Milton Keynes second parkrun course is a part open footpath, part gravel trail through the woods. It is a single lap course taking place in and around Linford Wood. It's pleasant enough scenery wise but there are just enough twists and turns and elevation changes to keep you busy all the way round. It's not the quickest parkrun course but it's a decent challenge.
Difficulty
This course is a 2 out of 5, it's got just enough elevation, changes in direction and lack of sight of the course ahead, the terrain while not bad is a bit compromised in places. It's not a difficult parkrun, but it's not the easiest one either.
The Course
It's a fairly tight start, but it opens up after a few hundred metres. You spend the first third of the parkrun on a redway in the open running alongside the wood. There are a few ups and downs as you pass under three separate underpasses. before you take a sharp right turn and then pass a playing field on the right. You pass under another underpass roughly halfway around the course and the next left turn takes you into the woods proper and onto some gravel paths. It's all a bit twisty and turny from here on in and it's hard to keep track of where you are even if you've done this course a few times. Best thing here is just to dig in and keep your head high all the way to the finish, which takes you a bit by surprise, although there is a bit of an opportunity for a sprint finsh.
Elevation
The elevation graph is a bit deceptive and the course looks fairly flat on paper, however there are plenty of ups and downs throughout the course, and you end up doing a total elevation of 34m (or 111 ft), which is more than the nearby Milton Keynes, at time of writing this places it 293 least elvation out of 519 parkruns in the UK.
Parking, Facilities & Coffee
There is a free car park at MK14 6FG and there is normally a marshal on standby to direct you towards the start. Coffee can be found at the Ora Cafe following the parkrun, I've not been but I've heard it's good.
Link to Linford Wood parkrun website:
A youtube video (not mine) of this course can be found here: