Kingsbury Water parkrun

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Date of Visit

16 April 2022

Number of runners

281

Event Number

371

Visit Number

1

This has been our NENDY for some time but have never made the trip here!

Results

https://www.parkrun.org.uk/kingsburywater/results/371

parkrun Link

https://www.parkrun.org.uk/kingsburywater/

Facebook Page

https://www.facebook.com/kingsburywaterparkrun

Strava Segment

https://www.strava.com/segments/30945036

Weather

Glorious I think is the term! Clear skies, sun was out and was just warm enough for running without overheating. I ran in my long sleeve running top but sleeves were rolled up pretty quickly. Bryony ran in a t-shirt and leggings but wished she’d gone for shorts.

Getting There

No public transport that will get you there before the start unfortunately. I wouldn’t say this was a remote parkrun but it’s a bit more out of the way than a lot of the others. You could cycle though if you were close enough and it would be lovely trip down the nearby country lanes. Most people will drive to get to this one though. Parking was £2 which is a discounted rate for parkrun. Worth knowing that the machines are card only, no cash. They also don’t accept Apple or Google pay so you’ll need your actual card as your phone won’t work. There is some free parking on Pear Tree Avenue in Kingsbury about 1k away if you fancy a walk or warmup before the start. There is plenty of parking on site though.

Facilities

Being a water park it’s a massive open space so there is tons of it for people to gather in beforehand.

Visitor centre has a toilet block which isn’t too far from the start and were really good (as toilets go!). There is also a water fountain nearby if you need to fill a bottle up. There is also a cafe on site with some limited seating indoors but at this time of year I’d recommend making use of the lovely little courtyard with benches outside. I had to queue for it but we had a very nice cup of tea afterwards.

Briefings and Volunteers

Excellent as usual ☺

Person doing the first time briefing did a very good job of making sure everyone knew where she was by waving a big sign and shouting!

Main briefing had a big speaker and microphone so everyone could hear which also gave them the opportunity to play some music while we were all lining up which was a new one for me!

Start line and finish funnel

Top notch. The start line was really wide which I really liked. At busier parkruns it can feel like you’re queuing to get to the start line and it feels like only the faster runners get a really accurate time while slower runners and walkers have to factor in the time it takes to get across the start line too which isn’t a big deal in the grand scheme of things but can be frustrating.

Finish funnel had plenty of space around it but was more than long enough anyway. Even when there was a bulk of runners all coming in around the 30 minute mark it was more than able to cope. Barcode scanners were slightly away from the finish which I always think is a good idea as it stops too many people gathering around and getting in the way of finishers.

Course

Different to what it currently says on the website! I do know this parkrun has had trouble with flooding in the past so it’s possible they have a winter/summer route or this could be a totally new one. The strava segment is called the “2022 Double Lap Route” so it is pretty recent. I wasn’t able to find out if it’ll stay in it’s current form. But it’s basically two laps of one of the pools. It’s very flat other than two very very minor inclines. I heard the word “pancake flat” used a few times. Means it’s got a lot of PB potential. The paths are mostly wide enough so as to not cause trouble with bottle necking or faster runners bumping into slower runners. Lot of the paths are dirt though so I can imagine this being a different course in the winter!

Shoes

We both went with road shoes today as the weather was good. Other than the start and finish on a very short grass section the whole thing is on dirt paths through the park. Road shoes were fine today but I can see sections getting really muddy during the winter. Even though the weather was perfect there were a few small muddy puddles on the path which were easy to avoid but I can see this being one for trail shoes throughout the winter.

Short or Long? (based on our watches and checking out other Strava profiles)

Probably just about spot on. I had 3.10 miles and Bryony had 3.09. My usual glance at the other results had most people very similar to us. Think I saw a 3.12 and 3.06 but they were exceptions.

Andy Stats

parkrun number: 49

Tourist event number: 21

Official time: 19:25

Position:  3 (70.82% age grade)

Bryony Stats

parkrun number: 39

Tourist event number: 17

Official time: 35:20

Position 216 (43.40% age grade)  85th Female

How did it go?

Really well for me! This was my second fastest parkrun. Strava also said I hit a two mile PB so I definitely was going for it! I took a very minor wrong turn on the start of the second lap. I thought we were going left when it was straight on and the marshal gave me a shout so I got back on course quickly but I think those lost seconds were what denied me a parkrun PB today. I was still pleased with the result so no complaints otherwise. My result, such a lovely route, the weather and a cuppa with Bryony at the end made for a near perfect parkrun morning.

Bryony fared much better than last week. She found it much easier with a two lap course and no worries about having to keep looking out for the fastest runners barging past. Some lovely shady points and nice hard ground helped morale too. It didn’t feel crowded at the back despite never running ‘alone’ – definitely much more her kind of parkrun.

Return Visit Likely?

Definitely. I’m not sure why we’ve not done this one before. It’s easy to get to from where we live and it’s a lovely course. With how it went for both of us and having such good weather it’s one of the most enjoyable parkruns we’ve done.

Pictures and that.