So today took me to the lovely market town of Buckingham with a population of 12,000 that is very close to the borders of both Northamptonshire & Oxfordshire!

I have now run 86 different parkruns but both Bourton & Heartsland parks that Buckingham parkrun is based at have truly taken my breath away!

The loving design that incorporates the river Great Ouse to it’s full potential makes this parkrun a shear joy to run and hopefully a few of these pictures may just about do these parks justice, wow!

 

Hi Vis Heroes

As like last week I am always inspired by super parkrun volunteers who give up their time for the local of their local community, with over 400 volunteering between David Hastings-Barnes left and Tony Metcalfe right, all I can do is salute you guys for the sterling work that you are doing for your parkrun community!

Another heartwarming story is how people use parkrun as a safe supportive way of getting fit and achieving amazing results.

So at Buckingham I was lucky to meet Tom Chapman (young gentleman in green) who has both lost a tremendous amount of weight and taken almost 19 minutes off his PB with it now standing at an impressive 21:33 for this course, outstanding Tom and you are a true inspiration to us all!

I would also like to congratulate Claire Seckington a run director at Buckingham who completed her 150th parkrun at this event and offering the sweets afterwards to everyone was a lovely gesture 🙂

Course

A lollypop style anticlockwise course that you run out from near the skateboard park at Heartlands park then run out to a looped section that you run twice in Bourton park, then you run back the way you come to the finish, which is next to the skateboard park!

The surface is entirely run on well maintained tarmac paths with only minor undulations on a couple of sections of this course!

Points to note

• Couple of narrow pinch points on the bridges on each lap, so be aware when you are either overtaking or vice versa
• On only a couple of points the trees are starting to lift up the tarmac

Sorry would have been rude not too, had to ring the PB bell at Buckingham and remember every week is a course PB for me 🙂

Facilities

There is paid parking at Cornwalls Meadow Car Park near the start of this event, sat nav MK18 1RP with charges at a very reasonable tariff at 50p for 3 hours!

The brand new electronic toilets at this car park seemed to be permanently engaged for some reason, but I was kindly rescued by one of the cafe staff at Gyre & Gimble that allowed me to use their toilet before they opened at 8:30am!

I kindly returned the favour and bought a welcoming latte and slice of chocolate cake after the parkrun and for the record it was delicious!

It was also great to chat and discuss everything parkrun with Charlie Clare, Warren (pictured below) & Sian Whyte at the cafe that finished off a perfect morning for me!

Other park facilities included

• Multiple children play areas
• Fine recreational area with bridleways
• Picnic areas

Final Verdict

I would like to thank run director Gareth Bowden and his team of volunteers for making me feel extremely welcome on the morning, greatly appreciated guys!!!

So finally Buckingham you have a truly beautiful parks in Bourton & Heartland that shows the river Great Ouse to it’s full potential, must be a sheer delight for your local community to use, breathtaking!!!

Best Mark aka Silent Runner

PS Enjoy your 4th birthday Royal wedding themed parkrun next week, sounds fun event 🙂

Event 87 Black Park 19-05-2018