Wycombe Rye parkrun
Wycombe Rye parkrun is based in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The main pay-and-display car park was very easy to find with the postcode provided (HP11 1QX, however the car park will very likely be full by 8.45am, at which point your options are the nearby residential streets (free parking) or the other two car parks, all of which are a 5-10 minute walk away. There are toilets at the start, which are free and open before parkrun. There is also a café, however it only seemed to serve drinks and the queue was long and slow-moving after parkrun, so not a great idea to use it if you are in a rush.
The course is essentially an out-and-back, with a small loop at the end. The parkrun starts and ends on a playing field, which I found slightly uninspiring and I was worried it would be a boring course, however it quickly gets a lot more interesting. You run the first half lap of the playing field on grass and the second half lap is on hard path (extremely narrow, so you might want to run on the grass) running alongside the River Wye. You then head off past a boating lake, across The Dyke and into a section of forest. The run takes you through the forest and down into a smaller playing field, of which you run one lap – this is the halfway point. You then head back into the forest, via a large flight of stairs(!), then retrace your steps back to the start. There was a lot of variety in this course and plenty of interesting things to look at. The playing fields at each end of the course are on grass, but everywhere else is hard paths. Most of the course is fairly flat, apart from the loop at the end which goes downhill and then back up via the stairs. There were marshals in key spots, but otherwise the course was very straightforward.
Runner numbers are reasonably large at Wycombe Rye parkrun – usually 400-500 – and as none of the paths are particularly wide and have to accommodate two-way running traffic, there were a few times when it was a little congested, but overall not too bad. This was a varied and enjoyable parkrun with something to interest most people, I would think.
Official Event Page: Wycombe Rye parkrun
Nearby postcode: HP11 1QX or use Wycombe Rye Lido
Hills: Ascent/Descent metres 21.3
Subjective PB potential: 7/10 – largely flat, but does have stairs
Distance Displayed on Suunto Spartan Trainer: 5.14 km
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