Today my 49th parkrun proved to be one of the toughest, Gladstone park in my personal opinion is one of the toughest but beautiful events on my capital challenge to date! You even have a great view of Wembley stadium from the top of the hill!

The great thing about this challenge is there is a parkrun course in London for everyone from fast flat to hilly testing events like Gladstone you are spoilt for choice!

It was my pleasure to bump into again and chat to fellow Cowl Cow tourists Mik Escolme, Mary Chadwick, Jules Farman and Mark Long.

Complete respect to you Mik running pushing your son in a buggy on that course, I had enough problems propelling myself around 🙂

Course

The course is predominately run on tarmac paths and started in a slightly different location than billed on their website, it began on the tarmac path next to the Gladstone Park South, Kendall road entrance.

First you run up the path over the railway bridge where you do two anticlockwise laps on the main park itself before you run back over the bridge to the finish, near the end you do a sharp left onto the grass with the finish funnel located by the Pavilion cafe!

This is excellent testing hilly course with the following key areas of interest

• The are three main uphill sections, first alongside Park Side, second from the children’s playground area you climb upto the furthest away part at Dollis Hill Lane. Finally there is a steady incline back up to the playground where you turn left to finish off lap one or on the second run back to the finish!
• There is a short grass downhill section around Dollis Hill Lane before you pick up the path again, this could get tricky in very wet weather!

Personal Stats

Happy with the time of 34:59 with my current fitness level and with the hilly nature of this course!

Important Info

There is free street parking along Kendall Road Sat Nav NW10 1JH and there is a Pavilion cafe next to the finish that is open after the run has started!

Update from Gladstone parkrun I have been told there are public toilets in the park 500 metres away from the runs starting point!

Final Verdict

I would like to thank Peter, his team of volunteers and the whole of the local parkrun community for making all of us tourists feel very welcome, top work guys!

This event will defiantly be in my top list of more challenging courses, so if you like hill running Gladstone is definitely for you!

Best

Mark aka Silent Runner

Run on – 11/03/2017