Market Harborough parkrun

My 58th parkrun course, found us taking a trip to Welland Park, next to Welland Park Academy in Market Harborough. It's a fairly busy parkrun averaging around 300 visitors a week. It's a pretty park with two car parks, and as we ended up on the car park at the far side of the park, we got to explore the park a bit on the way to the start. It's a pretty park and an interesting three lap course. It's another fairly complicated course with lap 1 a bit different to laps 2 & 3, I'll cover that in the course notes below.

[I first visited this parkrun on 15th July 2023]

Bit of History

Market Harborough is a Market Town in Leicestershire on the boarder with Northamptonshire and was founded by the Saxons between 410 and 1066, originally a small village, believed to have been called hæfera-beorg, (Harborough) meaning "oat hill". Market Harborough was also formerly part of Rockingham Forest, a royal hunting forest used by the medieval monarchs starting with William I. Welland Park and Welland Park Academy (so named because they run alongside the river Welland), are much more recently founded and both date back to around 1930, when Market Harborough was in a period of expansion. The modern day park has a large number of facilities, including a large Play Area, Tennis Courts, Skate Park, Outdoor Gym, Table Tennis table, Rugby Posts, Rose Garden and Sensory Gardens, Cafe and Public Toilets.

A very charming wooden plaque/map showing the 5k route around the park

Briefings

The Visitor and First Timers briefing focused on a description of the course and guidance for First Timers, leaving the main briefing to focus on tourist destinations, milestone shout outs, course condition and all the usual parkrun rules. The young woman giving the main brief was completing her volunteering element of her DOE Gold award, and she was very clear and easy to understand, so very well done to her.

The Course

Right, I'll do my best here, but yet again it's a complicated multi-lap course with a slightly different lap 1 and an offset finish. It's easier in practice to follow the person in front, but I'll do my best here to describe it for you... So you start on an entry road into the park, close to what I presume was the original gate house for the park, and fairly close to the toilet block. You run initially North before quickly coming to the first left turn, you then pass the Café building on your right, and then a floral garden also on your right before coming to a fork in the footpath, then on lap 1 but only on lap 1 you take the right fork onto a tree lined path passing a playground on your right, at the end of the playground you take a right turn, and then shortly after another right turn, you are now on a footpath which runs alongside the river Welland on your left. The path twists and winds along the river and takes you past the north side of the café which passes you on the right, and you will then pass by the football pitch and grounds of Welland Park Academy also on your right, eventually you will come to a marshal who directs you right around a loop which takes you back along the river path, now passing slower runners on your right hand side. Before you reach the Café again you will be directed left back towards the start and then you take a right turn to pass the Café again on your right, you have now completed one lap and you are starting lap 2. For lap 2, when you reach the fork in the path after the Café, you take a left turn, and complete a lap of the open grass park, and when you reach the playground you take a left turn to join the river path, all the way along the river the loop and back to the Café, lap 3 is the same as lap 2. Lap 4 is a short incomplete lap which takes you around the open grass field for the final time, but when you reach the playground you carry straight on to the finish area instead of joining the river path. In some ways you can think of it as a 3.5 lap course, or a 3 lap course which feels like a 4, but the park at least is pretty and you get to see a lot of your faster and slower running buddies due to numerous laps and passing points. I enjoyed it, but the final half of a lap after you have already completed three is quite tough psychologically. I have included my Garmin draw of the route below...

Slightly shorter lap 1, big laps 2 & 3, then a final 1/2 lap

Difficulty

This is a fast and flat course, I can't think of any difficult elements or any elevation to speak of. So I would have to give this a rating of 1 out of 5, good times are possible here, I managed my fastest parkrun of the year here. The terrain is very east to run with footpaths the entire way round.

Elevation

My Garmin says there is 9m of elevation across the three laps which is right up there with the flattest parkruns in the country. Pancake flat, enjoy!

Parking, Facilities and Coffee

There are two free car parks at this park. One right next to the start (LE16 9DW) which fills up first and another on the other side of the park, right next to the playground (LE16 9NW). The toilet block is close to the start. Post parkrun café is 'The Café at Welland Park', and they do some great breakfast items as well as hot and cold drinks.

Other Points of Interest

There is a lovely floral garden between the finish and the café which was full of lavender in full bloom on the morning of our visit. The playground is large and very well appointed (including a zip wire). There is also a skate park an outdoor gym, as well as a Table Tennis table and Tennis Courts. Another park with plenty to do after the parkrun has finished.

Summary

This is a very pretty and interesting park and is a great setting for a parkrun. It has a good amount of parking, toilets, cafe, playgrounds and a very welcoming core team. Market Harborough is an interesting town to spend some time after the parkrun if you don't have to rush home. It's a complicated course, but you shouldn't get lost if you follow the marshals and the other runners. It's also fast and flat and all on footpath, I managed 22:18 here which is my fastest parkrun time of the year so far, but was in 47th place so this is quite a competative parkrun for times. Another nice aspect of this course, is the passing points between slower and faster runners, so you get to see your other running buddies if you have brought some with you. The Café is also very good and the breakfast items are highly recommended.