My 43rd different parkrun course found us heading to the well established Harcourt Hill parkrun, which despite being fairly local to me I had not visited yet. It's in the grounds of Oxford Brookes University Sport Centre, and is a cross country grass and mud run around the sports field and neighbouring fields and woodland. Parking was free, right next to the start and plentiful. If wet I would definitely recommend trail shoes or hybrids, but you'd probably get away with road shoes in the summer. It didn't feel particularly hilly, but it measured as 30m of Elevation on my Garmin which I was a bit surprised about. Due to parts of the normal course being very muddy we ran the winter version of the course which is a three lap course, with the first lap being shorter than laps two and three. There is still a short muddy section on the winter course so be careful on the turn as I almost went over there both times. It was event 303 of this parkrun on the day of my visit, and it was cold and very windy.
[I first visited this parkrun on 12th March 2022]
Difficulty
On the day of our visit i would rate this as a 2 out of 5. There are some slopes but nothing too hilly, and the terrain is entirely grass and mud, and the mud section will slow you down a bit, if it's windy this will add to the difficulty. But other than that there is nothing else to worry too much about, and the grass was very runnable on the day of our visit.
Briefings
The visitor briefing gave a very good description of three lap winter course, which is one anti-clockwise lap around the sports fields, followed by two longer laps taking in neighbouring fields and a woodland section. The guy giving the briefing also briefly mentioned there is sometimes a two lap course which was unfortunately too muddy to run today. He also said if you find yourself on tarmac you've gone wrong, but in reality it is well marshalled like most parkruns so you shouldn't go wrong. I did make a recording of the briefing but it was soo windy that all you can hear on the playback is the wind noise.
The Course (Winter Course - Three Laps)
You start at the North East end of the sports campus with a minor road behind you facing towards the countryside and with the sports buildings and car park to your right. Lap one takes you on a right turn after passing the University buildings around the sports fields with a dog leg two thirds of the way round the first lap. On lap two, once you have passed the University buildings for the second time you turn right and head into a neighbouring (more rural) field, you follow the parameter of this field with the tree line on your right hand side. After completing this field you cross back into the University grounds, hugging the boarder of the grounds and heading towards the woods, you then enter the woods and the mud section, careful on the sharp left turn if it is muddy, as even in trails I almost went over here. Leaving the woods you now pass back alongside the sports fields re-joining the inner lap and doing the dog leg for a second time before heading back to the start. Lap three is the same as lap two.
Elevation
According to my Garmin, there are 30m of Elevation on this course, there are some visible slopes but I'm surprised it is as much as 30m Elevation as it really didn't seem very hilly. The hills all seem to be in the second (more rural field), the sports grounds which you stay in for lap 1, are as flat as you like.
Parking, Facilities and Coffee
Parking is both free and easy, there is plenty of it and it is right next to the playing fields and start. Toilets are also available on site. The post parkrun coffee is at 'The Cross Bar' but I don't know where this is, as we headed straight home after the parkrun.
Other Points of Interest
Not so much a point of interest, just an observation that this is a surprisingly quiet parkrun with less than 100 participants (at least on the day we attended). This might be because Oxford now has four parkruns, with the newly started University Parks parkrun now up and running in the city centre, writeup on that one to follow soon.
Summary
A pretty and scenic cross country run around the grounds and neighbouring field of the University Sports Centre. Can be very windy and also can get muddy in places particularly in the wooded section in winter. Bring trail shoes in winter and roads in summer. I feel it has the potential to be a fast course on a dry day in summer, but not in winter where the terrain slows you down too much. Looking forward to coming back in Summer and trying to beat my time.
Links
Link to official parkrun site for this course - https://www.parkrun.org.uk/harcourthill/
Link to more information about Oxford Brookes Sport - https://www.brookes.ac.uk/brookes-sport/
My YouTube Video Review of this parkrun
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