Wimbledon Common parkrun

EDIT AS OF APRIL 2025: On 5 April 2025 I re-visited my local event, Wimbledon Common parkrun. This was for a special occasion, event 888. Bearer of pointless digital challenge points for the forbidden Nelson challenge. The event hosted just shy of 800 parkrunners, so significantly more than usual, but not as insane as it could have been. Also, as it happens the event was run on the normal A course and not the alternate as per below. I will add some edits to the original post in Italics, but will refrain from publishing a whole new post.

This week I was just coming out of an annoying seasonal flu, so on Saturday morning I impulsively dropped any parkrun touristing plan and headed to my local event, Wimbledon Common parkrun. Yup, I am lucky enough to live next to this gorgeous green space, which happens to host the second oldest parkrun event in the world! On the day, it was event #811… this has definitely been going on for a while.

Going to my local event felt quite refreshing, after crossing the whole Big Smoke and more to reach the gorgeous Jersey Farm parkrun and get my first J for the parkrun alphabets challenge.

parkrun as a movement started in Bushy park in October 2004, with just a meagre 13 runners. It took a little bit to spread around and the second event only started in 2007 and Wimbledon Common was the first new venue that confirmed this was a viable, well-received, scalable model. 16 years later, the venue is still going strong and the parkrun movement has grown beyond expectations.

Before COVID, average attendance levels had grown consistently above 500/week, so a fairly large field, if not at the level of some of the biggest ones. The post pandemic return seemed to have reset numbers down a bit, with several months hoovering in the mid 300s, but now I am getting the feeling 400+ is again the average. Also bear in mind that this can be fairly seasonal: people who complain about muddy courses elsewhere have probably never braved the Wimbledon Common quicksands… which only take 2/3 days of English rain to fully transform.

As of October 2023, I have completed 122 events, 23 of which at my local venue. I wonder if a 19% ‘home event’ ratio is too low, given the splendid parkrun the local team puts together near my bed every week.

But let’s dive into some more info about Wimbledon Common parkrun.

Trip to Wimbledon Common parkrun and parking

It’s a bit of a weird one if you are not local. Wimbledon is pretty close to central London, but as many places outside of zone 1/2, public transport might be hit and miss, depending on where you are coming from. And to make things more fun, the Common is not exactly around the corner from the tube/train station.

If you are coming from London, Wimbledon Station is very well connected. Extremely frequent and reliable South West trains get you here from Waterloo in less than 15 minutes in addition to the District Line. Or the Northern Line, if you are ok arriving further out from the Common in South Wimbledon.

If you are planning to drive, Wimbledon Common parkrun is very easy to reach via the A3. Which means that if you are coming from further afar, you can also get to it via the M25, which is usually ok early in the morning. However, you will have to go back eventually and both the A3 and the M25 tend to very busy late parkrunday mornings.

Other roads from Wimbledon into central London will most likely also be a mess, so public transport is highly recommended.

The parking near the start area is fairly large and usually not too crowded before 8:45. Marshals are in place to help you find a spot, but honestly, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. I was here for epic event #777 (more than 1,000 parkrunners) and it looked like most people found a spot, even if the queue to get in was horrendous.

Parking here is free, but there is a voluntary donation scheme if you want to contribute to keeping this gorgeous little corner of wildlife in London as welcoming as you found it.

Wimbledon Common parkrun: start and briefings

Once you are in the parking/tearooms area, you can see the meeting area at the end of the first field just to the North. Often, the team will not be there yet at 8:30, but don’t get nervous. They are very fast and efficient and they will be there. You don’t get going for 15 years without consistency and an efficient routine.

Also, don’t go looking for a name banner. I’ve never seen one here and I don’t think they bother with one. I’ve even tried googling it for this post and I have not found one. So, maybe, they never did bother with one, which is weird, but not the end of the world.

Just behind the volunteers foldable tables there are a couple of very large trees. The team will put a couple of waterproof sheets under the trees that will act as bag drop location. It is safe and slightly less wet if it is raining. Still wet though, leaves don’t provide perfect cover, so bear that in mind.

The New Runners briefing happens in the same area, usually a few metres South towards the finish funnel and the stone watering basin. The standard course is pretty simple and every week there is a healthy contingent of tourists joining it. The team is is great, so enjoy a bit of banter with the volunteer of the week.

The main briefing happens by the folding tables and it can get busy here. There is a long history to this event and the core volunteer team is very tight, so there are often some interesting and fun remarks shared with the field. This is not an event that focuses on starting at 9am sharp, so don’t get anxious if things get going a few minutes late. Embrace the chill! It must be a SW-London thing, Richmond Park is the same. 🙂

If you are running the regular route on the day, then you will be walking around 400 metres North from the meeting point to reach the start. On the day of this review, it was B course because the local hornets decided they wanted to used their patios, so it’s a shorter 50 metres walk up a nearby path.

Then it is time to go and enjoy the gorgeous Wimbledon Common parkrun.

Wimbledon Common parkrun course review – star ratings

Wimbledon Common parkrun course review – route highlights

There were 424 parkrunners on the day I visited. I would say this is an average attendance level for Wimbledon Common parkrun. If using the main route, with 4/500 runners, you very rarely feel bunched up or go through choke points, with the exception of the sharp U-turn by the finish area shortly after starting. On my last visits, however, we were running the B-route and things are slightly different. The start is on a narrower path, so the field is squeezed further back and it might take a bit longer to reach the start line itself once timing is already going. Also, most of the alternative paths are narrower, so overtaking can be a bit less easy if you are a middle of the pack runner.

The course is full run on forest trails. Some of the trails on the alternate route had been resurfaced recently, but most of the usual sections are left relatively untended. This means that regardless of the location and lack of elevation gain, this can become a real challenging cross-country ‘trail’ run in winter. Or autumn… or anytime really, since we are in the UK, as long as it rains for more than 2/3 days.

Wimbledon Common parkrun during a wet month is an experience. Forget what you have seen in most other courses that call themselves muddy: this can be something else. Quicksands muddy. Bring-a-snorkel kind of puddles. And they are big too, so if you are not a good swimmers, you might also need to change into your fins to cross them.

I guess it is fair to say that in winter, Wimbledon Common parkrun is equal parts mud run, obstacle run and swim-run duathlon. With a bit of parkrunning sprinkled on the edges. In spring and summer, if it has been dry, you will experience hard ground, roots and dust. In these conditions road shoes are fine, but sticking to trail shoes might be wise if you have sensitive ankles. And, god forbid, do not wear expensive racers here! I did years ago when I was even dumber than today and they died a very sad death.

Elevation-wise, this course is very very flat. There are a few mild inclines, the most notable of which is probably after the North U-turn, but they are really nothing major. Challenges here are from terrain, not elevation. And it can be challenging, definitely not an obvious PB route. The main route is slightly less flat, with 11m of elevation gain over 2 longer laps. But still very flat nonetheless.

The design of the B-course is that of a loop, similar to the main course. You start with one short little loop and then you are quickly back to the start and get going on two large loops, ending by the initial briefing area.

The design of the main route is simpler, without any cat through, but reaching further North up to the border with Putney Heath. Still 2 laps, roughly rectangular. Getting lost is near impossible here!

A quick Relive route plot is on my YouTube Channel, with longer video highlights embedded below.

The description below applies to Wimbledon Common parkrun’s Alternate Route or B-course. The one that is ‘usually’ used when hornets do their thing. Pretty sure I have run a different alternate route here in the past, so I guess there is more than one?

After the briefing, you walk up the smaller path that goes towards Putney and will eventually align with the main road by the East side of the Common. It is a short walk, probably 100 metres. Here you will suddenly stop and wait for everyone to reach you for a narrow start with people patiently lined up.

Once it is time to start, everyone gets going and while the path is not very wide, keeping pace is not a problem. You go straight under trees for a short while until the path widens a bit and you reach the edge of the park. Here you turn left slightly and, for the first mini-lap only, listens to the volunteers telling you to take a sharp left onto a freshly resurfaced path. This is the short straight cutting through the loop you can see above. It has a great, smooth surface and it seems to be draining rain pretty well, because there were no puddles. It also has novelty factor, since you never run this way on the normal course.

At the end, there will be a volunteer sending you sharp left again and you will soon see the briefing area in front of you. At this point, you will run the famous Wimbledon Common parkrun tight U-turn, falling the same steps you have walked before to get to the start. On the traditional course, this comes soon after the mass start and it is usually carnage. On the alternate route it came after 4/500 metres (nearly) at the end of the first mini-loop, so it was only semi-carnage. But it is tight and sharp, so unless you are at the very front it will always be a choke point.

Once you have survived the traffic jam, you will soon get to the start point again and keep going towards the edge of the park again. This time, no sharp left, but only gentle left and then straight, into the long tree-covered straight that is a feature of the usual course as well.

Here the path widens a bit, but Wimbledon Common’s mud and puddles meet you with a sadistic smile. Comparatively speaking, on the day I was there in October, it was pretty good. Only 2 or 3 ‘minor’ puddles you can see on the video below.

About 2/3 of the way through, there is an area next to a small pond where quicksands usually abound. A little cut through under shrubs to the left of a tree and the main path lets you avoid a lot of it. I’ve run both sides of the tree below if you are curious to see the difference; the choice is between the slightly longer diversion of hopping around mud.

Soon after this spot you have reached the end of the Common. You could keep going and, via an underpass, enter Putney Heath and, nearly, reach the Thames all off-road, but that would probably set you back on time a bit. 🙂

This will be where both the usual and the alternate courses turn left to go back towards the Windmill. When you turn (again, small patch of mud as an additional surprise just around the corner) you run a slight decline next to the first of the small ponds you can find in this area of Wimbledon Common. The second one is more scenic, but differently from the normal course, on the alternate you will not reach it. It will soon be time for a left turn that will put you on a different path that will go straight back to the Windmill. While the usual path is under lush woodland with large (and very muddy) paths and plenty of roots to negotiate, this path is on more open terrain/fields, at least in part. It is again, very flat, firm underfood and pleasant but unremarkable.

About 2/3 of the way, you will join the route of the first mini-loop and soon be back at the initial meeting area again. Time to turn back again and run the longer loop once more.

Next time you will get here, it is time to keep going straight for a 100 metres sprint that will get you to the finish funnel. Always very efficient here and on the day I had a lot of fun sprinting with another runner to the end. I won, unusually.

I enjoyed the alternate course and, probably, it is a faster route than the usual one since it is run mostly on easier terrain, if narrower. That said, I do like the traditional route more, the Western side of the big loop is much more scenic and interesting. If the hornets allow parkrunners to see it. 🙂

Congratulations on completing Wimbledon Common parkrun!

Facilities at Wimbledon Common parkrun

Pretty good permanent facilities at this event.

Toilets are open early and they are half way through the car park, by the Tearooms. The male toilets are accessed from the parking area, while female ones are accessible from the Tearooms courtyard.

Neither is very big, so queue may form if you are cutting it close to 9am.

The Tearooms are a great local feature and they offer both sweet and savoury options or also great proper food for lunch if you decide to stick around. Plenty of seating outside and inside for the winter.

As a competitor to the McDonald’s index, I am continuing to collect data for the parkbreakfast index: how much is breakfast at each location?

At Wimbledon Common parkrun, I ordered a single espresso, a diet coke and a slice of orange and mandarin cake. Very good quality. This cost £7.5, which is average to pricey for London standards.

I ordered exactly the same in April 2025 and it cost me £7.75. So, inflation did bite, but not as much as it could have. Probably because it was already relatively expensive to begin with.

Wimbledon Common parkrun: Video Highlights

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 🙂

The other parkrun videos on my YouTube channel are all linked on the course review and video highlights summary page.

Wimbledon Common parkrun, main route

Wimbledon Common parkrun, alternate route

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Achievements and performance

Conclusions

It was nice to be back ‘home’. I am visiting a lot of new venues these days, but this will always be the place where my parkrun adventures started and a consistent stop in my future. It is a great venue, well worth a visit.

I will come back, of course. Probably more often than over the last year.

See you next time, Wimbledon Common parkrun.

And obviously, thank you, Wimbledon Common parkrun team for your hospitality!