Ally Pally parkrun

This week marked my first visit to Ally Pally parkrun, which some people also call Alexandra Palace parkrun. And to please the SEO gods, be aware it is NOT called Alexandria Palace parkrun. All this said, it’s Ally Pally, end of discussion.

After a foreign escapade to Munich last week, with the visit to wonderful Riemer parkrun, it was time to revert back to some local parkrunning. On the lead up to parkrunday, my mind was pretty much set a repeat of one of the London venues I had visited already but not covered here. Most likely Old Deer Park, but somehow I was really not looking forward to it. Suddenly, inspiration struck on parkrun eve and I decided to go for an early rise and cross London to conquer Ally Pally parkrun.

This venue had been on my priority list for a while. It has a great reputation for its views on the Capital, but also as a particularly hard course in winter because of its hilly trails. So I was waiting for two things: summer and the event transitioning to its 2-lap summer course. The former came, and with it it brought several cancellations because of events. The latter? It does not seem it wants to come this year unfortunately, so I bit the bullet and went anyway.

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

Trip to Ally Pally parkrun and parking

Alexandra Palace and Park sits in Haringey, North London. It is relatively close to Muswell Hill, Highgate and Hampstead Heath, so much closer to central London than it might seem. This is a really nice part of town, with a lot of green spaces and plenty of little urban villages to explore. It is also very well connected with public transport. Unfortunately, the meeting point for Ally Pally parkrun is at the centre of a big park, so any of the available stations nearby will be at a long uphill walk from the start. The official course page describes several ways to reach the venue.

The closest station is Alexandra Palace station. This is a National Rail mainline station on the Great Northern Route. You can connect to the London Underground network in several stations, such as Moorgate, Kings Cross, Highbury & Islington or Finsbury Park. This station is about 10 minutes walk from the meeting point. If you want to avoid connecting via National Rail, the closest tube station is Wood Green, but this is about 20 minutes walk away from where the fun happens.

If you are driving, Alexandra Palace is not far from the North Circular, so getting there early morning should not be a problem if you are coming from out of town or anywhere close to the high capacity road networks. That said, as you probably know very well, it will most likely be a very different story after 10/10.30am.

The East Gate car park is the recommended one, right to the side of the Palace. It has plenty of space and it costs £1.75 per hour, so not cheap but not obscene either for London standards. When I got there, a parking attendant came over to let me know that if I was there for parkrun, there was another car park downhill that was closer to the start. I did not move because I am lazy, and I was happy I did not at the end, because I ended up refuelling at the Lakeside Cafe, which is just 2 minutes walk from this car park.

Ally Pally parkrun is 10 minutes walk downhill from the East Gate car park. Awesome, when you get there. Then it adds a little bit of additional spice after the event, but nothing terrible.

Ally Pally parkrun: start and briefings

If you are coming from East Gate car park and have some spare time, walk to the front of the Palace and enjoy the great views across most of London. A clear view of the Shard can help with directions: this is clearly the best view of London in my opinion. Better than Primrose Hill.

When you want to start moving towards Ally Pally parkrun, leave the car park from the entrance towards a landscaped garden you can see in the distance. Cross the beautiful garden and keep going downhill. Turn right, cross the road and, if dry, go down the last steep hill crossing the fields. At the bottom, you will have reached the meeting point for Ally Pally parkrun. Don’t worry, you won’t have to run all the way back up! 🙂

The meeting point is set by the side of a paved path, next to a bowls court. It is one of those events that start getting busy at the very end, with most people arriving around 8:50 and mostly tourists loitering around in advance.

The First Timers briefing is called around 8:45, on the grass patch by the bowls court. The volunteer who gave it transpired energy and made it fun and very welcoming, thanks!

Then it is time to walk towards the paved path, slightly East compared to the meeting point location. It is a wide path, so everyone will bunch up comfortably. The RD will then start the Main Briefing while everyone has already lined up to start.

Once this is done as well, no need to move elsewhere. Everyone is already lined up along the start line.

Finally, it comes: it is the countdown. 3, 2, 1.

Time to go!

Ally Pally parkrun course review – star ratings

Ally Pally parkrun course review – route highlights

There were 291 parkrunners on the day I visited. This seems to be at the bottom end of the usual attendance range of 300-350. Maybe the very hot week we have just had, maybe holidays, maybe the forbidden event 555 coming next week, Or a combination of them all. I see a recent peak at 380 and I have no doubt the course can handle these numbers and more. The start is very wide and even the upper path can handle 3 people abreast in general. And it comes after the evil hill which will thin the herd materially!

However, there are a few obvious bottlenecks along the winter course. About 100/150 metres from the start, runners will have to get through some boulders/metal poles. This will not bee a problem at all on laps 2 and 3, but when you approach them immediately after the start, numbers and enthusiasm might make them difficult to stop. But no fear, there will be several marshals there to warn you. Another tight spot is at the bottom of the ‘hill’ that gets you back to the lower path. It is a very tight turn and only one runner can do it using the tight optimal line. Not a huge deal: you can easily go for a wider line.

Surface-wise, it is roughly 50% tarmac, 50% hard path. I had heard stories of muddy areas, but I found the winter course to have excellent surface. The lower path is paved and it is very very well maintained. The uphill and higher paths are dirt path. There was no mud at all on the day, but it was August. I have to trust the hive mind and point out that trail shoes might be needed in winter months.

Elevation-wise, at 58m elevation gain over 3 laps, this is not a course that will be at the top of the hilliest parkrun venue table. However, the elevation gain can be deceiving. There is one climb, but that one climb is brutal, so be ready. Slow down or walk, it is not forgiving. Besides that, roughly 2/3 of the lower path are on a gently uphill gradient, so that you don’t reach the bottom of the climb fresh. Not fun otherwise, right? The upper path is undulating, but mostly a pleasant downhill.

In terms of course design, the winter course is extremely simple. Three laps in a tight loop roughly mid-way up Alexandra Park. The course itself is actually pretty dull, but it offers very beautiful views.

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

I suspect this turn by turn description might be one of the shortest ones I have done, because this route is truly as simple as it gets. Roughly comparable to Dulwich parkrun in terms of design, but in an even tighter loop.

At the start, everyone is already lined up and ready to go. And you go, fast and on what feels like a slight downhill. There is virtually no congestion, even with nearly 300 parkrunners. The path is wide enough to let the field thin out pretty fast. Then after about 100/150 metres, you suddenly see a couple of marshals popping out in the middle of the herd in front of you. It is quite sudden, but good enough to avoid impaling yourself on a bollard.

After getting through this unusual spot, it’s a long straight with a tight right bend towards the end. This straight starts flat under tree cover and then it transitions to open terrain. Soon, after that transition, you will have a beautiful green downhill on your left, with open, calming views. As you bask in the views, after a few seconds, the elevation hits you while you are distracted. It slowly transitions from flat to uphill and it will remain uphill until the end of this segment.

Towards the end, the gradient against becomes less steep and then, suddenly you reach a volunteer showing you that you need to turn hard right. I think I caught a slight smirk on that volunteer’s face, and when on my first lap, I still did not know why. I will know soon.

As you turn right, you immediately find out. Tarmac transitions to hard path and a very steep hill is in front of you. Steep and not very short either! As you crawl up the hill, you see light at the top. It’s a slog up it, but as you approach the top, you start seeing a beautiful corner view of Alexandra Palace. A bit more motivation, I guess.

Once on top, a tight right corner and you are on the upper path. The first 150/200m are on open terrain, with several nice views on Alexandra Palace on your left. On your right, after a while you will also have an open view on the hill with parkrunners running behind you just half way down. This section is downhill, which is very welcome after the steep hill. Soon after, you enter a tree cover area again and the course flattens again. Beware of the low hanging tree branch, if you are a giant!

Soon, you will reach the end of this segment navigating relatively narrower paths. When you get there, you merge into the pavement of a road, turn hard right and fly downhill back to the lower path. At the bottom, you can take a very very hard right and stay on the pavement or take a wider right, jump on the road and avoid other runners turning at the same time. You are now back down on the lower path, just 100/150m away from where you started the first lap.

Here I met a nice lady that recognised I was the one producing the YouTube videos and these reports. Thanks for saying ‘hi’ and sorry for not asking for your name while oxygen-deprived. 🙂 Hope you keep enjoying these reports!

It will be seconds before you reach the start again. You now know what is waiting for you at the end of this segment, so this time you will be more cautious! Time to do this all again, two more times!

At the end of the third lap, just take a slight left turn onto the grass to get through the short finish funnel and you will be done.

Congratulations on surviving Ally Pally parkrun!

Facilities at Ally Pally parkrun

Before the event, Alexandra Palace will likely still be closed, so there won’t be access to its facilities.

There are several cafes in or near the park, but none in the park seems to be open before the event. The same applies to toilets: no toilets at the car park or nearby before the event.

After the event, the Palace offers some cafes and facilities, but I went to the Lakeside cafe just nearby. It offers outdoor seating and a nice view on a small boating lake with plenty of birds. The cafe only opens at 10am, so you might have to wait around a bit if that’s your pick. There is a fairly minimal selection of breakfast pastries, but they seem to have interesting choices of cooked option and even lunch options.

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 Lloyd parkrun, I ordered a single espresso, a Diet Coke and a pain au chocolat. This cost £6.5, which is relatively fair for London parkrun cafes… but stil pretty obscene if you consider what it got me.

Ally Pally 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.

• Instagram
• Twitter
• YouTube

---

Achievements and performance

Conclusions

Ally Pally parkrun is set in a gorgeous location, not far from central London. A great location for a day out and a wonderfully welcoming local team. The route is tough, or at least, it has one very tough spot. Besides that, it is as simple as it gets and at least the winter course does not offer a lot of variety.

I don’t think I would traverse London again for the winter course, but I am definitely curious to try the summer course, if it ever comes back again. And if you have not been here yet, it is definitely worth coming purely because of the location, the views and the team.

Finally, obviously, thank you, Ally Pally parkrun team for your hospitality!