So for part two of this New Years double header it was time to run Milton Keynes parkrun based around the massive Willen Lakes park complex!

History

So Milton Keynes with just over 50 years of history but what a brilliant design for a new town to be the model on , with so much going on in the town and so many green spaces to run, it is probably a great place to live!

So with pressure on houses in the South East the government of the day in the 1960’s decided to generate new towns like Milton Keynes. So on 23 January 1967 with the amalgamation of towns Bletchley, Wolverton, and Stony Stratford with a number villages and farmland Milton Keynes was born!

Celebrations

I start with two celebrations, first of all I would like to congratulate Steven Scott on reaching the amazing 200 parkrun milestone at this event, brilliant work sir!

Next up is my very good friend Martin Ball who has now reached 20 different parkrun events and is now on parkrun UK most events leaderboard!

You have been a ray of sunshine on my travels and it is all my pleasure in knowing you mate 🙂

Fellow Tourist’s

One brilliant bonus of touring is meeting fellow kindred spirits and it was my pleasure to  meet Annabelle James and Geoff New today at Willen lakes!

Thank you Annabelle for taking the volunteers picture at the end of the event and Geoff great chatting to you in the cafe afterwards talking about everything Luton Town with a fellow fan!

Course

This is a single clockwise lap that starts on the path towards Campbell park, then follows the Grand Union Canal until you turn right back towards Willen lakes.

Once you have run past the Peace pagoda, you turn right at the bottom and follow the footpath and complete almost a full circumference of South Willen Lake where you finish on a treelined path just past the water sports centre!

I would like to thank Milton Keynes parkrun to give me a image of the route that we run as it is different to the one posted on their website that runs the North Lake instead!

Points to Note

• The famous zigzag path up the hill to the back of Peace Pagoda is great to behold rather than run up 🙂
• Number of different hardcore surfaces to run ranging from gravel to block paving
• After heavy recent rain there was several small waterlogged gravel paths sections around the lake that needed to be navigated by running around on the grass!

Time 44:19 was embarrassing for me and I really need to get back into serious training now we are in a new year!

Facilities

This parkrun is based around Willen Lakes park a very popular attraction that gets over 1 million visitors a year!

There is pay and display parking available Sat Nav MK15 0DS and for the post run coffee we all retired to the lovely cafe One4Six that has toilets available outside!

Other Facilities includes

• Watersports
• Fitness & Running
• Treetop Extreme
• Fishing
• Cafe
• Peace Pagoda

Final Verdict

I would like to thank Fiona Siequien and her team of volunteers for their support and encouragement around the course, top work guys!!

So if you want to run a single lap course then Milton Keynes should be high up on your wish list even if it is just for the challenge of taking on the famous zigzag up the hill 🙂

Best

Mark

Event 72 Great Notley 06-01-2018