Ally Pally parkrun - event 516

On the 30th September 2023 I ran the Ally Pally parkrun which was the 516th event held at the venue, my 148th parkrun and 76th different course I'd attended.

When I asked my friend Reaso if he wanted me to pick up his son George for this week's parkrun he asked where I was heading. "Ally Pally", I said. And that was the end of that. The next ten minutes was spent listening at how steep the hill was up towards the Alexandra Palace and how drunken darts fans roll down it after a day on the beer watching the arrows. He explained how steep it was and how close he'd come to having a coronary and wouldn't wish running up it on his worst enemy.

I had, as always done my research. I'd also seen the Ally Pally on television enough times and so knew that grounds of the parkrun would be the hillier variety. But the graphic picture that Reaso had painted put a nervous fear into me and I drove towards north London on Saturday morning with deep regret! Hills and I don't get on, let alone long steep ones!

In some ways, I'm glad of the pre-run trepidation as it helped me prepare for the worst. Luckily the worst fears weren't realised and it ended up being a rather fun, but challenging event.

The carpark is aside the Alexandra Palace itself and so when I arrived and got out of the car I had some amazing views of London to the south and got my first view of the grounds which were on a steep incline heading down at a gradient just as Reaso had warned. On a clear day, like Saturday you can see for miles and with the position of the lowly sun both the city of London and the docklands appeared as imposing silhouettes on the horizon.

I followed the main road back down the hill and cut to the central pathway that runs through the middle of the grounds at about half way down the hill. The path is flat, wide and covered by trees and is where the start and finish line are located.

The course itself consists of two anti-clockwise laps and has a short in and out stretch at the beginning and the end of the course.

Starting from the central pathway, participants head west for approximately 400 meters. The tree cover ends and to the left playing fields appear which dip down gradually to the south. Participants also turn left and head in the same direction all the way to the bottom of the park where they turn left again onto compacted soil paths and head east enjoying the start of the trail segment of the run.

Meandering eastwards on grass the course starts to rise upwards into the trees and the path turns to trail. As it had rained during the week there were some areas of mud, but it wasn't slippy and nor was there any standing water.

Through the trees the trail path twists and turns before it starts heading north and gradually starts to get steeper before you reach a short sharp hill that brings you back out onto the main start/finish pathway.

You rejoin this path momentarily, allowing you to quickly get your breath back before turning right again and heading north onto the grass and up another short, sharp hill.

This was the hardest section of the course due to the gradient, but fortunately it wasn't too long and once you reach the top it flattens out and you turn left onto a compacted gravel path which helps aid the recovery.

Whilst this section is still not flat, it does allow for the legs to recuperate and for the lungs to stop burning. Following this path along from east to west, gently undulating as it goes takes runners all the way to the western end of the grounds with views of London to the left and views of the palace to the right. I think it was the surroundings that helped take the mind off of the running as there was plenty to keep the eyea occupied.

At the far end, participants turn left once more and pick up the tarmac path which drops you down from the top path back down to the middle one where the start/finish line lies further up ahead. On the first lap, participants turn right and head down again to the southern perimeter of the grounds and pick up the trail path again. On the second lap they continue onwards to the finish.

As it's a long, wide, slightly downwards finish the end straight is rich reward for the efforts in twice taken uphill elements. As mentioned above, I'm generally rubbish at hills but had a determination this week that meant I completed the course without stopping and consider that a massive win.

I came 159th out of a field of 283 participants in a time of 29:41, which on a course like that I'll take all day long! I'm glad Reaso painted a fearsome picture and more importantly, I'm glad I overcame those fears!