Skip to main content

Basildon parkrun

Having run a number of events in the north of the East of England recently, I wanted to attend an event in the south of the region this week. While Thurrock is slightly further south, it is also slightly easier to access from the M25, and so Basildon seemed like a great option for this week's activities!

The area

The town of Basildon was created from the combination of the four smaller villages which were joined together to form a new town after the conclusion of World War 2, with the name being inherited from the most central of the villages. The town is a popular location for London commuters to live owing to it's simple access to the financial district of London, while at the same time, the town has a strong heavy industry presence owing to government grants provided to businesses to move to the area.

Northlands Park was created by the local council in the 1970s on the site of former farmland, creating the two lakes and hills as part of the flood relief programme during the development of the two neighbouring residential areas.

View over the one of the lakes at Northlands Park

The course

The route traces three laps over a mixture of surfaces including tarmac, gravel, trail and grass, mostly around the perimeter of the park, and taking in views of both lakes.

Toilets, free parking and a cafe are all located within the park.

One of the gravel paths before switching to the grass

The run

It was a cool and blustery start to the day today, but fortunately, it was dry! Upon arrival, I was immediately reminded of Stevenage parkrun, with the lakes providing a focal from the car park, and for the remainder of the event!

Having taken a few weeks of recovery/rest time where I had reduced my volume significantly, it was really evident how much fitness I had lost, as there were no excuses on such a fast route. I plan on starting my next training block in the next few weeks, and runs like this will help to provide a measure of my fitness over the next few weeks!

Thank you to all of the volunteer team for a great event!

The lake, with the cafe to the left of frame

Links: Results | Strava

Popular posts from this blog

Markshall Estate parkrun

Having spent a number of weeks focussed on events in the north of the East of England, I decided that this week I would pay some attention to the south of the region and visit Markshall Estate parkrun while still in the best time of the year to visit an arboretum. The area The Markshall Estate (interchangably the "Marks Hall" Estate) is the remains of a former country estate located in Coggeshall, between Colchester and Braintree. The hall itself was demolished in 1950, leaving its grounds to be converted into an arboretum, featuring trees from around the world. Coggeshall has been a settled area since at least the Saxon area, and was later served by Stane Street; a Roman road stretching from modern day Colchester to near St Albans. The course The route follows just under two laps of the arboretum, starting at the top of a hill, and finishing at the bottom, meaning this is a net down-hill course. The course is run on a mixture of tarmac, concrete, gravel, trail an

Mildenhall Hub parkrun

This week I decided to make some more progress on the Fibonacci Sequence challenge by attending event number 5 of the new Mildenhall Hub parkrun! The area Mildenhall is a small market town located between Cambridge and Bury St Edmunds. The modern town's population is heavily influenced by the two airforce bases located on the outskirts of the town, with up to a third of the town's residents being born in USA! The town is also where the Mildenhall Treasure was discovered - a collection of Roman silverwar considered to be perhaps the most important and valuable Roman treasure find in Britain. Owing to its importance and value, the treasure is now on permanent display at the British Museum. To the west of the town lies Mildenhall Hub, a newly built community centre, and host of this week's parkrun event! The course One lap of the course follows an initial out-and-back section, followed a lap of the adjoining meadow, with runners following the route two and a hal

Ally Pally parkrun

Now that I have completed the UK Alphabet, my focus has turned towards the East of England region. As there are so many events to choose from, I'm going to start by working through events in alphabetical order again, with an emphasis on working east to west, which for me, effectively orders events furthest to nearest. During my initial exploration of the challenge, I did make a mistake however, which I only realised after running this event - I didn't realise that Aldenham parkrun was in the region, and so I started this phase of parkrunning by running Ally Pally parkrun instead! The area Ally Pally, or Alexandra Palace, is a purpose built community centre in Haringey, North London. Unlike other palaces in the UK, Ally Pally has no royal connection, and instead has been entirely community oriented since its conception. The palace houses a theatre, concert hall, a convention centre, an ice rink, and has facilitated BBC broadcasts an