Flattest parkruns in London: avoid painful hills at parkrun

Looking for the flattest parkruns in London is not something we should be ashamed of. Maybe we are looking for a London parkrun PB candidate, but maybe we just don’t want to suffer up painful slopes that parkrunday morning.

I have completed LonDone, so I have measured and collected data for all parkruns in London. With 65 parkruns in London as of 2026, you can find anything you want. From completely pancake flat events to hilly ones and even cross country hilly ones. Flat does not necessarily means fast, but it probably means less taxing on your legs, if you want a more relaxed parkrunday. If hunger for a PB brought you here, also look at my London Fastest parkruns ranking. It might fit better.

Raw elevation data should also be crossed with course design and number of laps. A one lapper with a relentless hill will feel quite different from a multi-lap course with the same elevation, but taken in shorter segments. So again, data is king, but my own experience as an average parkrunner will influence my views here.

So, let’s focus on which London parkruns will require the least climbing!

The 10 flattest parkruns in London

Let’s start with raw data. What are the 10 flattest parkruns in London? You will not have to climb hills on these London parkruns, but there might be other difficulties, so not all are PB spots.

#	Event	Elevation Gain	Laps	Surface	PB spot?
🥇	Fulham Palace	3m	3	Tarmac	❌
🥈	Battersea	4m	2	Tarmac	✅
🥉	Bushy	5m	1	Hard paths	❌
4	Beckton	6m	3	Grass, tarmac	❌
5	Wimbledon Common	6m	2.5	Hard paths	❌
6	Sutcliffe	6m	2	Grass, tarmac	❌
7	Burgess	7m	1	Tarmac	✅
8	Hanworth	8m	2	Grass, hard paths	❌
9	Southwark	8m	3	Tarmac	❌
10	Osterley	9m	2	Hard paths	❌

I find the last column quite striking. Some of you might disagree, but in general it should be uncontroversial so many of these flat events are either very busy, have sub-optimal terrain or are subject to heavy mud.

London flattest parkruns in detail

Some more information on the top 5, to set the scene if you decide to go there. Or as an appetiser before you delve into the more detailed reviews and videos from this site and my YouTube Channel.

🥇1. Fulham Palace parkrun

All London parkruns: how flat is it going to be?

Elevation is not that scary, if not too aggressive. Or we might be looking for some light challenge without risking ending up visiting an endurance monster. Below, I have classified all London parkruns in elevation clusters, to help with potential choices.

If you want to see raw elevation data for all London parkruns events, you can visit my London parkrun stats page.

Flat	Mildly undulating	Undulating	Hilly	Brutal
Fulham Palace	Gunnersbury	Thames Path	Roundshaw Downs	Sunny Hill
Battersea	Harrow Lodge	Ingrebourne Hill	Richmond
Bushy	Wormwood Scrubs	Avery Hill	Ally Pally
Beckton	Peckham Rye	Bexley	Finsbury Park
Sutcliffe	Raphael	Beckenham Place	Crystal Palace
Wimbledon Common	Highbury Fields	Oak Hill	Hilly Fields
Burgess	Harrow	Grovelands	Gladstone
Hanworth	Stockely Country	Morden	Lloyd
Southwark	Catford	Orpington	Hampstead Heath
Osterley	Mile End	Brockwell
Kington	Hoblingwell
Tooting
Barking
Lordship Recs
Northala Fields
Hackney Marshes
Clapham Common
Old Deer Park
Pymmes
Crane Park
Greenwich Peninsula
South Norwood
Valentines
Charlton
Bromley
Bedfont Lakes
Dulwich
Wanstead Flats
Canons Park
Walthamstow
Foots Cray Meadows
Southall
Bethlem Royal Hosp.
Riddlesdown

I find this table quite interesting, with a few specific take-aways.

• 1: Most London parkruns are quite flat: more than half of the events are classified as flat or mildly undulating. If you want hills, either might have to go look for them. This is why I have also prepared a ‘London Hilliest parkruns’ ranking;
• 2: My qualitative classifications don’t fully follow elevation gain data: In part, this is due to different course designs or lap counts. However, this is also a classification I subjectively applied after visiting the event: fitness level, energy and even daily mood will have had an impact on my assessment;
• 3: Only one ‘Brutal’ event: Sunny Hill stands out as the hardest event at 101m elevation gain, but friends from more mountainous areas will laugh at us Southerners here, I guess. Also, interesting how Hampstead Heath at 100m did not make the cut for that category with such a minor difference. But that’s how I felt, so I won’t correct that.

LonDone: elevation vs subjective effort

Using the data collected above, I think it is interesting to look at the raw data behind those classification and see how that translate into effort. If you want to have a quiet parkrun, what does that mean compared to the GPS track of an event?

Elevation Type	Elevation Change
	Min El. Change	Max El. Change
Flat	3m	46m
Mildly Undulating	26m	57m
Undulating	23m	62m
Hilly	54m	100m
Brutal	101m

There is an overlap between the subject classifications mildly undulating and undulation and even, to a minor extent, between undulating and hilly at the lower end of ‘hilly’. This is not surprising, because we are not computers and data will only partially affect perception. And effort is, ultimately, subjective.

Some interesting outliers, when I compare all events ordered by increasing elevation gain and the more subjective ‘elevation type’ classifications:

• Thames Path, classified as ‘Undulating’ with only 23m elevation gain. This is a unique course, with a long out and back riverside straight and a final loop. However, that final loop is a spiral ascent up and down a hill. That landmark makes the course, but it also makes it feel harder than numbers would suggest;
• Ingrebourne Hill, also classified as ‘Undulating’, with only 30m elevation gain. Similar story: you immediately start climbing a hill and then fly down it on zig-zag paths. After that, you run two flat laps at the feet of that hill, but the hard start will stick to your mind. And it is again the distinguishing feature of this course;
• Riddlesdown, classified as ‘Flat’ with 46m elevation gain. This is a real cross-country course, with big meadows and trails. Elevation comes naturally and you are more focused on the technical trail than on elevation changes.

Which flat London parkrun would I choose?

Again, choice is subjective and we all look for different things. Here are my views:

• 🥞 Flattest parkrun overall: Fulham Palace parkrun, stats don’t lie;
• 🌄 Flat and scenic: Osterley parkrun, the only National Trust parkrun in London;
• 🏆 Best flat parkrun for a PB: Burgess parkrun, my evergreen PB favourite;
• 🌳 Best flat parkrun if you hate crowds: Beckton parkrun, one of the smallest and most intimate events in London

How was elevation gain calculated?

I run with a Garmin Fenix 8, considered one of the best running watches out there. However, these numbers are not bulletproof and small tracking errors are possible:

• GPS tracking error: it happens, and elevation is determined by estimated GPS location;
• Routing: while over 5K there are limited options to stray off the predetermined course, people don’t always run the optimal ‘race line’. Small differences can come from that too;
• parkrun route changes: parkrun routes change. Mile End is a prime example, with the route benefiting from a scenic detour along the canal when I visited the first time and eliminating that before I visited the second time. Or Wimbledon Common, occasionally changing course because local bumblebees decide to claim their territory;

More London parkrun rankings

Explore LonDone and parkrun Regionnaires