Skip to main content

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.

The front of Ally Pally from the road

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 and studios for many years.

The broadcast aerial situated on the eastern corner of the palace

The palace overlooks Alexandra Park, which is a tree-lined open space with views overlooking most of London.

View of London from Ally Pally

In addition to the views of London, the park offers impressive views of Ally Pally itself.

Alexandra Palace as seen from the park

The course

Runners begin along a central path, and complete two laps of the main paths around the park, before returning to the start area along the same central path. The course is a mixture of tarmac and trail, so can become muddy in wetter weather, and the course takes runners up and down the hillside upon which the palace sits on each lap.

Limited paid parking is available in the palace car park, however, this is also currently the location of a testing facility, and so access may be limited. No public toilets are available in the vicinity of the park, however, lots of cafes are available in the surrounding area which offer use of their facilities to customers.

The run

After the lumpy Wendover Woods last week, knowing that the course this week was another lumpy one, I decided that I would pace the run much more evenly this week. The surface was an interesting mixture of tarmac, trail, gravel and dirt, and when combined with the changeable weather this morning, it seemed like there was going to be nothing constant about the day.

Fortunately for me, I did manage to find a group of people who were running at a fairly consistent pace (I assume faster runners who were having an easy day), and so I did manage to run the course in one of my more even splits so far!

Thanks to the volunteers for hosting such a seamless event!

Links: Results | Strava

References: Alexandra Palace

Labels:
Location: Alexandra Park & Palace, Alexandra Palace Way, London N22 7AY, UK

Popular posts from this blog

Coldham's Common parkrun

As my recovery from injury is still underway, I decided that I would attend a flat course this week to avoid any potential for reaggrevation. Unfortunately this means I will need to pause my completion of the Essex events, as the remaining courses are all somewhat lumpy. Having visited all of the other Cambridge parkruns, including Storeys Field parkrun, Fulbourn Hospital parkrun, and Cambridge parkrun knowing that they are all relatively flat, I decided that this week I would complete the Cambridge set. The area Coldham's Common has a long history, serving as both a hospital during the 17th century smallpox outbreak, and a quarry during the 19th century, as well as a rifle range also during the 19th century. The course The route follows two laps of the perimeter of the common through an hour-glass shape, connecting two fields through a five-bar-gate. The course is all on grass, and is all flat. Limited parking is available nearby, while toilets are available in...
Read more

Delamere parkrun

Being the festive season, I decided to pause my exploration of the East of England in favour of visiting events closer to family in Liverpool. While there are a number of events closer to Liverpool, I decided to visit Delamere parkrun, being somewhere I hadn't explored when living in the area previously. The area Delamere forest is all that remains of a much larger forest in the area. The forest spent some time as a Royal hunting forest, before being handed to Forestry England. The course The course follows a single lap of a lollipop route, through forests, and around the Blakemere Moss lake, starting and finishing near the visitor centre. The visitor centre includes paid parking, toilets, and a cafe, while free parking is also available in some of the other forest car parks, though they are further from the start line providing a great opportunity for a warm up! The route is all on a mixture of gravel and trail, and is mostly flat except for one short but steep incl...
Read more

Brentwood parkrun

This week I decided to return to making more progress towards completing all events in Essex by visiting Brentwood. The area While the modern town of Brentwood is a popular commuter town, being served by the Elizabeth line, it is also where the first events of the Peasants Revolt took place. Locals refused to pay a poll tax imposed on them, and instead rioted, threatening to kill the commissioner trying to collect the tax. Word of these riots spread to the wider country, initiating the wider revolt, including at Littleport , Billericay and North Walsham . The town is surrounded by countryside, and in the west lies Weald Park; the remains of a former country estate. The park was originally considered as a possible location for the mountain biking course during the 2012 Olympics, before the committee ultimately decided that Hadleigh would prove a more challenging course. The course Owing to the wet weather, today's run followed an alternative route nicknamed "The B...
Read more