Ingrebourne Hill parkrun - event 59

On the 7th March 2026 I ran the Ingrebourne Hill parkrun which was the 59th event held at the venue, my 279th parkrun and 192nd different course I'd attended.

The world of parkrun is forever shifting and changing, new events cropping up whilst others close. In the past few months new events have popped up in Essex, Kent and Greater London which has impacted my ability to 'complete the set'.

I had carefully planned the last Greater London venue and tied it in with the first available gap in my Wilson Index, number 59. Meaning a wait of over a year before I could visit and mark the event as done. Of course they are my own rules and nobody else's so I don't have to stick to this methodology, but it works for me and I quite like it. Waiting is all part of the fun!

However, as I worked my way around our great capital with the goal of making Ingrebourne Hill the 64th stop of 64 parkrun venues in Greater London a new one popped up! Greenwich Peninsula parkrun started on the 29th November 2025 and became the 65th venue in the region. In fact, for a while it was the 66th, until nearby Victoria Dock closed, bringing the total back down again.

It feels a bit odd associating Ingrebourne Hill part of London as it very much doesn't feel part of the capital at all. Situated just to the west of the M25 on the other side of the tunnel it feels very much part of Essex and indeed, Rainham was part of the historical county of Essex until 1965 when it, along with other towns around the perimeter of London got absorbed into the wider Greater London authority.

Surrounded by marshland there isn't much around the venue, and has a small parking facility which fills up quickly. I was joined once again by Foordy and Mark and parked at a nearby Tesco which allowed for three hours of free parking and meant a 5 or so minute walk to the start. Mark moaned and grumbled the whole way, convinced we could have found a closer parking space and we probably could have done on a neighbouring residential street.

Ingrebourne Hill parkrun is another of those parkrun venues which doesn't give much away. Like Panshanger a few weeks ago. We entered into the park from the main road and immediately stumbled upon the start. The rest of the course was pretty much in the other direction from where we arrived so the first we would see of it would be as we were running.

From the start, the course consists of three laps. One lap of a kilometer which runs up to the top of Ingrebourne Hill itself and zig-zags downwards the other side before looping back around to the start line. Continuing on into the park the second and third laps are 2x 2km routes of the park.

Whilst the first lap does contain a hill, it's taken at the beginning of the event when the energy is at its highest and felt quite straightforward enough to tackle. On clearer days you'd have great views west into London, but it was a real pea souper of a morning and so visibility was limited.

The last two laps, all taken on gravel paths were virtually flat and looped around in a wide 2km circle that weaved it's way through the country park.

After the second lap is completed participants run the short stretch back down to the start line, but in the reverse direction in which you come.

I finished in 54th place out of a field of 95 participants in a time of 30:32.

Having Mark and Foordy as companions gave me an opportunity to validate my opinions of the course. We were all pretty much aligned in praising Ingrebourne Hill as a very decent parkrun venue. Small numbers, big community spirit and a generally flat course with a nice fun sequence at the start.

Now for the long wait for Greenwich Peninsula and my Wilson Index to align so I can finally complete the LonDone region, although I fully expect a few more events to have cropped up by then!