Stanborough parkrun

Last parkrunday I visited Stanborough parkrun for the first time. Last week I suffered the hill and mud at Church Mead parkrun, so picking a venue fully on grass where you have to go up and down a hill 3 times felt like the best way to catch some respite! Yeah, the beautiful views of the lake are something you mostly catch from higher ground, don’t be deceived.

Stanborough parkrun is still pretty new, my visit was only on their 20th event. So pretty established by now, but still one where novelty brings tourists, completionists and challenge chasers. And my visit was triggered by challenges: I noticed the event number and thought it could be a good opportunity to tick a spot on the Decades one and add a low event number for my long term Wilson Index ambitions.

Since I have completed all London events, I have been travelling around a bit, on all corners of the Home Counties. I had recently come to Hertfordshire got a couple of recent visits: Leavesden Country parkrun and Aldenham parkrun. If I also add older visit, like the coveted J-location Jersey Farm parkrun and the newish Oaklands College parkrun, It’s not 100% consistent, but there seems to be a theme in this beautiful corner of the country: beautiful locations, muddy trails and undulating terrain. Beautiful.

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

Trip to Stanborough parkrun and parking

Stanborough parkrun takes place in the outskirts of Welwyn Garden City, not far out of the M25, North of the Capital. The idea of a garden city is interesting: I would like to visit with good weather eventually, but the day I came for parkrun was pretty cold even if sunny, so I did not do much exploration. Stanborough park is also not in town, sitting to the South-West of town, between Welwyn and Hatfield.

According to the official event site, if you want to come by public transport, the closest train station is Welwyn Garden City. The station is managed by Great Northern. According to Google maps, the station is 1.3 miles, or around 25 minutes walk from Stanborough parkrun meeting point. Or about 15 minutes hopping onto a local bus. Checking how I could have gone from Wimbledon using public transport on Citymapper, I could have done it in a little longer than 90 minutes catching a Great Northern train from Finsbury Park. It then recommends to get off at Hatfield station and hop on bus 302 for around 10 minutes.

Since I am lazy, I drove there. If driving, Stanborough park is easily reached using the network of motorways stemming from the London Orbital. The final stretch is on the A1M. When approaching the location, you reach a sequence of roundabouts that lead to you the park. If coming from South, as I was, you will reach a point where the entrance to the park requires a right turn that is not allowed. Keep going to the next roundabout, have another merry go around and come back. The slip way into the park will be a tiny and easy to miss turn left just before ending up on a roundabout again. I missed it and enjoyed a few laps of the funny circular loops.

Eventually I got there though. Turn left, navigate a small little road with a lot of friendly potholes and welcoming lake-sized puddles and the gate to the car park will be there for you. The car park does not use apps, but you can scan a QR code and pay directly or use one of the machines.

Stanborough parkrun: start and briefings

If you have arrived in the car park, you are welcomed by a nice view on the lake and, at least when I got there, a lot of ducks and swans. The water chickens are quite unfazed by people here, walking up to people and either asking for food or making sure you understand you are a guest on their home turf.

When ready and have accepted your submission to the regal water chickens, walk towards the cluster of buildings hosting a restaurant, the cafe, toilets and changing rooms. Keep going past them through a small passageway and you will reach a large clearing at the foot of the hill. This is where the meeting point is and it offers a good primer on the course. All grass. Undulating. Muddy. Views on the lake from a distance.

When time came, a friendly and enthusiastic volunteer walked a few metres uphill and called tourists for the New Joiners Briefing. A good portion of the field joined in, showing that the new(ish) event is still a tourist magnet. Course and procedures were outlined and everyone was released for a few more minutes. Then the Main Briefing took place, with people lined up facing the hill. I did not hear any countdown, nor any soft lead up to the run. I might have missed those, but I think several other people were taken by surprise when everyone suddenly started moving.

There it was down, the parkrun had started.

Stanborough parkrun course review – star ratings

Stanborough parkrun course review – route highlights

There were 88 parkrunners on the day of my visit to Stanborough parkrun. This is quite significantly lower than what seems to be the average attendance levels the event has settled on after 20 events. Weather was not terrible, so I guess this week might have been affected by half term school holidays. While attendance still looks fairly volatile, I would say a 100-150 range seems to be where most recent events fell. With the exception of a couple of early January one, because you know, New Year Resolutions. The overall profile of the course is very very open, so much higher numbers would not be a problem. As long as most people come using public transport, that is. The car park is not huge.

Congestion is never really a problem on this course. The start line is on grass and open, then it narrows a bit as you get climbing up the hill, but even then, the path always remains fairly wide. No bollards, no hard turns, no bottlenecks. None of that around here. The main thing to look at here and there are potholes, but the team try to signal them out with cones, at least around the funnel and main climb after the start. Let it rip, it’s a fun, unobstructed course.

Surface-wise, it’s a slightly different story. The course is fully on grass, but it’s neither a real trail run, nor a run over slippery high grass. It’s mostly low, trimmed grass or beaten down grassy paths, except a long field crossing towards the end of each lap. It does get fairly muddy tho. Not as bad as Church Mead parkrun or Roundshaw Downs parkrun, but trail shoes are highly recommended. I got a new pair of trail shoes delivered this week and they worked like a charm. I had not tried Salomon running shoes before, but big thumb up for their Speedrunner 6 Gore-Tex. Not a paid ad.

Elevation-wise, at 55m elevation gain over 3 laps, Stanborough parkrun is definitely undulating, but not painfully hilly. The route is basically up and down a hill 3 times, and it is never flat. Literally, never, look at the elevation profile chart below. But there is only one short steeper uphill at the beginning of each lap and then it is mostly gentle downhills. And the evil climb just to get you into the finish tunnel, but that’s a different story.

In terms of course layout, it looks like a boomerang. Up and along the crest of a small hill, 3 times.

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

As the briefing faded into a sudden start, I started hobbling on along with everyone else. You start facing the hill, so you know what’s coming. After a very short flattish stint, it is time to start going up. The hill is neither long nor steep, but it is very noticeable. Potholes and mud are also noticeable, but good new shoes got me through them. As you approach the top, gradient starts easing off, until you eventually reach the crest. If you are not breathless, give a look on your right, where the lake features gloriously. Maybe best for lap 2 and 3, though.

On top, you will run on top along the crest on an open path. The centre of the path was flat, but very muddy. Both verges were more solid, but sloping to the side, so slightly uncomfortable too. It’s not long before you start a short, fun descent that leads to close to the first left turn of the route. The left turn starts a short S-shaped succession of turns that gets you across a patch of higher wild shrubs. On the other side, a slightly uphill segment gets you to a corner where you will take a gentle 90-degrees right turn.

Once you turn, you will face the longest, straight segment of this route. It starts with a short downhill, then it becomes flattish until the next corner. With the exception of a little mound you climb and come down from roughly half way. This is also under brief tree cover and manned by a volunteer. As you pass the segment, a longer straight on open fields will lead you to the end of the segment. There, a wide 180 curve will get you back. A generous marshal in that positions was offering gummies on the day I visited. I did not indulge until the last lap: gummies as motivation! 🙂

After that wide turn, there is a slight uphill on fresher grass all the way to the top of a smaller little hill. You are also getting closer to the lake, that features on your left. From the top, keep running in a straight line first flattish, than slightly downhill. You will then turn 90 degrees left on a wide turn again. This sets up on a long straight line towards the cafe buildings. Run a gentle downhill and then a straight segment, both on open terrain and on grass.

At the end of this long straight, you are again at the foot of the main hill. Turn right 90-degrees and you will be facing what will be the finish funnel. It is uphill, but during lap 1 and lap 2, you will turn hard right pretty soon. This puts you at the bottom of the main hill, to repeat the whole course twice more.

At the end of the third lap, keep going uphill a little bit more, with the well deserved finish funnel 20/30 metres ahead of you.

Congratulations on completing Stanborough parkrun!

Facilities at Stanborough parkrun

Stanborough park is a nice green area making full use of its lake. The main buildings and watersports are managed by Better. Besides basic water sports, I could see there is a lively fishing community around the lake, with several tents pitched around its shores. The cafe is pretty basic, but there is good offer of outdoor seating, including some covered ones.

The cafe was open after the event, but the restaurant does not open before 12. It offers some savoury dishes and a fairly limited selection of pre-packaged pastries. Nothing exceptional, but it is there at least.

Toilets are to the back of the cafe. Female toilets were open on the day of my visit, while male toilets had a sign on the door saying they only open after 9.30. A bit weird.

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 Church Mead parkrun, I ordered a Fanta Lemon and a lemon slice. They did not seem to offer espresso, just black coffee or teas.

Stanborough 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

Stanborough parkrun is still relatively new, less than half a year in its hopefully long future life as a parkrun venue. And it is a lot of fun: the course is interesting, challenging enough, but also offering fun opportunities to recover on longer downhills. The location will probably present its best features in summer and with dry terrain it can also be quite fast.

I would love to visit again with good weather to experience it in a different way. Maybe I will, who knows.

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