Catford parkrun

This parkrunday I came back to London and visited Catford parkrun for the second time. The second visit ever here, but the first one since I’ve started this blog. I have now 6 more events to visit before not only being LonDone, but also covering all the London parkrun events here.

After I finally achieved LonDone status with my visit to Valentines parkrun a few weeks ago, I spent some time going to events outside of the Big Smoke. I enjoyed more slightly less urban escapades to venues like Leybourne Lakes parkrun or the new(ish) Oaklands Collage parkrun. But it was time to come back to London and for no specific reason, this week I have picked Catford. Next week? Out of London again, but not out of the M25.

As a Londoner, if I think about Catford I don’t immediately think about a green, hilly park with nice views over the Capital. But this is what greeted me when I arrived for the second time. It is a really great event in a nice location, especially shining in good weather, with all the outside space available for chilling after the event.

This part of London is great for parkrun lovers, with a lot of events to choose from. From the newly named Avery Hill parkrun, formerly Greenwich parkrun, to Sutcliffe parkrun or Peckham Rye parkrun. All very different and fitting to different moods if you leave in the area and want to choose spontaneously in the morning. I guess Catford parkrun is the good weather option with hills and a nice cafe, especially if you don’t like mud. And I don’t.

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

Trip to Catford parkrun and parking

Catford parkrun stems from old naming conventions. It takes place in Mountsfield Park, in Catford. This is in the South London borough of Lewisham. As many locations in South/South East London, connections are decent via mainline train lines and buses, but the Tube network is not as good as elsewhere in the capital.

According to the official event site, the closest stations are Hither Green, Catford and Catford Bridge. Hither Green station is the closest; it is operated by SouthEastern and it offers frequent connections to several Central London hubs. From the station, you will need to walk about 10 minutes to reach the parkrun meeting point. Catford and Catford Bridge station are about 15 minutes walk from the start, with services operated by Thamselink and Southeastern.

If you decided to drive, bear in mind there isn’t any dedicated car park at this location. However, the streets to the East and North of the park don’t seem to be very busy and parking is free during weekends. Both times I visited, I drove here and left my car in Stainton Road, using the postcode above as final destination. This is less than 5 minutes walk away from the meeting point and I’ve seen plenty of available spots around 8.30 on parkrunday morning.

Catford parkrun: start and briefings

If you are coming from Stainton Road, get into the park, and go around the garden area to reach the Bandstand. That’s where the meeting point will be. And the moment you get there you will realise something: you are at the top of a hill. Yup, unless the course is a zillion laps around the Bandstand, you will need to go down… and eventually, come back up.

The meeting point is next to an impressive children play area and a small cafe with a charming outside sitting area. Behind the cafe, you can find a single, moderately dirty, toilet stall. Better than nothing, I guess.

The First TImers briefing was called at the usual time next to the bandstand. A friendly and welcoming dancing volunteer held it and made us all feel very at ease, pointing out the couple of noteworthy spots around the course.

Just after 9am, everyone lined up on the path and the Event Director gave a pre-briefing, to remind participants that we don’t have sole use of the park and that volunteers should be listened to. I guess some incidents must have happened: this reminders are always useful because having use of public spaces for mass participation events is definitely a privilege and not a right.

Afterwards, the RD for the day gave the usual Main Briefing bringing cheer and good spirit back to the event. And when it was time to go, we were all in the right place already. Just a matter of turning around on the spot and waiting for the countdown.

Then, I heard the RD start the countdown. ‘3, 2, 1, go!’. It was time to go.

Catford parkrun course review – star ratings

Catford parkrun course review – route highlights

There were 210 parkrunners on the day of my last visit to Catford parkrun. This seems to be roughly in line with average attendance level, that hover around the 200 mark. Some events strays into the 250s, some go as low as 120/130. The feeling is that the event is well attended, but not overly crowded. The portions on grass are very open and the portions on paths are narrow, but not excessively so. I suspect the event could easily sustain larger fields. The main limitations might be the lack of a dedicated car park park and the single toilet.

I don’t think there are real bottlenecks around this course. The only exception is a 180-degree turn when leaving the circular detour on grass and rejoining the path. However, this is very wide since most of it is still on grass, Even when reaching that point as part of a large group, you can still navigate it quite easily. Also, at the briefings we were told to pay particular attention to the path at the bottom of the hill, because it was a bit closer to a trail segment. To be honest, this is a bit more disconnected, but smoother than the path at many other events.

Surface-wise, this is a mixed path. It starts on tarmac, then it alternates grass and tarmac for a while. The grass sections were dry and firm on the day I visited, but I can definitely see how they can get very muddy and soft after a period of prolonged rain. At the bottom of the hill there is a bit of a trail segment on hard path too. I run in road shoes and it was totally fine, but trail shoes might come handy during winter. Or any times it has been raining a lot, which can be anytime around here after all.

Elevation-wise, this is mildly undulating. The course is pretty much never flat, except for the short segment at the top. However, at 45m of total elevation gain over 3 laps, it cannot be seen as a course riddled with steep hills. There is one long(ish) climb, the rest is fairly mild.

In terms of course layout, this is a quirky one. Just less than 3 laps, up and down the hill with one unusual circular detour about 1/3 of the way through.

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

As said, after the briefings everyone lines up on a wide path just North of the bandstand. The actual start is comfortable, with plenty of room for everyone. You run by the volunteers at the bandstand, then continue to the side of some tennis courts. After the tennis courts, you turn 90 degrees left and enter the first section on grass.

Here you start running West, towards the edge of the park, before turning 90 degrees right and continue running alongside the edge of the park. Here you are running 3-sides of a rectangular field. When I was there it was not muddy at all, but from seeing how the ground looks like, I suspect this segment can get very muddy. It is relatively flat and not very long. Eventually, another 90-degrees turn right to get through the last, short side of this rectangle.

Once you are out of this field, you will be back on tarmac, but not for long. Re-join the path and head towards an intersection where you will turn left. The short way to that intersection is a short uphill ramp, but once you turn into the new path, you are met by a welcome, fun, short downhill segment on tarmac. The downhill is noticeable and you can speed up comfortably here. At the bottom of this short ramp, turn right again and enter another field.

This is a funny bit. Essentially, you run a circle around this field to end up at the same place where you entered it. It is flat again and it has a nice visual impact, especially during the first lap. When everyone is still relatively close to each other, you will see all parkrunners spread around a large circle.

Once you get to the end of it, you have the nearly 180-degrees turnaround point. Essentially, you need to get back onto the path you were before and join it in the direction leaving the circle entry point. It starts with another fun but short downhill and then it becomes kind of flat.

Here you will start a very wide turn right, on a slightly downhill gradient, that will get you next to a gate very close to a few residential buildings. After the gate, a short uphill and after you pass a marshal, it is time to enter the semi-trail segment. Now it is time to run on a slightly turns trail under trees. It is fairly even underfoot and relatively flat again. You will soon leave the tree-covered area and finish this segment with a short flat trail section on open air.

At the end of it, turn 90-degrees right and there it is, the main climb. As far as climbs go, this is not a killer, but it is fairly steep. Probably 150-metres long. At the top of the climb, turn left on lap 1 and 2, not on your third lap. After you turn left, reach the gate you had entered the park from and turn right again. Retrace your early steps, go around the gardens area, turn left to reach the bandstand and start your second and third laps.

At the end of the third lap, turn right and you have a 100m straight segment for your sprint finish towards the finish funnel.

Congratulations on completing Catford parkrun!

Facilities at Catford parkrun

Catford parkrun benefits from the pretty decent set up offered by the beautiful Mountsfield Park. Exercised facilities and the children play area by the start really seem to be top notch.

Toilets, or rather the single toilet stall, are open before the event, located just behind the cafe. Since it is a single stall, go early if you need to, because a queue can form quickly just before 9am.

The cafe is in a rather grim container, but they have definitely made the use possible of the area they have at their disposal. Plenty of choice is available and the outside sitting area they have organised is great and charming, if a bit small.

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 Catford parkrun, I ordered a lemon drizzle cake, a red orange soda and a single espresso. This cost me £8.5. Really expensive in absolute terms, but it seems inflation is really hitting park cafes in London, what used to be around 6 in 2024 is now often above 8. The slice of lemon drizzle was taste and humongous too, to be fair.

Catford 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

Catford parkrun is very rarely discussed or suggested when people ask about nice events in London. This should change, especially in spring and summer. It is a fun event, with a great team and an unusual route. I mean, if you can make a three-lapper interesting, you have done a good job when designing the course.

It is probably slightly more challenging than your average flat parkrun, but it is not an ordeal, like a Lloyd parkrun for example. Come and try it out, it is a fun one.

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