Nonsuch parkrun

This week, I unexpectedly returned to Nonsuch parkrun for the fifth time. Nonsuch park is a very beautiful green space with green facilities less than 10K from where I live, so I used to come here often in the past. It was even part of my Sunday long run routes when I was in better shape. Ah, the 25 minutes parkrun days. Just a couple of years ago, but it feels so far away. Will it ever come back?

I really like this venue, but it was not where I planned to go this parkrunday. My choice was between Leavesden Country or East Grinstead, but I woke up late. Yeah, it happens. So here we are, back to one of my old locals. Similarly to Old Deer Park last week. South West London is blessed with wonderful green spaces and in my humble opinion, Nonsuch parkrun is among the best to host a parkrun. The others I would definitely recommend are Richmond parkrun, Wimbledon parkrun and the new baby, Morden parkrun.

One quirk of this location: it is London but it isn’t in London. While Nonsuch Park is largely in Sutton, Greater London, it is not part of the list of venues that qualify for LonDone status, but only LonDone+ status. I guess the start or most of the route might be outside of Greater London boundaries, most likely. That said, I like opting for a more controversial answer: the parkrun challenges gods have finally settled one fundamental question – Sutton is in Surrey.

The next couple of weeks I will be off to ‘exotic’ parkrun locations abroad, so this short hyper-local bout of tourism will be interrupted. Keep following to see where that will be.

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

Trip to Nonsuch parkrun and parking

Nonsuch parkrun starts next to Nonsuch Park’s Mansion House. This is close to the site of the now lost Nonsuch Palace, which was commissioned by Henry VIII. This is Sutton, one of the few London Boroughs that are still totally and completely neglected by the Tube. There are trams going through it, but they are not going to help much getting here.

The closest station is Cheam station, 1Km from the start. It is served by Southern, with relatively frequent links to London Victoria and Epsom. Once you get to Cheam station, walk up to Cheam Village and then turn right to reach the Ewell Road entrance to the park. About 20 minutes walk and, if you go back the same way, Cheam Village is an interesting spot for lunch stroll.

If you are driving, according to the official event page, there are three free car parks in Nonsuch Park. All about half a mile walk from Nonsuch parkrun meeting point. The park is sandwiched between London Road/A24 and the A217, both coming straight from Morden. I always park at the Ewell Road car park – postcode above. There is a car park very close to the start, but it is dedicated to guests of the Mansion House. The team asks parkrunners not to park there – while I’ve seen several people doing it anyway, we really shouldn’t. It’s not a long walk from the other options.

Parking is free and there is plenty of room to support the large volume of parkrunners coming to this location every week. Just make sure you come with 10 minutes to spare to reach the meeting point in time.

Nonsuch parkrun: start and briefings

If you are coming from the Ewell Road entrance or car park, just cross the road and enter the big field on the other side. Unless it’s winter and it is a mud fest, then use the road and accept it’s gonna take a couple of minutes longer. Head for the cluster of building on the opposite side of the field to the left, that’s the Mansion House. Once you reach it, walk along its side all the way to the end and turn left.

Soon the road will open on your left to the back of the Mansion House: that’s where cafe and toilets are. If you don’t need the facilities, keep walking for a couple more minutes and you will reach the meeting point. It’s in the middle of the field by a big, dead tree. It’s a busy locations and volunteers often pitch a tent, so it’s hard to miss. A couple of times I have not found anyone there though. After a few minutes of panic, I kept walking towards the actual start line and found everyone meeting next to it. I guess sometimes they move a bit. No panic, you are going to be roughly in the right place and, worse come worse, around 8:45 there will be a torrent of people heading towards the right place.

On the day of my last visit, things appeared to be a bit random. The First Timers briefing was called, but it was not clear where it was and I saw only a handful of people chatting with a volunteer in turns. Doubt they were the only first timers or tourists out of more than 700 people.

Just before 9am, everybody starts walking towards the actual start. This is about 200m further towards the centre of the park. Everybody walks along the path or on grass, passing a couple of tree copses and then stop next to the old permanent plaque celebrating Nonsuch parkrun 5th birthday. Place yourself according to pace expectations, because this will be busy.

The Main Briefing happens by the start line. Speakers were not very effective and I managed to hear very little of what was said.

Once this is done, you will probably have 30 seconds to position yourself better if needed. Then the party will start officially.

Finally, it comes: it is the countdown. 3, 2, 1.

Time to go!

Nonsuch parkrun course review – star ratings

Nonsuch parkrun course review – route highlights

There were 731 parkrunners on the day I visited. Nonsuch parkrun is consistently among the top 10 busiest events in the uk according to the ElliotLine weekly stats tracker. The average over the last few months seem to be around 700, with a range going from 560 to 836. Regardless of the very high numbers, the event rarely feels too crowded, besides the busy start. Most of the paths are wide and the grass crossings allow people to spread out. I am sure Nonsuch parkrun could cope with a random spike on a special event, but this is probably where it should level off to keep it enjoyable.

The course alternates wide paths to open fields and, out of the tree-covered areas, the paths often have easy edges people can run on anyway. There are no bottlenecks along the route, with the exception of one bin that is clearly signposted and guarded by a marshal. The only issue is at the start, when everyone bunches up on the same spot, but compared to similarly busy events, this one seems to flow very nicely.

Surface-wise, it is the definition of mixed. It starts on a good, well maintained tarmac path, but that does not last for long. Soon it transitions to hard path under the trees. No big tree roots like at Wimbledon Common, but a few stones here and there. It can be fast if you mind your step. Then it transitions into a grassy hard path with runnable edges. Towards the end of the lap, there is a section on actual grass leading back to the short paved segment. It is fairly easy to run on and quite pleasant. In winter it can get muddy and slippery, but in summer road shoes are perfectly fine.

Elevation-wise, at 22m elevation gain over 1.5 laps, this definitely qualifies as flat. There are a few segments where you can feel you are running on a light incline, but it never really affects your effort. During my good fitness days I got fairly close to my all-time parkrun PB here. And that was achieved at Burgess, which is flatter than a pancake and on perfect tarmac.

In terms of course design, it was fairly weird this time. It is 1.5 laps with a funny design. Your run one large loop and 2/3 in you pass by the finish funnel, but leave it on your right and keep going. Then you go through a detour before connecting back to the main loop. The second time you only go back to the finish funnel, skipping the detour. Start and end are probably 200m away from each other as the crow flies (if it doesn’t get distracted), but roughly 1K away from each other following the route. Interesting.

Now, maybe I am having a moment, but even if this was my 5th visit here, I don’t think I’ve ever run this route. Maybe it has changed over the last year, maybe I only ever visited during winter, no idea. But i definitely think I’ve always run two full laps here in the past. Mistery… if anyone has the answer, please comment below.

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

As I said, after the briefings, everybody walks South-East and past a couple of nice patches of trees providing pleasant shade. People then stop again on the path, in an open area by a wooden plaque commemorating Nonsuch parkrun’s fifth birthday. Once it is time to start, you will have to run on or alongside a path towards the Southern perimeter of the park. I say on or alongside because this is a very busy start and unless everybody seeded perfectly, sticking to the path will be impossible. The grass alongside it is pleasant to run on, so not an issue.

As you go and the herd thins a bit, you might get to enjoy a few metres of the good tarmac path, but don’t despair, you will be back here later. After passing alongside another nice patch of trees, it will soon be time to turn left rather gently for what is essentially a 90-degree turn. Here you will find the infamous bin, which is carefully guarded by a volunteer to avoid a painful pile up of enthusiastic parkrunners.

You are now on the ‘Avenue’, which is a long straight on a hard path under the cover of mature trees. It looks nice, it is great to run on and it provides shade, which is great in summer. Or the pathetic excuse for a summer we are getting in 2024. There is some mild uphill elevation in this segment and a few patches of open terrain without trees, but both do nothing worse than making the segment more interesting.

Eventually, we reach the end of the tree-lined path and it will be time for another right turn. Here we are entering the fields, but can still benefit from a path with some grass trying to encroach in it. The sides of the path are meadows with short grass, so if it is not wet, many people tend to get out to overtake or enjoy a slightly softer terrain. A few 100s metres straight, and after we reach another small group of trees, we encounter another set of bins we need to avoid. Bins seem to be an orienteering tool specific to Nonsuch parkrun!

Immediately after the bins, turn right on a slight uphill and it is time to cross another field, this time with slightly more mature grass on the sides. There is another very slight uphill here, but again, it did not affect my perceived effort. Mid way, this straight leans slightly left and it shows you what is at the end of it. The finish funnel! Fight the excitement, because it is not time to fly through it in glory. Once you reach it, turn hard right leaving a little peace of your heart on the ground next to funnel and cross another field, heading for a large lonely tree a couple of 100 metres in front of you. Turn around the tree and start heading away from the happy funnels.

Now you will be going slightly downhill, again on grass terrain with taller grass on the side. It is not long and at the end it is time to turn right, to start the process of looping back. You are roughly running the short side and the long side of a rectangle to get back, with the long side is a bit is not exactly straight, but kind of. This is a tight rectangle, so in some sections you will see slower (or much faster) runners across the field running in the opposite direction. Given the numbers here, it makes for a cool view.

At the end, cross another large field heading for another big tree and run around this big tree again. You are now on a tarmac path again and soon you will reach the rough area of the initial meeting point. Run what you walked before and you will end up at the original start line. You are done with the first long lap. Repeat it all again until the approach to the funnels, but the second time you can enter them!

The finish funnels here are very long, Bushy-long, but single. Things are very efficient and civisilised and once you are out of the snake funnel you can go through scanning and, most important of all, parkbreakfast!

Congratulations on completing Nonsuch parkrun!

Facilities at Nonsuch parkrun

Nonsuch Park is, mostly, a beautiful open green area, with little forests and open meadows. The open spaces are used by several organised training and sports groups on parkrunday mornings.

Besides this, most of the facilities revolve around the Mansion, which these days is mostly used for weddings and events. As far as parkrunners are concerned, it offers a toilets block and a cafe. The toilets are open before the event, but given the numbers that Nonsuch parkrun attracts, you should make sure you get here with time to spare if you need them.

The cafe is just by the toilets and it is very small. It offers a small but very pleasant outside seating areas and if it gets full there are a lot of park benches in the area. The queue for the cafe can be long, but service is quick and efficient. I don’t think they offer cooked options, but there is a great selection of fresh pastries.

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 Nonsuch parkrun, I ordered a single espresso, a Diet Coke and a Danish. This cost £6.75, which is relatively fair for London parkrun cafes… but definitely not cheap in absolute terms.

Nonsuch 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

Nonsuch parkrun is a great event, I have enjoyed it every time I have visited. Including the one time I came here to volunteer before the London Marathon. It is a large event, but the beautiful park can definitely deal with it without making it feel congested and the route is pleasant and not particularly challenging. The cafe is also decent and there are plenty of spots for a relaxing rest after the run next to it.

I don’t know if I am dreaming, but I don’t think I’ve ever run this route before. Regardless, I have definitely enjoyed it. I think it is more interesting than the one I remember.

Finally, obviously, thank you, Nonsuch parkrun team for your hospitality, once again!