Broadwater parkrun

This week I have visited Broadwater parkrun in Godalming, Surrey for the first time. What a difference from my last parkrunday, when I visited Presint 18 parkrun in sunny, hot and humid Patrajaya, near Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. This week, it was time to be back in familiar surroundings: grey skies, brownish green landscapes and mud. A lot of mud. Welcome back home(ish)!

I don’t like mud. When I selected my target location I did not realise there would be a decent portion of the course run on grass and muddy trails, but I guess not running into mud is the exception in winter in the UK. And as far as mud is concerned, Broadwater parkrun is actually not too bad. With the exception of one short spot, it was relatively ok. Much much better than my muddiest parkrun in nearby Woking or the recurring quicksands at my local, Wimbledon Common parkrun.

The original plan this week was to try ticking another location on my slow journey towards LonDone. I am at 61 out of 64 after all, it is well within reach. However, after spending a week on the other side of the world and having to travel to Portugal on business most of this week immediately after coming back, I was a bit tired. So I reverted to my semi-lazy alternative. Not re-vising a local, but picking off one of the remaining Surrey locations I had not visited yet. I am nearly there, having visited. I have now visited 9 out 12, so becoming Surrey regionnaire is also definitely within grasp.

Funnily, my endless travel and the ridiculous amounts of alcohol consumed on my Portuguese management offsite definitely caught up with me. I think this was the worst, most miserable performance in my parkrun career. Took more than 40 minutes to get through 5K, 15 minutes slower than my best and 5 minutes slower than my recent usual (sad) times. Is this a very difficult course to justify it? Not at all! I have survived hard ones like Lullingstone parkrun, Lloyds parkrun or Wendover Woods parkrun, so definitely not because of the course.

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

Trip to Broadwater parkrun and parking

Broadwater parkrun takes place in, surprise surprise, Broadwater Park. The park is in Godalming, Surrey, a nice parish town not far from Guilford in Waverley Borough Council. So, relatively speaking, not far from London either. It is a large green area not far from an A3 junction, but more on that below.

According to the official course page, if you want to come using public transport, you can choose between two train stations. Farncombe train station is allegedly only 5 minutes walk away, while Goldaming train station is about 25 minutes walk away. Both are on the SouthWestern network, meaning if you manage to avoid a weekend of strikes, services are usually decently frequent and on time. If you are coming from further away, it seems like reaching either will require a change, either in Guilford or Woking.

If you are planning to drive, Broadwater parkrun is located very close to the A3. For me, since I am coming from Wimbledon, it was just a 30 minutes drive along the A3 and a short portion of local streets towards the end. I am sure it would have been even faster without the never-ending works at the A3-M25 junction. Hence, if you need to come from the M25, account for some delays on the way there and A LOT of delays on the way back.

Parking seems to be an important topic for this venue. There is a large car park next to the start and the leisure centre, but the centre seems to be very very busy on parkrunday mornings and the core team strongly encourages not to use it to avoid local wrath. There seems to be a lot of car parks dotted around different corners of the park and the recommended one is at the Guilford Rugby Club, GU7 3DH. This is about 10 minutes walk from the meeting point. There is also a small car park by the waffle truck, on the opposite side of the lake and as well about 10 minutes walk from the meeting point. Not sure if this one is off limits as well, but it could be a convenient alternative if you are planning to attend the parkbreakfast celebrations.

Broadwater parkrun: start and briefings

The meeting point is by the fenced off children play area on the corner of the football fields by the leisure centre. If you come from the leisure centre, it is 2 minutes walk once you enter the park, if you come from the recommended car park, you have to head towards the football fields and then walk their longer side. If you come from the ‘waffle truck’ car park, have a pleasant walk on the side of the lake and head towards the built up area once you reach that corner.

There were not many tourists on the day I visited and most locals seem to arrive close to 9am, so it did not look busy until pretty late. But when it is time to get going, there will be a good crowd.

Both briefings happen metres away from the meeting area and the public toilets, there is no walking involved here. The First Timers briefing was a fairly intimate affair with a friendly gentleman making sure we had a rough idea about the apparently complicated course. It will not be as confusing once you are on it and there are many marshals and cones dotted around it. And they are needed: while it is not as twisty and turny as other courses, there are plenty of places where you could take a wrong turn without signs.

For the main briefing, the RD used a loudspeaker, but it was not very powerful and I could not hear much of what she said. I am sure she went through the usual required warnings and plenty of local milestones celebrations.

Once it is time to go, just turn around and face the longest side of the football fields. That’s where the start is, no walking needed.

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

Time to go!

Broadwater parkrun course review – star ratings

Broadwater parkrun course review – route highlights

There were 189 parkrunners on the day of my visit to Broadwater parkrun. Looking at their historical attendance levels, this is bang in line with their average attendance levels. I can see some parkrundays reaching 220/230 and even one event crossing 300 in June 2024, but usually the range seems to be 160-200. Some weekends show low 120s, but usually you can see healthy attendance levels. This also does not seem to be overrun by tourists, so the healthy attendance levels are all due to a good local group of parkrunners and parkwalkers. Paths are not always very wide, but this attendance levels are definitely sustainable and I am pretty sure you could put another 100 on top without making it overcrowded.

There only real bottleneck along the course is probably the little bridge that needs to be crossed at the opposite side of the lake. It is still reasonably wide, 2/3 people can run on it abreast. Maybe I remember it as a bottleneck because it comes shortly after a 90-degree turn and a cute doggo cut through in front of me as I was turning. Doggos are cute and they are always right, so no complaint there, he wanted to say high to another doggo standing at the side of the road, so I have to give him (or her?) right of way. Besides this spot, there is one 180-degrees turnaround point soon after the start. It is wide, but it comes when the group has not spread out yet. Manageable, but it required a bit of wiggling.

Surface is quite mixed here. You start running a straight segment on grass: on the day I visited this was wet but not bad enough to create problems even if I was running on road shoes. Mud was also minimal. Then you turn around and get onto a nice tarmac path. This will transition into hard paths, some tarmac and mixed path/grass for the rest of the course. There was only one area where mud was extreme, shortly after leaving the lake look. Here is where road shoes definitely were not good enough, not even to walk properly. I nearly fell, but managed to avoid a mud bath. For the mixed areas, it was also pretty slippy in places. Definitely, fully recommend trail shoes outside of very dry months for Broadwater parkrun.

Elevation-wise, at 20m elevation gain over essentially 2 laps, Broadwater parkrun is definitely a flat event. There are no major climbs or downhills, but there are a couple fo minor elevation changes. The first one I noticed was probably 3/400m in when leaving the built up area and starting to go towards the lake. This is a very short climb, soon focused by a nice downhill leading to the lakeside path. There will be a couple of similar short bumps in the marshland area, but nothing major.

In terms of course design, it is quite interesting. The route has 3 sections, all pretty interesting and different. You start with a straight out and back by the football field, then you transition towards a loop around the lake and, when that’s done, start another wiggly loop around marshlands. The two loops are repeated twice, while the initial out and back only happens once. It is interesting, diverse and fun, definitely a well thought out new route.

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

Once it is time to get going, people can arrange for a moderately wide start on grass, on the side of the football field. At current attendance levels, the start will be fast, fluid and definitely not congested. Once you get going, go straight on grass for a couple 100 metres as long as there is a fenced off play and sport area on your left. When that disappears, half turn left to cut through the field towards the perimeter path. Go a little further in the same direction until you reach a tree at the corner of the meadows area. At the tree, run around it and turn back after you join a tarmac path to go back to the spot you came from.

This is a straight section on tarmac: enjoy the great surface! Soon you will pass the finish funnel, the children playing area and the meeting point. After the meeting point, it is time for a gentle turn right and down a short slope. Left at the bottom again to cross a little stream and a few buildings before climbing a little hill on grass and reach the level that will feed us to the lake loop. Here you will run on a mixed grass/dirt path. A short straight under trees first, then a very wide right turn that will lead on a steeper downhill to reach the lakeside path. This downhill is on hard path with several tree roots, so just pay a little attention to then, but don’t make it stop you from enjoying gravity.

Once you are on the lakeside path, enjoy the even surface, flat profile and beautiful views to your right. Keep going straight for a short while before taking a slight left detour that will lead you to a hard right to cross a little bridge. After the bridge, the path becomes a bit more uneven in terms of elevation, but still quite enjoyable. Towards the end of this side of the lake, you take a slight left into a tree-covered area that will lead you back to a lower path closer to the main built-up area. This is a narrow path, but surface is still ok.

At the end of this segment, you turn hard left on a tarmac path. This is the centre of the B that depicts the course connecting the two loops. Stay on the tarmac path for less than 50m before a marshal will show you you need to take a hard left back into the woods. And once you do that, you are met by a mud bath. Not for long, but you will have to wade through 10m of mud before you can get going with a normal run again.

You will soon leave tree cover and run a short straight on grassy open terrain before taking another sharp turn left and down a very short incline leading you into the second main loop. Here it will all be mixed hard path and grass. It starts with a very wide turn with beautiful marshland views until you reach a long abandoned building. Turn right there and run along that building before a moderately hilly segment where a marshall will show you you need to take the long way around to the left. Take that path and keep going straight until you reach what seems to be a walled off stadium/sports field. Turn right and run along the wall, before a small climb under some trees and another right turn. You are close to the end, but not yet, you cannot go straight back to the beginning of the loop now, even if you cannot see it! Another small loop right and left again before approaching the original tarmac path. Once you reach it, sharp turn right and you are just metres away form the finish funnel.

At this point, you are done with both loops and can start the second lap.

Do it all again and when you are back, the finish funnel will be there immediately after you turn back onto the tarmac path. The funnel is short it worked well on the day I visited. After you get your token, walk about 100m to the meeting area to get it scanned.

Congratulations on completing Broadwater parkrun!

Facilities at Broadwater parkrun

Broadwaterl Park is fairly large, with some pretty distinct areas and good sport, play and exercise facilities. To my unfamiliar eye, it seemed like it could be split into 3 different areas: a large meadow with several football fields and the beautiful children play area, a medium-sized lake with a landscaped walk around it and mature trees and, finally, a large wilder marsh area.

I don’t know what facilities are offered by the leisure centre and, I think, parkrunners are not supposed to use them. Or at least to to flood them with a 200-people invasion at 9.30/9.45. However, that will not prove to be a problem. There is a good public toilet block by the meeting area that is open early and it is clean and big enough to deal with local numbers with no wait needed.

When it comes to parkbreakfast, the recommendation was a food truck at the opposite side of the lake. The 10min walk is great as a relaxed warm-down in a pleasant setting and once you get there you find a good selection of savoury cooked buns, pre-packaged pastries and fresh waffles. I went for the latter: the ice cream topping was a weird choice for a late November outdoor breakfast, but weather was mild and the bloody thing was too tempting. Pricey, but I was not disappointed.

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 Broadwater parkrun, I ordered a fresh waffle, a diet coke and a single espresso. This cost me £10.1, definitely expensive and maybe it even beat notable cost I recently noted at Battersea parkrun. Surrey has to Surrey, I guess. 🙂

Broadwater 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

My terrible performance on the day was not due to the course or organisation at Broadwater parkrun. It is a great venue that mixes in two very different environment for the 2.5K loop, run twice. I enjoyed it, it is fun and different and I would love to come back in better conditions.

Mud was annoying only in one spot, but if I end up coming back in winter or autumn, I will definitely come wearing trail shoes.

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