Burgess parkrun

One more week without adding new venues to my records, this week I visited Burgess parkrun for the second time. Last time I was here in spring 2022 and I had great memories for this course. After all, it still holds my all-time parkrun PB! Those days I was still in decent shape, roughly at the time of my London Marathon, and I used to get into the 24s on timed races. The parkrun PB was around 26; not sure why, for some reason at parkrun I never get close to the times I can do in real races. Not an issue, just an interesting observation. This time, it took me 10 minutes more: humbling.

That said, with some caveats for early congestion and tight turnaround points, I think this is indeed one of the fastest parkrun courses in London. I know there are different views and Dulwich parkrun is also up there, but I do believe this is the fastest. Or at least it was the fastest, until Battersea popped up. My all-time 5K PB was recorded there on a Runthrough race, so let’s see when I visit it if it compares and if it is faster than Burgess parkrun.

I wanted to add a new venue to my LonDone journey this week, but I had another awfully tiring week and BA gifted me a Friday night delay again, getting me into LHR close to midnight on parkrun eve, so the motivation to go further out vanished. Burgess parkrun was my NENVY (trademark claimed: Nearest Event Not Videoed Yet), so the choice was easy. I now have 9 NENVY among London parkruns, 5 to go to LonDone and 10 more to LonDone +. It never ends, doesn’t it? 🙂 I guess that’s part of the fun.

I also noticed I seem to be on a B streak: before Burgess parkrun, the last events I have visited were Brockwell and Bicester. Go figure, I will most likely break this streak next week, but not for long!

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

Trip to Burgess parkrun and parking

The event starts next to the tennis courts at the Walworth Road end of Burgess Park. It is a long park, so make sure you get there at the right end or you might have a long warm-up imposed on you against your will.

Just South of the river, this is one of the most central events in London. As long as you are ready to venture into those mysterious, magical lands that make South London up. I live South of the river as well with my home event being Wimbledon parkrun, but it is funny how many people in London rarely cross it. Being so Central, there are plenty of public transport available.

The nearest tube station is Elephant and Castle, served by the Northern and Bakerloo lines. However, you will still have a 20 minutes walk from there, so come with plenty of time to spare. Or take one of the many local buses that are available and listed on the official event page. Bike racks are also available if you live close enough to get there after a comfortable early morning ride.

If driving is more convenient, follow the postcode above and you will get to Addington Square. Parking is free here during weekends and there are usually plenty of spots available if you get here around 8:30. The square faces the entrance of the park where the cafe, toilets and tennis squares are, so location-wise it is perfect.

Burgess parkrun: start and briefings

If you are entering the park from Addington Square, just walk towards the cafe and the main path that will be easily visible at one end of the square. If you turn left after the cafe, you can walk around it and the toilets will be there at the back of the cafe building. If you turn right on the same path, you will see the meeting point, about 100m ahead of you. Volunteers and parkrunners congregate there, by the finish funnel. The pop-up is also there, if you are desperate for a selfie or a picture.

When it is time for the First Timers Briefing, the responsible volunteer will desperately try to herd the little crowd of visitors loitering around the busy meeting point. Then, like an expert pied piper, they will lead the unruly bunch on the path, towards the cafe again. And then past the cafe and past the tennis courts, nearly all the way to the end of the park. This is where the start line will be, so first timers kind of get first dibs on positioning.

The First Timers briefing was efficient and to the point, mostly geared at tourists on a day that did not seem to host any real new joiners. The route is fairly simple to explain, so everything finished fairly quickly. Then it is times to start positioning for the start. Most other parkrunners and volunteers had been walking towards the same location during the briefing, so things start getting busier. The path here is separated by a vegetation island into two lanes. Most people are asked to line up along the lane closer to the tennis courts, with a few on the other side. The other side will be much faster, if you are aiming for a PB.

The main briefing was very difficult to hear given numbers and, probably, distance from where I was in the middle of the pack and where the RD was at the front. She shouted as much as she could, but a loudspeaker would have helped.

Then everyone turns towards the cafe/meeting point and soon it will be parkrun o’clock.

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

Time to go!

Burgess parkrun course review – star ratings

Burgess parkrun course review – route highlights

There were 656 parkrunners on the day of my last visit to Burgess parkrun. Looking at their historical attendance levels, this seems to be roughly in line with their 2024 average attendance levels. There are some pretty heavy swings, but outliers don’t seem to come often. Lowest was sub-400 during summer, while there were also two events breaking 800 and 900 respectively. The latter must have been very very busy, with extreme congestion at the start. Paths are not too narrow except in a couple of places, so dealing with large numbers is not a major problem, but they don’t have the space for a wide start. So current attendance levels are ok, but too much further growth might become a problem.

There are no real bottlenecks along the course. The start is very busy and it might require a few seconds of walking, but it is still pretty decent, not even remotely comparable to Fulham parkrun, for example. After the start things get flowing pretty quickly. The next problem area is after the 90-degrees turn at the start of the lake loop. The paths immediately after are narrower, so if coming in a large group, overtaking will be difficult. Finally, the 360-degrees turn at the end of the long straight is naturally slower, but the path is wide enough to accomodate it.

Surface-wise, it is a tarmac path all through. And it is very well maintained, so road shoes will be fine in all seasons and if you want to you can also sport your expensive carbon-plated shoes without wrecking them. The last 30/40 metres are on grass though, so if very muddy, you will get them dirty. But they are just running shoes, aren’t they?

Elevation-wise, at 7m elevation gain over one lap, it is pretty close to pancake status. The main elevation is probably a short underpass under the road the cuts the park in half. It is not long and while it is certainly noticeable, it is also clearly runnable. You have to go through it twice, which kind of underscores how flat the rest of the route really is.

In terms of course design, it looks weird, but it is really simple. An out and back with a bubble loop around a lake in it. More specifically, a long straight, before you turn into a loop which finishes back onto the same straight. On the way back though, turn heading away from the start for another short segment before turning back and going back 1K towards the finish funnel.

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

Once it is time to get going, the massive bunch of people starts moving, tentatively. At the beginning, it appeared I could start running slowly after a very short time walking. However, when the other lane converges into the common path, things get slower again and I had to slow to a walk again. That took probably another 20/30 seconds before the field properly spread out and then there were no issues running at your own pace again. I think by the time you are past the tennis courts and reach the cafe, running is ok. By the them you reach the meeting area with the finish funnel, everything flows perfectly fine.

From here, you keep running straight, crossing open fields at the beginning. Then, you will soon meet the underpass. A short descent, 10m or so under the bridge, then a short way up. Barely noticeable on the way out, the uphill portion will be a bit more painful on the way back, but not that bad. Shortly after you get out on the other side, there will be a nice segment with tall, mature trees on both sides. Here you will also meet the ‘bridge to nowhere’, a pretty interesting feature. Basically, fully built up bridge with steps on both sides… of the walking path. Weird, but kind of cool.

Soon after, it will be time to turn sharp left and enter the loop. The turn is wide enough not to be a problem, but immediately afterwards the path narrows. After the turn, there is a very short 20/30 metres segment crossing a small tree-covered area, then you need to get through some barriers and turn 90-degrees left. Now another narrow straight segment starts: trees on your left and grass with some tennis courts on the right. Soon you will reach some mounds and still stay on the flat to their left. After the mounds, the environment opens up and the straight keeps going crossing open fields. Some nice views of the Shard are there on the right.

This section of the loop is out and back, so towards the end of this straight you will start meeting the first speed demons coming back. The path accommodates probably 3/4 people abreast so be careful when overtaking if one of the speedy people comes towards you in the other direction.

At the end of the straight, a wide turn left will finally put you in the right heading to reach the lake. Just before the lake, you pass the end of the loop. That’s where the speed monsters come out of, so after this point the path becomes one way again. You have now reach the lake and start a full loop around it. Views on the lake are beautiful, with the best vantage point probably half way through the loop. When you get to that point, the return section around the lake becomes a bit twisty and turn, with several tents pitched up for fishermen. It is an interesting section, adding some turns for variety and fun.

Then you are going to be the one feeding back into the shared part of the course, with some runners and walkers still coming in the opposite direction. Go back through the segments you had come from until you reach the main straight again. Here, beat the temptation to turn right heading for the finish funnel and turn left instead. This is a short out and back segment inside an out and back course. Go about 150m in the wrong direction until you reach a 360-degrees turnaround point with cones in the middle of the path.

Now it is time to go through the long straight again, with the short additional out and back added on. It is about 1Km from here to the finish funnel. Pass under the bridge to nowhere once more, then down and up from the underpass. Shortly after getting out of the underpass, you will get to the open area where the meeting point was. However, you don’t go straight to it: turn left and navigate around the fields until you reach their limit. At this point, take a hard right into the fields for the last 30/40 metres on grass before you reach the finish funnel

Congratulations on completing Burgess parkrun!

Facilities at Burgess parkrun

Burgess Park is a large, urban park with a long going on. Plenty of sports areas, groups training together, relax areas and landmarks. It is a beautiful green area in a highly developed area, so there will be a lot to see or enjoy if you want to spend some time here after your run/walk.

The toilets in the cafe building are available for parkrunners before and after the event. They are not huge, but they are conveniently close and clean, so definitely a great thing to have access to.

The cafe near the start is also the main hub for post-parkrun refreshments. It offers a small, but nice outside seating area and plenty of choice for drinks and food, but sweat and savoury. It gets very busy, but staff is very efficient and they have a good system to get orders going while hot drinks are being prepared and delivered.

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 Burgess parkrun, I ordered a fruit danish, a diet coke and a single espresso. This cost me £8.2, which is kind of obscene. The cafe is good and staff is efficient, but they are definitely taking advantage of their parkrunday monopolistic position.

Burgess 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

Burgess parkrun has increased in popularity since the last time I was here and it fully deserves it. I remember it fondly as my PB course and I really enjoyed the first time I was here. As I enjoyed it the second time, even if I am very far from PB fitness levels. Maybe I will be back here again, if I ever manage to find some consistency again and get back in shape.

It is a very friendly event, with perfect running conditions and pleasant surroundings. Definitely worth a visit, if you want a fast course, especially in winter. It does not get muddy!

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