Egham Orbit parkrun

Last parkrunday I visited Egham Orbit parkrun for the first time. This is the latest addition to Surrey parkrun venues and also to the LonDone+ list of events. It is a very unusual little event, but its main quirk is that its route runs both sides of the M25. As challenging and intriguing an idea it might be, however, you don’t have to run across the motorway, you are lucky enough to have a chance to run under it.

Since it started in January 2025, Egham Orbit parkrun has been my NENDY, ie the Nearest Event Not Done Yet. You can see that on the parkrun map section of the 5K parkrunner app, for example. It was also one of the few events in Surrey I had never visited and a new addition to the LonDone + list. Completing both is a medium term challenge I’ve set for myself, so I was bound to visit sooner or later. So, why did I wait until its 10th event to come over?

Visiting for event 10 had been on my parkrun planner for a while. After I visited event 9 at Oaklands College parkrun two weeks ago, this event has now led me to have events 2-10 on my Wilson Index, all from different locations. As parkrun challenges go, the Wilson Index is a tough one, especially if you are trying to go for the Golden version like me, ie not repeating events for it. But as all parkrun challenges, it is an excuse to keep exploration fresh and motivation alive. Who knows when I will finally manage to back an inaugural to secure event 1. One day, perhaps.

As far as regionnaire status is concerned, this event ticks two boxes. Surrey, where I have only one missing, but a few more to cover all venues on this site. And LonDone+, or all events inside the M25. That’s a slightly more longer term project, since I just got to LonDone in February after visiting Valentines parkrun.

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

Trip to Egham Orbit parkrun and parking

This fun and unusual new event takes place at the Egham Orbit, a leisure centre located just inside the M25, in Egham, Surrey. For reference, we are looking at a location just West of Central London, on the way to Heathrow. On the Staines side of the London orbital, but technically within the Egham boundaries. The location makes it very easy to reach by car, unless you miss an exit like I did, but that was totally my fault.

According to the official event site, the closest train station is Egham. This is served by SouthWestern and in my experience this is a fairly reliable operator, at least for British railways standards. The station offers frequent connections to London Waterloo, Reading and Weybridge and it is about 10 minutes walk from Egham Orbit parkrun meeting point. So definitely an event that can be visited without a car, if you so wish.

I decided to come by car, because of of convenient it was supposed to be starting from Wimbledon. And it would have been, had I not missed the right exit ramp and had to go back to Staines and reach the location via local roads. All in all, it still worked well, it just turned a planned early arrival into a moderately rushed 8:40 arrival.

For me, it was a matter of driving down the A3 and connecting into the M25 until very close to the event. Bear in mind, as of 2025, the A3/M25 junction is a building site and it is guaranteed to by crowded. Also, as the event site warns, there is a level crossing just before the leisure centre, so if you are cutting it close, you might end up being late if you are unlucky enough to find it closed.

In terms of parking, the Egham Orbit offers a lot of it. However, it appears this is a very busy place on parkrunday mornings, so the event team asks parkrunners not to use the main car park but go to the overflow car park instead. Marshals will show you the way and this is just 2 minutes walk further out, so it is not a problem. At 8:40, there were still a few spots, but it was pretty close to getting full. So if the event becomes popular, especially with summer, try to get there with a few minutes to spare to avoid last minute panic.

Once you get there, the meeting point is not far away.

Egham Orbit: start and briefings

If you are coming from the overflow car park, walk your way back towards the main car park and then towards the leisure centre building. Then enter the fields, keeping the building to your left and you will quickly see the meeting point on the side of it. I visited on a glorious sunny day, with dry terrain and beautiful light, but I suppose during wet periods this can be pretty muddy.

If you need toilets before the event, there are a couple of single stall units inside the building, past the cafe counter.

I arrived later than I usually do, so I reached the meeting point when the First Timers briefing had already started. It was a busy one: I assume since it is still a relatively young event, a big contingent of tourists were in attendance. And also some genuine new joiners, maybe inspired by the first few days of spring. Both briefings were done without a speakerphone and I think the team would benefit from it. I found hearing what was being said rather difficult.

After the First Timers briefing, there was a short break and then the Main Briefing started in the same location. The crowd was in a good mood and it run through efficiently and with a few laughs and claps throughout. Once it is time to go, everyone walks about 100m up the field to reach the start location.

Then, I heard the RD start the countdown. 3, 2, 1, go!. The party had begun.

Egham Orbit parkrun course review – star ratings

Egham Orbit parkrun course review – route highlights

There were 188 parkrunners on the day of my visit to Egham Orbit parkrun. At the time of the briefings, I actually thought there were fewer people than I would have expected, probably because of the very open area where they are held. The course is all very open, with the notable exceptions of the underpass and a short portion of the smaller loop. That said, even with significantly higher attendance numbers, I am sure it would remain enjoyable. The main limitation here would probably be the car park, that seems to be right about hitting capacity at this level. Unless people start coming by train or other means. In terms of average attendance, it looks like 150-200 is a relatively stable average after 10 events. Maybe summer will increase it a bit since this is a venue that is certainly subject to mud during wet months.

There are no bottlenecks around this course. It is as comfortable as it gets, with the exception of the iconic underpass. And even there, it is fairly wide, so you won’t be stuck or have to stop and wait for people to keep moving. It is a pleasant run that does not through any additional difficulties at you unless it is wet and muddy. If so, then you know what you will be dealing with, like in many other grassy courses, like Walthamstow parkrun or Old Deer Park parkrun.

Surface-wise, it is mostly on grass, with a few short paved segments peppered through and a section on hard path as part of the smaller loop. On the day of my last visit, this part of the country had been enjoying a few dry sunny days, so terrain was dry and pleasant to run on. The grass is not long, so it does not make early morning runs slippery either. In this conditions, road shoes are perfectly find. If wet, I am sure trail shoes would be much much better.

Elevation-wise, 13m elevation gain over essentially 3 laps, this is definitely a flat course. At no point I felt I was going through a meaningful change in elevation. While sometimes it was clear there was a bit of a gradient, it was never something that affected my effort significantly.

Course layout here is a bit of a thing of its own. And make sure you know how to count up to 3 proficiently before tacking Egham Orbit parkrun. You start with 3 laps of the bigger loop, then pass under the M25. On the other side, 3 more laps of a smaller loop before coming back this side of the motorway. Now it is time for just shy of 2 more laps of the original larger loop. Sounds boring and, if we are honest, it probably would be. That is, if you are not fascinated by the novelty and how bonkers this all is. I enjoyed it.

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

Once it is time to start, everyone walks to the corner of the fields, past the tennis courts. The start line is on the corner, facing 90-degrees from the meeting point. There is enough room for people to line up besides the courts facing the direction of travel, avoiding a turn before the start line. There is more than enough room for a comfortable start, so congestion disappears pretty much immediately.

This will be the start of the first, large loop. It starts pretty basic: run around a large, flat field for 3 laps to reach the original meeting point where the briefings had been held. As said, grass is short and terrain is fairly firm, so running on it is a pleasure. Once you reach the meeting point again, this time we turn 90-degrees right and go alongside the leisure centre building and towards the car parks. Just before the car parks, turn left again heading towards the tennis courts and then left again to run alongside the courts towards the main field. At the corner of the tennis courts, another 90-degree turn, this time right, and you are on the last straight segment towards the start line. This is the large loop: do this 3 times.

At the end of the third lap, turn 90-degrees right at the start line, instead of turning left. A short segment in this direction, before a sharp left turn that feeds you into a tunnel under the M25. Cross the short tunnel and alight to enter the short loop section. This is much shorter and contained in a compact area with easy hard path trails and some mature trees. Also, it runs alongside the M25 with unusual views on it as a background.

After a very short straight segment, turn 90-degrees right and go through a trail bit under tree cover. A welcome change after the 3-laps around the fields in the open. Soon it is time for a wide turnaround on grass. Then double back towards the start of this mini-loop on grass again. Run around this loop 3 times again.

At the end of the third loop, it is time to turn left again towards the tunnel and cross the motorway again. On the other side, this time we don’t double back the way we come from, but go straight along the car parks and the back side of the tennis courts. At the end of courts, we turn right again and run a short segment on the side of the car park before joining the original long loop again. Let’s trace our steps here towards the start line and start our way along the long loop once again. This time, we will have to complete one full lap and one more partial lap, ending where the meeting point and briefings were.

Here we will find the finish funnel and the welcome end of our run. If you counted right, it will be 5K… might not be tho 🙂

Congratulations on completing Egham Orbit parkrun!

Facilities at Egham Orbit parkrun

Egham Orbit is a leisure and sports centre set in a sizeable plot of land with a few outdoor courts and a large indoor swimming and exercise area. Attached to the leisure centre there are some facilities that parkrunner can use.

Toilets are inside, just past the cafe. It’s a single stall, so there might be queue just before the event, make sure you have time for it. Not a lot of bushes to hide in outside!

As far as parkbreakfast, the cafe inside the leisure centre is nice and it offers a good spread of sweets and pastries, besides a lot of well deserved fluids. Quality is ok and service is also friendly and fast. There is a decent seating area indoor, even if it gets busy quickly after the event. Unfortunately, no dedicated outside seating area.

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 Oaklands College parkrun, I ordered a slice of lemon drizzle, a Diet Coke and a single espresso. This cost me £7.2. Pretty decent price considering the fast inflation observed at many parkrun cafes around the South East. Not even just a London premium thing it seems.

Egham Orbit 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

Egham Orbit parkrun manages to do something very unexpected. The course designs is able to turn what could have been a very uninspiring 4/5 laps around a field into an iconic course. One that might not become a national bucket list destination, but it will certainly be talked about and plenty of people will come visit. And rightly so, because it is so unusual that it becomes very interesting and entertaining.

Well done to the team and my best wishes for enduring success to this quirky new event.

Finally, obviously, thank you, Egham Orbit parkrun team for your hospitality! See you soon, hopefully.