parkrun in NorthamptonSaturday at 9,
you know where to find us.
parkrun and NRR go together. Members earn PBs at Northampton parkrun on a Saturday morning and race together in club colours on a Sunday. If you're new to running or new to the area, parkrun is the friendliest way to test the waters — and Northampton Road Runners is right there alongside you when you're ready to do more.
Which parkruns do NRR members do?
The obvious one is Northampton parkrun — every Saturday at 9am at the Racecourse, and the closest event to our Waterside Campus training base. On any given Saturday you'll find 15–30 members in club colours running, walking, pacing friends or volunteering. It's a fast, flat, three-lap course and it's where a lot of NRR members set their 5K PBs.
Beyond Northampton, members regularly tourism-run neighbouring events: Corby (two laps of the country park lake), Rushden Lakes (out-and-back along the Nene), Kettering, Wellingborough, Bedford and Milton Keynes. If you're running one of those and want company, drop a message in the club WhatsApp group — there's usually a car-share going.
The parkrun grading league
One of NRR's most-loved traditions is the parkrun grading league. Instead of ranking members by raw finish time — which would always favour the young and the fast — we rank them by their best age-graded parkrun performance. That's a percentage figure parkrun works out for every finish, comparing your time against the world-record time for someone of your age and gender. A 62-year-old running a 25:00 might grade higher than a 32-year-old running a 19:30.
The trophy is awarded each January and regularly goes to a runner in their sixties or seventies. It's a proper year-round competition, and it's one of the reasons the club has a real culture of masters and veteran runners taking parkrun seriously. Current grading records are logged on our club records page (members only) — every time someone posts a new personal best age-graded run, it's a proud moment in the WhatsApp group.
parkrun takeovers
A few times a year Northampton parkrun invites a local club to take over the volunteering — everything from the Run Director on the day to the marshals, the timekeepers, and the barcode scanners. NRR members love a takeover: it's a chance to give back to the event that hundreds of us have collectively enjoyed thousands of times over the years. Turnout is always huge.
When we're on takeover duty, we ask members to volunteer rather than run — but if you're not a member yet and you happen to turn up that morning, you get the full Northampton Road Runners welcome from the marshals along the way. Come and say hello.
Ready for more than 5K on a Saturday?
Loads of NRR members joined the club because they'd been doing parkrun for a while and wanted to run more, further, or with company midweek. If that's you, the natural next step is a Wednesday club night — 6:45pm from the University of Northampton, Waterside Campus, multiple pace groups from beginner-friendly walk-run through to sub-3:44/km at the front. First Wednesday is free, no commitment, and we'll save you a parking space.
If parkrun is your only run of the week right now, that's genuinely fine — a lot of members started exactly there. Nobody's going to push you to sign up. Come and see if you like the vibe.
See us at Northampton parkrun
Look for the burgundy and gold vests. Then when you're ready to try a Wednesday night, we're right down the road.