“Simply fast and flat – it’s easy to see the appeal of Northampton Parkrun and the masses turn out regularly to take park.”

Northampton set the scene for me on my parkrun journey, I hit January 2nd 2016 and haven’t looked back since! It’s one of those events that has managed to maintain the community feel even though the participants hit over 500 quite regularly.

The course is a super flat 2 lap route (the second being shorter) in the beautiful surroundings of Northampton’s former racecourse. Surrounded by parklands and university buildings, the course follows tree-lined avenues and is completely ran on the tarmac – unless you choose to go off-path. Footwear wise, roadrunners will be fine all year round.

The start is always congested here, but once the masses get moving overtaking is easy. Buggy running is a doddle, whilst there are some more narrow stretches there aren’t any problems. It has always been well-marshalled on my visits and I have had some great photos (bonus)! Facilities are great.

Facilities wise: there is some parking by the racecourse and on surrounding streets but it gets very busy; toilets in the changing rooms about 200m from the start line; large play parks around the park; and you can get a drink from the Creative Event Services kiosk at the end of your run.

Find out more about Northampton at parkrun.org.uk

Personal Stats

PB – 23:24
Best Position – 108th
Times run – 6