On a beautiful sun kissed morning Huntingdon was a delightful venue that was shown off in all it’s spring glory, a quite breathtaking sight! This event was based at Hinchingbrooke Country Park, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire that covers 180 acres of stunning meadow grassland, mature woodland and 3 lakes, wow!!!

Local Community

One of the most very important ingredients on any parkrun is it’s volunteers and today I met a Huntingdon legend in Henry Bailey with enthusiasm that is infectious and he gives you that much needed boost from his key marshalling point!

They have even named his marshal point after him Henry Hill, top work sir and much appreciated on the running tip sir!

I know from experience that at my home parkrun of Luton, Wardown would not be the same without our own super volunteer in Peter Brown, you are all great credits to the parkrun ethos and your local comunities!

Congratulations

Well done to Jo Wilson on running your 100th parkrun, great achievement and I hope to join you when I run my 100th on the 2nd June! Also Michael O’ Callaghan his 100th as well and Jessica Hiscock run her 50th parkrun respectfully, well done guys!!!!

Course

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The course is 2 anticlockwise laps of the park that start and finish on the main grass field near the cafe! The is almost no real elevation to speak of on each lap with the terrain mainly made up of a mixture of gravel or trail earth paths!

Points to note

• There is a wide start line on the grass, so choose your position wisely as it hard to overtake on the narrow footpaths by the wildlife lake!
• As with all woodland trail parkruns be aware of any exposed tree roots!
• Also parts of this parkrun course has a tendency to flooding after especially wet periods of weather, there was still a few muddy points dotted around at present!
• A really stunning section on this course is the treelined Chestnut Avenue leading up to the Ornamental lake that very refreshing shade on a hot day 🙂

My time was completely irrelevant at this event as sadly a lady fell just ahead of me and was it great pain, so the least I could do was help out until the marshall very professionally took control!

I hope Jane you are now in less pain and from the bottom of my heart you make a speedy full recovery!!!

Facilities

There is paid parking at this location Sat Nav PE29 6DB, prices very reasonable at £1 for 3 hours £2 up to 6, today for whatever reason the pay meter stations we out of commission though!

Second parking option Huntington parkrun has arranged the following ” Alternative car parking is available 5 minutes walk from Hinchingbrooke Country Park at the Hinchingbrooke Hospital Treatment Centre (CAR PARK 2).

Take your parking ticket and parkrun Barcode to the Car Park Office and it will be validated for 2 hours free parking (0830 – 1030 only). Post Code for Sat Nav for the Treatment Centre Car Park is PE29 6NT.” information taken from their parkrun course page!

Toilets were available before the start that is always great bonus at the back of the Visitor centre and the cafe inside opens at 9:30am, I thoroughly recommend the bacon butty by the way!

Other facilities include

• Fishing on the main lake
• Childrens play area
• Beautiful designed walks through the woodland and wildlife areas
• Organised educational activities including learning about the parks apiary

Final Verdict

I would like to thank the run director Alice Noyes and her team of volunteers for making me feel extremely welcome, outstanding community guys!!!

So if you want a stunning woodland course to run around there are not many better examples than Huntingdon parkrun. A jewel of a parkrun that I would wholeheartedly recommend to everyone!!!

Best

Mark aka Silent Runner

Event 86 Buckingham 12-05-2018