Tilgate parkrun

One more trip away from London today, marking my first visit to Tilgate parkrun. We have not seen any spring or summer this year, but at least is slightly less wet and muddy, so I continue with my tradition of trying to visit at least 2 out of town venues a month during these months. Last week I went to Lloyd parkrun, so this was the right week for a countryside escapade.

My visit to Tilgate also completes the Crawley triad, after having also been at the great Ifield Mill Pond parkrun and Wakehurst parkrun since starting this blog. This corner of West Sussex is truly blessed with great parkrun events: each one of them is unique and definitely worth a visit. Crawley crossed my life for non-parkrun reasons in the past: it ended up not featuring in my present as it could have, but it left an enduring sign. And it definitely confirms its special status with its 3 parkruns.

Tilgate Park sits at the Southern edges of Crawley and its green footprint spreads well beyond the area where parkrun happens. It also hosts plenty of areas of interest to fill a whole day if you have time. Things like Go Ape, an animal centre, a themed restaurant and watersport facilities.

It is a busy event and I am sure it must have been even busier before new venues popped up. For this reason, it features something that I have not seen at any other event: a split start. People can choose to start at the bottom or at the top of a hill, with both paths running parallel and converging after approximately 300 metres. It looks pretty cool.

Anyway, enough with my rumblings. It’s time to dive into some more info about Tilgate parkrun!

Trip to Tilgate parkrun and parking

Sitting just at the fringes of Crawley, Tilgate parkrun can benefit from good motorway connections, but public transport options seem more difficult to find.

The official course page does not help when it comes to finding public transport options. Using the ever helpful Citymapper app, all I can find are routes with multiple changes and taking around 2hrs. This is leaving from Wimbledon, and it seems the best way to get there for me would be to take the tram to Croydon, then a train to Gatwick Airport, then a bus and, finally 20 minutes walk. Seems a bit too cumbersome, but maybe it is because of where I would be leaving from? An alternative, seems to be to go straight to Gatwick from London Victoria station, then catch a Southern train to Crawley station. From there, it will then be a 30 minutes walk.

Unsurprisingly, I drove there. And while not exactly the best thing for the environment, this is way easier. If you are using the motorways network, this will likely involve getting to the M25, connecting onto the M23 and exiting to the South of Crawley. Then it is a very short drive on relatively clear roads to Tilgate Park. The postcode suggested on the the official event page will bring you to the Main car park, but when you reach the park, you will find signs pointing at the Fisherman’s Car Park for parkrun users. Both car parks are about 5 minutes walk from the meeting point. The main car park offers toilet facilities and a downhill walk to the meeting point, while the recommended car park requires a nice walk along the like, but no toilets. The Fisherman’s car park is free until 11am. The event page says the main car park is only free until 9am, but I’ve read in other reports that both follow the same schedule. I have not checked.

Either way, you will be close to the start. Enjoy a nice walk to the start and start taking in the beautiful views.

Tilgate parkrun: start and briefings

You will see the location of the meeting point quite easily from afar. If you parked at the main car park, pass by the Smith & Western themed restaurant and from its back, start walking down the hill. Head towards the lake and its boat house. From the Fisherman’s car park, walk up the stairs to crest and see the lake. Then watch to your right and you will see the boat house: walk along the like towards it to join parkrunday preparations.

Toilets only seem to be at the Main car park, so if it you know you will need them, go there.

The meeting point is a reflection of the unusual split start situation. The funnel is arranged in a (moderately sadistic) steep incline between the lower and the higher starting points. Volunteers seem to set up their tables roughly 2/3 of the way up and people wander around at either end of the climb.

Both briefings happen at the lower end, with a loudspeaker system for the Main Briefing. The First Timers Briefing is particularly helpful suggesting who should go up, which is mostly people trying not to ‘waste’ time on their mission to a PB. More about congestion below. The Main Briefing is then held relatively quickly and I have to admit regardless of the loudspeak (or maybe because of it), understanding what was being said was quite difficult. People are already lined up along the start line when this is held.

Then, without any need to move elsewhere, you hear the countdown. 3, 2, 1.

Time to go!

Tilgate parkrun course review – star ratings

Tilgate parkrun course review – route highlights

There were 433 parkrunners on the day I visited. This seems to be, just slightly, on the lower end of attendance levels for this venue, so my personal views on congestion might be slightly skewed on the positive. Numbers close to or around 500 feature very often in recent event history, with several instances above 550 and even 600. I suspect the opening of Wakerush parkrun might have eased the load on this event a bit, but it seems to still be a consistently well attended parkrun. I think the event can handle these numbers quite well. There are a few bottlenecks, but it is, essentially, a 1-lap (ish) route, so the field spreads out quite fast.

The start is busy, even with the split start feature. It is not comparable to the worst ones (Fulham Palace, always thinking about you here), but you will have to wiggle around a bit during the further 100 metres. The next busy spot is where the two groups merge, after about 400 metres. It is not very disruptive, but it you can see the number of people increases significantly. Afterwards, the path is not excessively narrow, but you will probably start enjoying the benefits of thinning only 2/3 of the way through the first loop around the lake, especially if you are around the middle of the field. One more areas where there could be need to slow down is just before the themed restaurant. To avoid a short set of stairs, they direct people to a double ramped wheelchair incline. Clearly, this is narrow and it has a tight 360-degrees corner. It is probably far enough into the run not to see the full herd at the same time, but it might be slow for large groups.

Surface-wise, it’s mostly tarmac. It is well maintained and never slippery. A short section of the ‘forest’ bit is run on hard path, but it was level and dry on the day I visited, so running in road shoes was never a problem. I suspect mud can feature in winter, but it’s not a long section. I heard the lake might breach onto the path during peak rain months and sometimes the event has to be cancelled because of it. Having experience the pleasure of running ‘inside the Thames’ at the Henley River 10K, I very agree with the decision to cancel if and when that happens.

Elevation-wise, at 51m elevation gain, I would described Tilgate parkrun as undulating. There are several short inclines, with one major ‘hill’ in the forest section. It is not very steep, but it is fairly long, with a couple of ‘false peaks’. I definitely lost time on that hill, but probably more than made up for it on the subsequent long downhill on a great paved tarmac path.

In terms of course design, I’ve seen people describing it as a figure 8. I see how that could be, but that’s a very weird looking 8. You start with a segment around the lake, then divert up the hill for one loop in the forest and then, when you come back to the meeting point area you have to run around the lake once more to get home. It works: there are a lot of twists and turns especially in the forest section and I would never be able to run it without getting lost without volunteers, but there are a lot of marshals spread around the loops.

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

Once it is time to go, a good portion of the group picked the most convenient starting location and I was one of them. Never underestimate human’s tendency to go for the easiest option. This also means that the lakeside start will be the busiest one. You get going pretty well, without forced walking, but you are moving slowly and have to negotiate your way around slower runners. At first, you need to go around the back of the boathouse then back to the lakeside path for a short straight, before turning right to run the open terrain path at the Norther end of the lake. Here our group was running by the lake, while the other starting pen was running parallel to us, 1m higher up the flood barrier mount. It made for pretty nice and unusual visuals, I am sorry I did not stop to take a picture… but stopping to take a picture that early in the run was difficult for me too.

At the end of this straight, both groups converge on a ramp going up towards the Lakeside Cafe. It is not long, so it’s not going to break your stride just yet. Once up, you need to go around a little bump: left for a few metres, then right and sharp down to reach the lakeside path again after a sharp left turn. Again, it is more fun than painful at this stage, especially if you are not stuck in a very busy part of the field. After this little detour, it is time to follow the lake South. This section is relatively flat. You see the lake to your right through vegetation, but you are not really running with an open view of it. Soon, a mild bend to the left, brings you across a small wooden raised bridge which will be followed by another similar bridge after a short while. A short forest section with a small incline starts after the second bridge, until you have to take a sharp right turn onto the tarmac edge of the other small lake that sits South of the larger lake. Now you are running straight on the side of this smaller lake, with nice open view of it.

Once you get to the other side, a sharp right will lead you to a short flat section under trees that moves slightly away from the lake. Soon, you will meet a volunteer pointing everyone towards the left path. This is the centre of the 8, or where you start your detour away from the lake. And the area away from the lake is on higher grounds. You have been warned.

It is a nice mix of landscape lawns and woodland, that starts with a wide, gentle bend left, before a sharp right turn putting everyone on a beautiful straight with gorgeous mature trees on the left. The section before this straight start with a mild uphill, which increases in gradient just before that turn. Once you are up, enjoy the views and get your breath back, sliding towards the back of the Smith & Western restaurant. You will then run around it and negotiate a tight ramp to avoid a few steps. Up the ramp, continue running on the side of the restaurant and turn left at its corner to cross by its front into the Main car park area. This is on a light downhill and the change in scenery is cool: the restaurant looks interesting.

Once you reach the car park, you have to cross the service road to get on the pedestrian path on the other side of it. Marshals are around in case cars want to disrupt the herd. No cars were spotted while I was going through that section. You then walk on a mild downhill by the side of this road for a couple 100 metres and at the end cross it again turning sharp left and going through some wooden gates. This is the entry of a small section on hard path inside the more mature part of the forest. Nice shade if it’s a sunny day, I suppose. It definitely wasn’t when I visited, but it is just the end of June, right? Midsummer week, apparently. lol

Fairly soon, it’s time to turn left and start running along a fence. Running, if you can, because this is a steep hill and it is not short. It keeps going through a few false peaks, just to add some more fun to it, but eventually you will reach the top and join well maintained tarmac path again. Run around two sides of a walled garden on flat level, then turn left and the descent starts. This is probably longer than the uphill and it’s a lot of fun. The paths are great and I think I recovered most of the time I lost on the uphill here. At the bottom, a short flat and then you will reach the lake loop again. Nice to see the speed demons coming in the opposite direction and merging into one path again. A little bit more and you will reach the centre of the 8, where you turned towards the hills before. Unless you are a masochist, you will listen to the volunteer pointing you towards the lake and not brave the hills again.

A brief slightly downhill straight will get you on the lakeside path where you will take a left and run 100m to reach the boat house. The temptation to turn left and get through the finish funnel is high, but I was a good boy and kept going for one last loop around the lake. This is the same kind of sadistic course design I experience at Hackney Marshes parkrun a couple of weeks ago. I imagine the course designers sitting comfortably somewhere where they can see parkrunners’ faces at this kind of junctions. With a tight smile on their satisfied faces.

At the end of the second lap, you can finally turn tight left and see the finish funnel 50 metres in front of you. Do you remember I said the funnel was on an incline? Well, it is not at the bottom of the incline, so you need to run up to it, which is wonderful after 5K. Evil course designer, I commend you, this is one fairly unique nugget for your evil pleasure. Once through, walk UP the funnel to reach the tokens at the top. Can never have enough of a good climb, after all!

Congratulations on completing Tilgate parkrun!

Facilities at Tilgate parkrun

Tilgate Park is fairly large, with a lot of things going on in different areas of it. However, the main hub seems to be around the main car park, which is within easy reach of the themed restaurant, Go Ape and the children playing area and the animal enclosure.

Toilets are available near the main car park and they seem to open early. They are single stalls, so I am pretty sure there will be queues at peak times.

The Smith & Western restaurant offers a cafe window for after the run and I also saw an ice cream truck by the main car park. Next to the Fisherman’s car park, there is also a small cafe which is probably more convenient if you have parked there. It does not offer much (if anything) in terms of breakfast pastries, but it does offer nice cooked options.

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 Tilgate parkrun, I ordered a single espresso, a diet Coke and a bacon bap. This cost £5.8, which is quite honest.

Tilgate 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.

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Achievements and performance

Conclusions

I really enjoyed Tilgate parkrun. It is a beautiful park, offering a lot of different landscapes and a substantial lake dominating it. As a run, it is a lot of fun and the volunteers are incredibly welcoming and supporting throughout. It can be moderately challenging, but it is rewarding and the long, easy downhill after the main hill is truly a godsend.

It is not exactly around the corner for me, but I wouldn’t rule out coming back one day. The Crawley area is definitely blessed with 3 great events.

Finally, obviously, thank you, Tilgate parkrun team for your hospitality!