Huntingdon parkrun

Updated: Sep 30

Huntingdon parkrun is a pretty two lap anti-clockwise route around Hinchingbrooke Country Park near Huntingdon. This was the last parkrun we visited before the world changed due to Covid-19 and on the morning of the parkrun a number of changes had been implemented in an effort to keep parkrun going as long as was reasonably possible. We were encouraged to keep spaced from one another with no hand shakes or hi-fives, to allow room for the people in front on the finish funnel. To hold the tokens and bar codes up for the barcode scanners to scan rather than handing them to the volunteers, and to hang our finish tokens on a special board after scanning. All to reduce contact points with other people. We honesty had no idea we were shortly going to be going into a lockdown and genuinely believed outdoor events like parkrun would be allowed to continue... shows you how little we knew at the time. Following lockdown in March 2020 I felt very little inclination at the time to continue my blog as to be honest I was a bit depressed that parkrun was not going to be a part of my life for the next few weeks/months. I never expected that 15 months later only now would be talking about parkrun resuming. At the start of lockdown in March 2020, I was 3 parkruns behind on my blog. with the writing up of Huntingdon, I am now up to date, just in time for parkrun to hopefully resume in the next couple of weeks (at time of writing).

Last parkrun for 15 months, we had no idea at the time

According to my Strava notes, the course at Huntingdon is fairly flat, but some of the surfaces are uneven, and it's fairly muddy in places 🐾, and also a bit twisty with the start and finish on grass, but I did note that road shoes were fine for this parkrun. It is a typical country park, in that it is very pretty and scenic, with a good mix of terrain, lots of wildlife, and lovely wooded sections.

[I first visited this parkrun on 14th March 2020]

Difficulty

This is a mostly fast and flat course and on a dry day would easily by a 1 out of 5, on a winter's day or after a lot of rain it's a 2 out of 5 due to some sections of the course becoming muddy and slippery, but it's a fun course and it was a very enjoyable run. There is a slight incline about 3/4 of the way round the lap which you do twice, but otherwise a very flat course. It's an attractive course with lots of pretty scenery to keep you occupied. It was quite muddy in places when we visited but on a dry day I would expect this to be a quick course.

Briefings

The first timer visitor briefing was the usual description of the course carried out by a mother and daughter team. The main briefing carried out with a PA system was focused on the changes they had implemented to attempt to reduce Covid Transmission which I have already detailed above. The core team were very keen to assure us that they would keep parkrun going as long as they were allowed to, but the following week we were in the first lockdown and parkrun along with a lot of other activities we took for granted had come to an end. Both briefings were friendly and clear.

The Course

The course starts on a field, and you head out roughly west until you hit a footpath, and then it is a sweeping left past a lake on your right, and then meeting a tree line staying out in the open initially before a short right, left turn takes you briefly into the tree line and out again.

The next right takes you into the trees proper, very soon you'll come to a brook and you'll turn left to follow the brook for about 600m, the path becomes a trail before a sharp left turn, takes you onto a muddier section, heading back up along the brook on the other side, heading north west. The trail soon takes you away from the brook into a more densely wooded section with a few minor turns (still heading roughly north west), eventually the trail becomes a footpath again just before you burst back into the open near the briefing area. Running past the briefing area the path re-joins the wood still heading roughly north west, after about 300m you'll turn left and back out into the open, you'll soon pass the point at which you entered the path from the field at the start. Carry on past this point for lap 2. After completing lap two, you'll turn right onto the field and back to the start. I haven't really talked about elevation because I can't remember there being any to speak of, a nice flat course.

Elevation

OK so checking my Garmin record there is a slight elevation as you come away from the brook and head back to the briefing area, but I really don't remember it being too bad. You have to do it twice but the total elevation is only about 18m across the whole course so not much really.

Parking, Facilities and Coffee

The entrance to Hinchingbrooke Country Park is off Brampton Road, just passed Hinchingbrooke Hospital and routes are clearly marked with brown signs, post code PE29 6DB. The car park is pay and display and is a very reasonable £1 for two hours (The pay and display machines happened to be out of order on the morning of our visit). It is a short walk along a signposted gravel path to the Visitor centre. As with most parkruns at Country Parks, it is very well served for facilities. Parking is easy and straightforward, there is a toilet block very near to the visitor centre and there is also a small café.

Toilets just off to the right of this photo, as per sign.

Other Points of Interest

This parkrun actually has a visitor book,

a great idea and this is the first parkrun I have encountered to keep such a thing. What a great way to welcome visitors and to record their experiences, comments, and feedback. This was a very friendly parkrun with another enthusiastic and helpful core team who clearly care about their parkrun very much. Also of interest was the peg board facility for hanging your finish tokens after having them scanned, I think features like this will become much more commonplace at other parkrun courses when parkrun finally returns.

Summary

I loved this parkrun and still have very strong memories of it despite having run it over 15 months ago now. I must apologise to my readers, to my parkrun buddies, and to Huntingdon parkrun for having delayed writing this up for so long. It is a charming and friendly mixed terrain two-lap parkrun, with gorgeous scenery with lots of woodland, great facilities, a fantastic core team and it is well worth a visit for any parkrun tourist.