Grovelands parkrun

This week I have progressed my long journey towards LonDone status visiting Grovelands parkrun for the first time. It had been a while since I had added one new location towards LonDone, the last one was Ally Pally parkrun at the beginning of August.

I am now at 59 venues out of (for now) 63. All I have left is pretty far from home, so I think I will keep peppering them around my parkrun exploration journey, rather than rushing them. Those 4 locations also include two Vs, the last letter I need to complete the parkrun alphabets, so this will eventually make me also a parkrun alphabeteer. Long term challenges are interesting: I start slowly, accelerate in the middle when it is clear they are now feasible and then slow down at the end. As if I did not want to finish them, because afterwards, they are not there yet!

While I had not added to LonDone for nearly two months, this does not mean I had completely left London. But I decided to visit two traditionally muddy venues I had been to before starting this blog: Wormwood Scrubs parkrun and Old Deer Park parkrun. Looking at how much it has been raining this week, I think that was a good idea. And then there were my summer foreign escapades, with trips to 3 wonderful Italian venues: Roma Pineto parkrun, Salento parkrun and finally the unique Mura di Lucca parkrun. I like foreign events, but now it is time for a short break. If a business trip gets confirmed and logistics for a short weekend extension, the next one will be in November. And that could bring a new country flag and a very far away venue. Let’s see if it works out.

Grovelands parkrun was a last minute decision on parkrunday eve. Originally I planned to go to a LonDone+ new location to grab an event number 100 for my random Wilson Index. However, it is a cross country course that can get muddy and I did not fancy a mud run. So why now tackle one of the remaining ones in North West London? Parkrunday started very cold, 5 degrees when I woke up. But sun and warmth came to visit and Grovelands parkrun turned out to be a great decision, with beautiful early autumn colours on a sunny morning!

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

Trip to Grovelands parkrun and parking

Unsurprisingly, Grovelands parkrun is located in Grovelands Park, a beautiful green park in Enfield, not far from Southgate. It is not a huge park, but it seems to have a lot to offer. Very hilly, it has two hills on its sides and a valley in the middle with a beautiful lake a green meadows. Tennis courts and children playing areas are also available, but what I liked the most were the scenic tree-lined paths with early autumnal colours.

According to the official event page, the closest stations are Southgate and Winchmore HIll. The former is served by the Piccadilly Line and it is 15 minutes walk away from the parkrun meeting point. The latter is a mainline station served by Great Northern and it is about 20 minutes walk from the meeting point.

If you are planning to drive there, bear in mind that the park does not have a dedicated car parkrun area. The official event page suggests to park along the Broad Walk, where there are plenty of unrestricted and free spots. The postcode above will bring you to the Broad Walk, approximately half way through it where one of the entrances of the park is. I followed it and then when I saw the park entrance I turned right off a little roundabout on a small secondary street, Woodcroft. Parking there was easy and I found myself less than 1 minute walk from the entrance of the park.

Grovelands parkrun: start and briefings

The meeting point and start line are in the same location, at the centre of the park. Not exactly at the lowest point of the ‘valley’, probably 2/3 of the way down, by a corner of the lake. If you are coming from the Broad Walk entrance, go straight in and follow the main path down the hill, under the cover of mature trees. This is a steep hill, but no worries, you will not have to climb it running. On the flip side, this tiny park managed to pack two hills, so you will have to climb the other one. 🙂 Keep going down until you reach the lake and then walk by the short side of the lake to reach the meeting point. It was less than 5 minutes walk from where I had left my car.

I had read most people tend to arrive at the last minute here, but this was not my experience. Or at least, it is much less noticeable than many other venues. When I was walking towards the meeting point, I could see a big group of people already and it was about 8:40am. Regardless, it was more than enough to tell me which way to go.

When the time comes, the First Timers briefing is called a few metres away from the meeting area, towards the lake. I have to say as FT briefings go, this was particularly thorough, highlighting two potential hazard areas and going through the course. It was also very welcoming to the many tourists, with the volunteer stressing how he is a tourist himself, when not running or helping at his home venue, Grovelands parkrun.

After the First Timers briefing is done, everyone lines up on the path, facing the coffee truck and the way down to the bottom of the hill. At around 250 people, it felt well attended but not busy. But busy enough that I could not see or hear the RD giving the Main Briefing, so not much to comment on that besides the fact that it was pretty quick and efficient. Then once it is over, everyone is already exactly where they need to be to get going.

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

Time to go!

Grovelands parkrun course review – star ratings

Grovelands parkrun course review – route highlights

There were 242 parkrunners on the day of my visit to Grovelands parkrun. Looking at their historical attendance levels, roughly around their average attendance level. There seems to be a bit of seasonality, with warmer months inching towards the high 200s and colder months towards the low 200s, but it is not as strong as for other venues. At this level, neither the start nor the actual run feel too busy, so I think this venue could support some increase in attendance. However, it is a three-lapper and paths are narrowest immediately after the start, so the natural cap is not too far above 300 in my view.

Paths are in decent conditions and they are usually wide enough to allow for overtaking, even when runners are more bunched up together. That said, there are two areas that were flagged during the First Timers briefing and I agree you should at least pay some attention to them. The first one is straight after the start, where after 10m and just past the coffee truck a downhill starts suddenly at the same time that the path gets slightly narrower. Just know that’s how the path changes and you will be fine. The second spot is towards the end of the lap, when you reach the lake again. A tight 270-degrees turn with a large tree root at its edge. Again, nothing to be worried about, but be aware it is there.

Surface-wise, it is a tarmac path all through. It is in decent state of repair, with some smoother areas and some areas where cracks are visible. I would say it is never tricky or uncomfortable, but I would not sport your carbon plated races here. On the other side, mud is never going to be a problem, so road shoes should be ok in any season.

Elevation-wise, at 54m elevation gain over nearly 3 laps, elevations are consistent and noticeable. You start with an enjoyable downhill and then transition into a long, relatively steep 6% climb. Then it is mostly down again, with a short cheeky climb again towards the end of each lap. I enjoyed the downhills, probably I enjoyed them too much because I ended up going way faster than I should have. Which hit me hard on the long uphill. It is long, about 600m long, so pace yourself to deal with it.

In terms of course design, it is fairly simple. 2 laps, with the last lap stopping about 300m before the start. Each lap is one bit loop down and up around the central meadows, followed by a tighter downhill to the lake and a short straight along the long side of the lake.

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

After the main briefings, everybody is already where they need to be to get going. Once it is time, everyone starts heading towards the coffee truck. It has closed to facilitate the start, so no issues getting by and entering the path going downhill and away from the lake to the left. This is pleasantly steep and it starts under tree cover than it slowly transition into an open path on the side of the fields. As I said before, running faster than your target pace is easy and tempting here, especially during your first lap when you don’t know what’s coming. Try holding back a bit, if possible.

At the bottom of the hill, the path levels off for a short while and then it starts going uphill. At first, the uphill is barely noticeable. You run towards some tennis courts, run by them, turn left after them. After this last turn, you re-enter a tree-lined path and you start the real uphill. According to the briefing, this is 650m long, with the first 2/3 at a 6% gradient and the last 1/3 at about 3% gradient. It looks beautiful, with mature trees and some views of the field on your left. It is also steep enough to be challenging, with its length making it even more challenging. I was tired when I reached the top, which was guarded by a very enthusiastic volunteer.

At the top, it is time for a half turn left and after a short flattish sections still under tree cover, you are back out in the open, crossing the fields with a slight downhill gradient. Half way through this, you pass by a small copse of trees and take another slight turn left. This starts a longer straight that heads towards the finish funnel, or at least where they are positioned. This is mostly downhill with a short uphill in there until you reach a small roundabout. The team has moved the name lanyard in the meanwhile and set up the finish funnel here. However, you only pass by them here. Run past the roundabout and keep going, heading towards the lake. When you reach the lake, it is time for the 270 degrees turn and the segment siding the lake starts.

1/3 of the way through this segment, you will meet the hard left turn going back towards the funnel. Ignore it twice. Keep going all the way up to the coffee truck and turn right again to start a new lap with the downhill again.

At the end of the third partial lap, turn left at that sharp corner that was so tempting before, but you had to ignore it. The finish funnel will be less than 50m away. Uphill, of course!

Congratulations on completing Grovelands parkrun!

Facilities at Grovelands parkrun

There isn’t much in terms of facilities at Grovelands parkrun. It is a beautiful park and it is well landscaped and maintained, however, the cafe seems to be closed for refurbishment. And that’s was probably the hub of the park. The official event page says there are toilets by the children playground. That’s where the building under refurbishment is: I did not go to see if toilets are operational or not.

Also, since the building is under refurbishment, there is no cafe. However, a coffee truck is positioned by the start and it is open before the start. It then closes to let people through at 9am and opens back up shortly afterwards. So it will be there waiting for you after the event, a couple of 100 metres away from the finish line. It offers coffee, nice sweet pastries and water. Unfortunately, no cold drinks.

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 Grovelands parkrun, I ordered a brownie and a single espresso. This cost £5.0, which pretty expensive for what it was frankly.

Grovelands 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 this little event on the edges of North London. For me, coming from Wimbledon, it is a far away exotic land, it will probably not have that allure for people living closer to it! 🙂

Regardless, it is a beautiful park and the course is fun, even if it is a dreaded 3-lapper. It was never boring and I enjoyed the continuous up and down. If you know the course and don’t get too excited on the downhills, the uphills are challenging but not terrible. It is a bit far, but if ever in the area I would love to come back.

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