Dartford Heath parkrun - event 324

On the 1st January 2026 I ran the Dartford Heath parkrun which was the 324th event held at the venue, my 269th parkrun and the second time I'd visited the event.

As per Christmas Day, it's become a recent tradition to start the new year with a parkrun. I had planned a fairly low-key New Year's Eve and wanted to start 2026 by getting up early and driving over to Bishop's Stortford to tick off Castle Park parkrun. But like the previous time I'd planned to visit the event, my best laid plans were scrapped into the bin on the night before.

Talking with Foordy, Aimee and Reaso on New Year's Eve whilst enjoying a few light beverages they managed to strike a deal. They'd join me at parkrun in the morning providing they didn't need to get up quite so late.

Fair deal all things considered, so a quick review of the 5k app allowed a new plan to be put into place.

I last ran Dartford Heath in 2022 right at the beginning of my parkrun tourism journey. It was when I had lofty ambitions of running all the events in Kent and started with those geographically close to me.

Between Dartford Heath and Shorne Country park there wasn't much to pick between them in terms of meeting the brief from Foordy, Aimee and Reaso. They could get up nice and late at 8am and be there in either place in plenty of time. I chose Dartford Heath on the basis that neither of my three friends had ran there yet, and it would extend my tourist streak. I'd gotten to 101 and wasn't quite in the mood to give it up just yet.

Waking up in the morning to cold fog and ice, I made a bet with myself that at least one person would call me to say that they couldn't make it. I arrived to Aimees house and she popped her head out the door all ready and raring to go. As did Foordy at Chez Foord. Reaso was meeting us there, so the bet was still on.

As it was New Year's Eve, I was expecting it it be busier than my previous visit which had 93 participants. I remembered the carpark as being incredibly small, so did the sensible thing and followed the parking instructions on the course website and parked over the other side of the A2 in Wilmington.

Typically after walking from the car to the car park, there was plenty of room and we could have parked in their quite nicely. But never mind, these things happen and I still standby the sensible approach as we could quote easily have been the last car into the car park and blocking the space for a volunteer.

Enroute to the carpark and start of the event I called Reaso, who didn't answer. I had won my bet! He apologies later by WhatsApp and said that he'd forgotten to set an alarm. Not that we believed him, but he did say that he'd laid out all his running clothes, just forgot to tell his watch about it!

Dartford Heath parkrun takes place, as the name suggests on heathland. It's one of those 'natural' parkruns where there are no toilet facilities, no cafe facilities. Just a patch of land with a course laid out upon it.

I'm possibly not doing the event much justice, but it certainly is better than my woeful description suggests. With a low sun and frozen ground their was a definite winter feel in the air. There was also that new year's feeling which always exists on a new year's day parkrun morning and you might think me mad for suggesting it.

The course meets and finishes by the carpark and takes place across two laps of the heath in a clockwise direction. The laps are not identical with the first one being slightly shorter, or the second one whichever your perspective. But the start is a couple of minutes walk from the meeting point and the run director leads the way one the pre-run formalities have taken place.

Unlike Maidstone River Park where I ran twice on two different versions of the course, Dartford Heath remained exactly the same on both visits. Starting off with a dog-leg style out and back through the woods before circumnavigating the heath back around to the finish for the first lap.

The number of times I had driven up the A2 without knowing that the heath existed here before parkrun. Especially all the times I'd been to Crayford whilst Steph was working there and it was just sat there at the side of the road waiting to be enjoyed.

As the ground was frozen, conditions underfoot were better than my first visit. The section through the woods was muddy on my first visit, but no such worries on my second. The rest of the course is made up of mixed terrain with bits on grass, concrete, tarmac and cinder based paths. The worst part in on the finish straight which is full of pot holes of different depths. When they are full of water, or ice on this occasion you can't quite see how deep they are. One foot in the wrong one and you can be up to your ankle in mud so my advice is to take the scenic route and slalom your way around the. Not quick sprint finishes here!

I finished in 143rd place out of a field of 211 participants in a time of 31:55. This was over two minutes slower than my previous effort, which was to be expected after still suffering the effects of a winter cough/chest virus.

More notably and far more impressively is that the 211 participants who took part that morning achieved the highest ever attendance at the venue. New Year's Day is always a popular day for parkrun and even more so when the limited number of events are actively taking part.

It was a perfect start to a new year of parkrun adventures with plenty more to look forward as the year progresses I am sure!