South Oxhey parkrun
This week we’re off to Watford, to the South Oxhey Playing Fields. Plenty of parking is available in the Pavilion Pub, off Green Lane (post code WD19 4LT) and the start line is a 30 second walk away. There is a disabled toilet between the car park and the start line and this should be unlocked by the Run Director around 8.30am. There’s no café and the pub won’t be open in time, so take your own refreshments if you need them.
South Oxhey is a straightforward three-lap course and only has two or three marshals to stop runners heading off too far into the fields. The whole course is on grass, though the course page says that some sections have the option of a paved pathway – but we couldn’t see that in the snow. We were advised beforehand by a volunteer that there was “a hill”, but actually it’s more like a long, upwards incline. This was fairly hard work as it went on for quite a while, but the downhill on the return journey makes up for it. Watch out for molehills – there were loads and it would be easy to trip on one. Because you’re running around playing fields, there is plenty of space for all the runners, in spite of there being three laps.
This was a beautiful course in the snow, but probably wouldn’t look quite so special without it. Numbers are always strangely low at South Oxhey – they’ve only exceeded 100 runners twice. I can’t understand why that is, but it’s great news for parkrunners that prefer a less busy course. We found the runners and volunteers to be very friendly and the straightforward course makes it a great one for newcomers, as there’s no chance of taking a wrong turn.
Official Event Page: South Oxhey parkrun
Nearby postcode: WD19 4LT
Hills (as logged by Suunto Spartan Trainer): Ascent 14m / Descent 7m
Subjective PB potential: 5/10 – cross country, slightly hilly
Distance Displayed on Suunto Spartan Trainer: 5.08 km
Difficulty ranking below
parkrun : Hardest & Easiest Courses in UK | course difficulty
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