- Location: Ifield, Crawley – RH11 8RA
- Terrain: All tarmac, no grass. A few puddles, but pretty even
- Elevation: 12m. Flat
- Parking: Available within 10 mins walk, no charge
- Facilities: Neither cafe nor toilets in the park
- Attendance: Smallish, <200 runners
- Last visited on: 15 Apr 2023
- Number of visits: 1
- PB: 29:26
When I planned my parkrun future few months in January, I followed a few simple criteria: explore new venues, catch the odd Nelson/Fibonacci run if available, work towards a slot completion of all venues within the M25 and Ifield Mill Pond parkrun has been set for today for a long time.
The challenges were usually the only reason why I would push away from London to explore before the weather got much better and today it was Nelson 111 in a Crawley location that looked quite interesting, so, why not? I only knew the area from trips to Gatwick and other local thought associations were not exactly the greatest, so why not reset them with a trip to a nice park with a lake and a pretty unusual parkrun?
The trip to Ifield Mill Pond parkrun is about 45 minutes by car from where I live between parkrundays, so plenty of time for a nice relaxed breakfast basking it the wonderful grey clouds that have been filling our days for more than a month now… cool, the light for pics and videos will be crap, but at least it is not raining!
Finding the suggested parking location 5 mins walk from the start is not difficult and, while it is not huge, I had no problems finding a spot for my car even arriving at 8:40. Plenty of people clearly going where I was going were parking at the same time, so follow the herd and you easily reach the start.
The start was unusual: even with 15 minutes to spare, everybody was diligently lined up at the start in a fairly civilised queue… why? I am certainly going to have a walk around while I wait… and then i discover why: the path is hard tarmac, but the grassy area around was muddy quicksands. I should remember, never think you are smarter than the crowd 🙂
Volunteers were aware of the ‘Nelson’ run and welcomed the many tourists which apparently increased attendance by a good 30/40% versus the usual numbers. This might have impacted the congestion I have experienced on the course later on, but the experience was still very pleasant and no jams at the finish funnel like the ones seen at my local for event 777 earlier this year.
Location
Parking
Facilities
Hills (lower is easier)
Terrain (lower is easier)
The Ifield Mill Pond parkrun course is interesting: you won’t get lost, but it feels very unusual with its 2.5 laps with plenty of single file out and back and two abrupt U-turns. It has the surface and elevation for a PB, but you are unlikely to get one here!
You start on a 2m wide path that gets narrower as you and run on a long straight until the first U-turn. If you are not one of the super-humans at the front, about half way through the straight you will start running shoulder to shoulder with the guys coming back already, which makes overtaking nearly impossible for the first 1K, before the field starts thinning out a bit.
2/3 of the way back from the first turn you then go right, cross a little bridge and run around a field that borders with the pond on two sides. Then right, back to the start, rinse and repeat.
On the ‘third’ lap, you skip the field triangle and go back straight home for your well deserved glory funnel.
No cafe nearby, the team suggests going to a cafe in a nearby Garden Centre, but I did not check it out. A short walk around the pond for some views and then back home as planned.
Guinea Pig Train on YT - watch it if you ran here :)
As usual, I’ve taken a few video snippets during the run to give an idea of the course. If you like it, please subscribe, it’s a fun past time for me 🙂
Event 111 as said, so Nelson was the draw of the day. A lot of tourists joined the event, with plenty of Cow Cowls in sight (mine is arriving!). Numbers were still relatively manageable, but this course could not cope with much larger attendance levels.
Finish time around 29, so still very much in a rut… it will get better eventually. I started well, keeping a decent pace then my breath broke around 3K.
A few juicy new achievements today:
- Nelson 111, now 5/8
- Alphabeteer, I got the I!!!! Now 19/25
- Date Bingo, now at 27%
- An I for Old MacDonald, now 2/5
- South East region, 10/113
I enjoyed the unusual ‘busy’ traffic and the location is pleasant, with a friendly and enthusiastic team. Thank you to all volunteers!
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