Dartford parkrun

At the beginning of November, I visited Dartford parkrun for the first time. This report comes a couple of weeks late, after skipping one parkrunday and visiting Nonsuch parkrun for the 7th time this week. I had a very long week and thought I could work on the long endeavour of growing my P-Index to 7 rather than visiting a new venue.

Anyway, back the the overdue write up about my first visit to Dartford parkrun now. I had been eyeing that event for a while, as one of the few venues missing to complete LonDone+. I had no idea what to expect, never having been in Dartford other than to cross the bridge on the M25. I have to say Central Park is a really beautiful green space, with a lot of different areas and some gorgeous landscaped corners.

This visit came after visits to Brentwood and Roding Valley parkruns: a period of Eastern exploration for this SW London park runner. One of the best things about parkrun tourism for me is the ability to discovered totally unexpected corners of beauty around the South East and, occasionally, the UK or Europe. Or the world, after running Precint 18 parkrun in Malaysia. 🙂 And the nicest surprises are when I find a genuinely beautiful location and team at a venue I went to just to see it, rather than a bucket list destination expected to be breathtaking.

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

Trip to Dartford parkrun and parking

Dartford parkrun takes place in Central Park, Dartford. If you believe in the name, you won’t be disappointed, the park is indeed very central.

According to the official event site, if you want to come by public transport, the closest station is Dartford. The station is served by SouthEastern, with services from Charing Cross to Gravesend and Reinham. Once you get to the station, you will not be far. The event site says Dartford parkrun will be about 10 minutes walk away.

If driving, the venue is pretty convenient to reach since it sits very close to the M25. Far, but convenient, at least for me coming from Wimbledon. If you are lucky enough to come from South and avoid the cursed bridge, then pay attention and don’t miss your exit. It’s the last one before entering fare-land. Once you are out and reach Dartford, follow the GPS coordinate and you will suddenly reach a small side street leading to the park.

Several cars were parking on this small street, but if you keep going and enter the park, there will be a large and very convenient car park by the athletics track. Ignore the ‘no entry’ signs and go very slow for the short bit to the car park entrance at the back of the clubhouse building. Here you can park for free if you are joining parkrun, a great perk.

Dartford parkrun: start and briefings

If you are coming from the athletics track car park, you won’t have problems finding the meeting point. Just leave your car and walk back to the gates you came from. At the gates, turn right on the path and you will see the team gathered 20 metres ahead, just after the the clubhouse building.

Volunteers set up on a patch of short grass by the main path, in front of the athletics tracks and some steps leading down to it if you want to sit down for a little while. The clubhouse is steps away, I have not checked if the toilets were accessible before the event, but I guess they might be.

The First Timers briefing was given by a very welcoming volunteer on the grass past the paved path. She was very thorough in getting a summary of tourists’ home events and then tried to explain the route as well as she could. It will sound confusing, then when you are on it, it will make perfect sense.

Immediately afterwards, the RD gives the Main Briefing from the path, while everyone bunch up, eventually facing in the direction opposite to the car park. I was caught by surprise here: there is no ‘real’ start line. Everyone will suddenly get going after the briefing from where they happened to be.

Not hearing a countdown, I suddenly saw the human blob moving and scrambled to start my Garmin. I managed to do that, but missed the first few seconds of the run for my video highlights. Happens…

Dartford parkrun course review – star ratings

Dartford parkrun course review – route highlights

There were 258 parkrunners on the day of my visit to Dartford parkrun. Attendance seems to be extremely stable at this event, looking at their historical log. A range between 240-280 has been kept quite consistently over many months. I saw a small contingent of tourists, but not a large percentage of the field. I guess this is a really solid, well established local event, which makes it great! I think the course could quite easily take 50% more runners and walkers without feeling overly busy.

Congestion is never a problem around this course. There are a few short segments with tight turns or narrower paths, but at current attendance levels, it is always a pleasure to run or walk at Dartford parkrun.

Surface-wise, it’s a fairly mixed terrain course, with a majority on paved paths. It starts on grass, with another section on grass towards mid lap. Just before the second grass segment, there is a decently long segment on (good) trails. The rest is all on paved paths that seemed to me to be well maintained. I am sure in winter the grass segments could become slippery and muddy, but all in all it doesn’t seem to be the kind of terrain that will turn into quicksands.

Elevation-wise, at 35m elevation gain over 2.5 laps, this is a very flat course. There is one noticeable ramp as you get out of the trail section and a few mild ascents over long straights, but hills are nowhere to be seen here. And elevation won’t be the reason why you won’t hit your target time at Dartford parkrun. This means that there are also no fun downhills, it cuts both ways!

In terms of course layout, it is simpler than it will feel if i try to explain it. It’s 1 short lap around the playing fields followed by 2 longer laps that include two distinct loops. One past two little bridges and one into a landscaped garden. It is a beautiful and fun course!

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

As said above, the start caught me a bit by surprise. No worries though, I was quickly swept away by the crowd and start running diagonally along the side of the playing fields. It starts on grass and slowly converges towards the path at the corner of the fields. As you get there, you reach a 90-degrees turn around a tree. You are now on the path and running along the long side of the playing fields.

The long side here is a winding path sided by some beautiful trees. At the end you reach a corner with a little bridge heading right, but turn left here the first time you reach this point. From here, it is a simple and unremarkable two more sides of the playing fields until you reach the start area again. The initial short lap is done. To start the long lap, continue on the say path until you reach the corner with the small bridge again. The second (and third) time you get there, it’s time to turn right.

Cross the first little bridge, pass a small clearing and then enter and cross another short little bridge. This area is quite scenic and it does also benefit from 2-way flow, with a lot of runners going both ways, making it busy and fun, at least during the second long lap. After the second little bridge, turn 90-degrees right to enter the trail section. You are now running along a narrow, hard path with high grass and some solitary trees on your left and lush, green trees on your right, separating you from a nice little stream.

At the end of this segment, turn 90-degrees left for a short uphill in a small forest section. At the top, another 90-degree turn to the left and you are back out in the open. Cross some substantial playing fields on grass and turn left again at the other side. Here you get back on good tarmac path and enter a short, but fun, winding downhill segment. The fun downhill will get you back to the two bridges. Cross them both in the opposite direction this time and keep going straight after the first one. As you go, eventually you will reach a crossing area where you see other runners coming towards you. A marshal is there to ensure there is no confusion: you have to turn right here.

Keep going straight alongside a nice area with a view on a bandstand and then enter a gap through some mature, green hedges. As you get out on the other side, you entered a beautiful, landscaped garden. You run around it and come back on the other side, by the bandstand again. You now turn right to follow the side of the field and turn back left and run North again at the end. You are now aiming for the crossing area where the marshal was before. As you reach it, cut right and cross the fields for a brief segment that will lead you back onto the path. You are now on the last segment of the initial, short loop.

Get by the finish funnel once again and repeat the long loop a second time. The third time you approach the funnel will be the last: time for a glorious approach!

Congratulations on completing Dartford parkrun!

Facilities at Dartford parkrun

Central Park is a beautiful little park with a lot to offer. A well maintained athletics track near the start, children playgrounds, big playing fields, a nice little river and a landscaped area with a bandstand is just what I remember 2 weeks after visiting.

Arounds the athletics tracks, you will also find the clubhouse, which offers a simple cafe and toilets.

The clubhouse is sizeable, with some indoor seating, but on a sunny day, it was great to just sit on the steps by the clubhouse. Food options are not great and there was no espresso coffee, but you make do and it’s great to have something after the run.

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 Dartford parkrun, I ordered a lemonade and a small snack bar. I don’t remember how much it cost me, but it was not expensive.

Dartford 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 really enjoyed Dartford parkrun. I had genuinely no expectations and was pleasantly surprised by how beautiful the park was. It manages to blend so many different sections together seamlessly, it just works.

I don’t think I will come back on purpose given distance, but if in the area I would definitely love running Dartford parkrun again.

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