parkrun tourism: Kilkenny Lane Country parkrun

My husband and I recently did some parkrun tourism at Kilkenny Lane Country parkrun in Carterton, Oxforshire. Kilkenny Lane Country parkrun is a fairly new one, which started in October 2025.

It was a last minute decision to go. We chose it because it was my NENDY (nearest event not done yet) and dog friendly. We’d looked at several other parkruns before that, but every one we wanted to do wasn’t dog friendly. We rarely take Hetty to our home parkrun, but usually take her when we do tourism, because otherwise we would be out of the house for too long.

Kilkenny Lane Country parkrun takes place entirely within Kilkenny Lane Country Park. We followed satnav to the park and it sent us down a very narrow no-through road. We could see the park (and even the parkrun signage) through the hedge, but couldn’t get to it. So we had to turn round and try again! This time, we drove where we were supposed to drive – through a housing estate. The park was signposted with brown signs and there was a surprising number of turns before we eventually arrived. There was a car park, but we didn’t see it at first and  ended up parking in the road just before it – and just before the sign which said ‘No parking for parkrun’! This is why we always aim to arrive at new parkruns at 8:30. It gives us chance to get lost or accidentally park too far away.

There was a block of four toilets in the car park and a queue. In the queue, we bumped into my old age group rival/ friend from my home parkrun, back in the 40-44 and 45-49 days. We’d read that the toilets cost money (20p, cash only), but nobody was paying. I suspect someone at the front had paid and kept passing the open door on. Of the four toilets, only two were working. Someone tried putting 20p in the door of one of the others, but it didn’t work. There was no soap in the toilet, which wasn’t good.

Luckily, the start line is very close to the toilets, as I got out at 8:54. Needless to say, we’d completely missed the first timers’ briefing. The briefing takes place in what looks like a very nice, large children’s play area. Dogs aren’t allowed in the play area, so nobody with a dog is able to attend the briefing. My husband stayed with Hetty and I listened to the briefing. The only thing I needed to hear that was different from any other briefing is that it’s a keep left, overtake on the right course – the opposite to our home parkrun.

I lined up about a quarter of the way back in the pack and my husband lined up further back, as he was under strict instructions from our running coach to run slowly. And we were off! It turned out that a quarter of the way back wasn’t the right position for me and I immediately overtook a lot of people.

Kilkenny Lane Country parkrun is a flat, two-lap course around the country park. It is run on a mixture of trail paths, including gravel and hardened mud. There is no tarmac and parts of the course are quite narrow. I suspect that, when the weather has been wetter and cooler, parts of the course would be muddy. Runners would possibly also be running on grass, but grass when we ran it was all just dead, after weeks and weeks with no rain.

The course is scenic, but the scenery doesn’t really change and the only landmarks are the cones and signs marking the parkrun course! There was only two marshals out on the course, but there were a lot of arrows, so it was impossible to go wrong.

I pulled away from my old rival early on and her daughter overtook me immediately. At the start of the second lap, my old rival overtook me, then we both overtook her daughter. I didn’t manage to catch my rival and her daughter didn’t manage to overtake either of us.

It was pretty hot and my legs were still feeling tired from a tough speed training session only 36 hours earlier, but I gave it my best! I finished in 23:111 – 15 seconds behind my rival. I was fourth female, but not even first in my age category! (I did slightly beat my old friend on age grading though.)

Kilkenny Lane Country parkrun isn’t the best parkrun I’ve ever been to, but if you’re looking for a flat course and you’re in the area, it’s worth a visit.

Parkrun tourism is when you run at a parkrun other than your regular (‘home’) parkrun. Some people do it every week. Some people never do it. We mainly do it when we are on holiday or need to be somewhere other than our local park at 9am on a Saturday. But we also like to go somewhere different just for fun every now and then. Some people do challenges with their parkrun tourism, which are on the parkrun app. These don’t interest me, but my friend Joy aka Pink Oddy is a fan.