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 Twix. This cost £3.5, which is unquestionably fair. The spread was disappointing, but at least it was reasonably priced.

Hanworth 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

Hanworth parkrun is rarely mentioned when talking about London parkrun venues. I think it deserves more attention, but not too much, otherwise we risk spoiling the unique community feel it still manages to retrain. The course might seem relatively boring, but it really isn’t. Views change enough to keep things interesting and the couple of ‘crossings’ at both ends of each lap break things nicely.

This was my second visit. I had a positive memory about Hanworth parkrun and this visit 100% confirmed it. And I am sure I will be back for more, eventually.

Finally, obviously, thank you, Hanworth parkrun team for your hospitality, once again!