Kilkenny Lane Country parkrun

Last parkrunday I drove a bit further than usual and visited the new(ish) Kilkenny Lane Country park in Oxfordshire. I had been keen to visit this new event for a while, but laziness always had the better of me. A 90 minutes drive in the morning is a tough proposition for me, since I am definitely not a morning person, but target low event numbers were now starting to run away from me.

Besides the standard curiosity of checking a new event out, Kilkenny Lane Country parkrun checked two very interesting challenge related needs. First, it gets me my third K, as a slowly crawl towards completing my second and third alphabets. Ks are not as rare as some other fancy letters, but in the South East they are not everywhere: my other two Ks were Kingston parkrun in London and Kingdom parkrun in Kent. I am now missing 2 letters for alphabet number 2 and 5 letters for alphabet number 3. Achievable within the year if I focus on it. Not sure if I will, but it’s there, around the corner. V number 3 coming in a couple of weeks, probably.

And then there was the Wilson Index. Since I am dumb, I decided to make things easy for myself and only focus on the Golden Wilson Index, ie progressing only through a new event for any event number. Holywell King George V Playing Fields parkrun last week got me up to 15 and Kilkenny Lane parkrun this week got me a 24. Gotta get them as they are still low! 16, 17 and 18 are already in the planner. 🙂

Finally, the allure of visiting more events in beautiful Oxfordshire. I had the pleasure of experiencing University Parks parkrun and Bicester parkrun when coming up here for other reasons before and I had great experiences at both venues. So I was sure I would enjoy the vibe.

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

Trip to Kilkenny Lane Country parkrun and parking

Kilkenny Lane Country Park is a 50 acres well maintained green area on the outskirts of Carterton, in West Oxfordshire. It is at the edges of what seems to be a relatively new housing development, without a major station within sight and fairly limited facilities or ‘city centre’ features.

Looking at the official event site, no stations are listed in the getting there section. So I tried Google Maps to see what public transport options I would get to reach the event from London. It shows the trip would take me 3h 40 minutes, compared to slightly less than 90 minutes driving early morning. The train station listed is Oxford Station, confirming the event map hints. From Oxford, google shows about 1 more hour by bus (S1 line), but I am checking this late morning, so traffic might be less painful early morning. The event site shows bus options from Oxford and Burford.

If you are driving, getting to Oxford will be convenient and easy on major motorways. After reaching Oxford and going around it, it took me another 15/20 minutes to reach Carterton. There, it was a 5 minutes drive through small local roads to reach the Country Park.

There is a free, very convenient car park at the entrance of the car park. It is bigger than it looks on the maps and literally 30 metres walk away from Kilkenny Lane Country park meeting point. However, there were two clear signs at the entrance saying parkrunners should not park there. I assume that’s probably part of the agreements the team made with local authorities or resident associations. The event site lists two alternative car parks in town: they are also free and closer to cafe recommended for after the events. Walking from there to the meeting point will take about 10/15 minutes.

As a mid point, on road parking around the residential development seems to be free and plentiful. I guess depending on how busy the event gets, if tourists swamp it, local residents could get annoyed. Understandably. Recommended car parks closer to the Community Centre in town are perfectly fine.

Kilkenny Lane Country parkrun: start and briefings

However you plan to reach the event, walking to the ‘forbidden’ car park gives you the most natural approach to Kilkenny Lane Country parkrun meeting point. With the added bonus that you will also walk by the public toilet block; more on that below.

As you walk through the car park, turn right at the corner further from the entrance and toilet block and you will be facing the arched entrance to a beautiful children play area. This is on a large clearing and volunteers will meet in or around a covered bandstand near the entrance to the area.

When time comes, new joiners and tourists are asked to walk just outside the play area for the New Joiners Briefing. Walk back in afterwards to use the larger clearing for the Main Briefing.

And then, out again! The start line is on the path that goes around the park, roughly half way between the play area and the car park.

After a short countdown, the time came. Parkrun.

Kilkenny Lane Country parkrun course review – star ratings

Kilkenny Lane Country parkrun course review – route highlights

There were 192 parkrunners on the day of my visit to Kilkenny Lane Country parkrun. The event is still pretty new, with a lot of people joining the First Timers Briefing. Early tourism might still be influencing attendance levels, but it seems that a stable range has appeared. Most recent events were in a 150-200 range, the occasional outliers either side. This is a very healthy attendance level for a new local event and very sustainable for the paths used here. I am pretty sure even with 100/150 more runners, the event would have still be a pleasure to run.

Congestion was never a problem. The start line is fairly wide open and, even if it narrows down a bit very soon, the path remains reasonably wide. There is one tight right turn about 100/150m in which did get moderately busy during the first lap, but again it was flowing decently well. After that, paths narrow but there are runnable grass verges way beyond the point where the field has thinned enough to make narrower paths a non-issue.

Surface-wise, it is pretty much 100% on hard paths with side and middle grass verges. Paths are fairly flat and well compressed, but not perfect, with terrain that felt quite hard on the day I visited. When I went, it was a pretty dry period and road shoes were absolutely fine. However, I suspect things can get quite wet and muddy during the winter. Trail shoes might be recommended then.

Elevation-wise, at 26m elevation gain over slightly more than 2 laps, Kilkenny Lane Country park is flat. While there are a couple of mild changes in elevation here and there, it’s always very mild and barely noticeable. This course can be fast in the right conditions: elevation won’t be what keeps you away from a PB.

In terms of surroundings and views, Kilkenny Lane Country Park is a nice, open green park, with alternating wide meadows and tree covered areas. However, the fairly narrow design of the park and lack of water or obvious landmarks, make it difficult to find breathtaking landmarks. The run is pleasant, surroundings are relaxing, but you will not remember Kilkenny Lane Country parkrun when thinking about the most beautiful surroundings you have seen when parkrunning. The team definitely makes up for it!

In terms of course layout, it is a long, tight rectangle. The lap starts about 400m before the finish funnel, so as you get to the end of your second lap, keeps going for another 200m before taking a right turn to reach the finish funnel on the opposite side of the playing fields..

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

This is not going to be a course review where details come easy, because the course is fairly consistent throughout and segments seamlessly blend together. As you get going, you will soon leave the clearing in front of the playing field. The course thins out a bit with mature shrubs on both sides. Soon, you enter a tighter shrubs area before turning immediately hard right. Here you will be facing the place where you head left on the main loop and right to go towards the finish funnel.

Head left and slightly uphill until you reach the top of a small bump on the left side of a large, green meadows expanse. On top, turn slightly left to cross these large fields along their edges. You will see a long human snake made of parkrunners in front of you, it makes for a nice view. Once you reach the other side, you will again cross through a small tree-covered area before being out in the open again.

On the other side, another long segment on the side and through meadows will get you to the end of this side of the loop. As you turn right, start a segment on a slightly narrower path sided by short trees. Enjoy the shade until you reach the next corner and take a gentle right turn to start the segment that will bring you back home. On this side, there will be a longer segment in the middle of mature vegetation, before you reach glorious open grounds again. Open meadows and tree-sided segments continue alternating until, after the last crossing of an open meadow you turn right again and find yourself metres away from the start line.

Get to the start line and start your second lap. The second time you get here, you will see a sign saying there are 400m to go. Yup, not done yet. Get to the path bifurcation and lean right this time. Go straight with trees on your right for a short while than take a sharp right turn. The finish funnel with be 100m in front of you, time to let it go!

Congratulations on completing Kilkenny Lane Country parkrun!

Facilities at Kilkenny Lane Country parkrun

The play area at the meeting point of Kilkenny Lane Country parkrun is impressive, with a lot of unusual, interesting things and wooden sculptures. However, besides that the park retains a fairly untouched vibe. There is a public toilet block in the car park, but that’s about it.

Also, the toilet block is not free to access. Doors require a small payment and, horror, it has to be paid with actual coins. Not sure how many people carry those around these days, I definitely don’t. So come prepared… or hope you will be able to join the pre-event queue.

The event site recommends two locations for post event refreshments. A Gregg’s or the Hoof’s cafe, by the community centre. I went to tha latter: a small, interesting establishment with a good spread of options, both savoury and sweet.

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 Kilkenny Lane Country parkrun, I ordered a San Pellegrino blood orange soda, a lemon slice and a single espresso. This cost me around £5.5.

Kilkenny Lane Country 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

Kilkenny Lane Country parkrun is not the most convenient parkrun to get to, but when you get there you are welcome by a beautiful park and an extremely welcoming local team. In a dry, spring day, the green park is wonderfully peaceful and a place to run or walk in. I enjoyed it a lot, even if there are no wonderful landmarks to stare at in awe.

I doubt I will come back due to distance, but if you are in the area, it is definitely an event that should enter your rotation.

Finally, obviously, thank you, Kilkenny Lane Country parkrun team for your hospitality!