Uckfield parkrun

This parkrunday I visited Uckfield parkrun for the first time. Some beautiful order, after a few weeks in Kent, I had jumped to Hampshire last week, so I had to cover the centre of that wide space South of London. Here I came, East Sussex! And It was time for another beautiful, completely off road run, this time a one lapper.

I don’t know if I am doing it on purpose or if it is lucky chance, but I have collected quite a few off road trail courses recently, including Kingdom, Rushmoor and Dartford Heath. Great time of the year to try them out to avoid a mud bath, and I don’t really like those.

I am not sure why I picked Uckfield this week. Sure, it gave me my third U for future alphabeteer overachievements, but that was not really an urgent endeavour. I still have most of the difficult letters to go for my second alphabet anyway. I guess it really was a just my order-driven mind trying to fill a gap in the map to the South. A bit random, but I am glad I did because it is really a beautiful course.

I was actually a bit surprised not to find a larger event here, considering how special the course and the local team are. And it is a one-lapper: those are few and far between! Maybe I was lucky enough to join a hidden gem. However, it is not that hidden because at least a third of the field was tourists motivated enough to brave the heat wave.

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

Trip to Uckfield parkrun and parking

Uckfield parkrun starts on and borrows facilities from the Uckfield Rugby Club, The club has nice playing fields and it sits in a beautiful location at the doors of the trail paths that will make up most of the course. However, besides that, there is very little else at the club itself or in the surrounding quiet residential area.

As a location, it is kind of in the middle of traditional motorways and train lines, so it will require a bit of a crossing into the countryside. Beautiful, but not super convenient if you are looking for a comfortable trip, especially if trying to use public transport.

It is telling that the official event site starts listing bus lines from Brighton or Tunbridge. The little gem is convenient to reach for people in its general surroundings.

If you want to take a train, the closest station is Uckfield, served by Southern. This will be around 30 minutes walk from Uckfield parkrun meeting point according to google maps.

If you are coming by car, follow the postcode above. From London, it was easy motorways down to Crawley and then about 25-30 minutes crossing Eastwards along county lanes. Some pretty narrow ones, but I guess Waze was trying to minimise distance. Once you reach Uckfield, pay attention to your surroundings at the very end. The postcode tried to bring me further into the residential area, but a helpful parkrun sign helped me turn right at the right time.

Parking is available on site, for free. I found a spot just outside the rugby club, but when I walked in realised there were plenty of parking spaces inside too and even an overflow area in the fields.

Uckfield parkrun: start and briefings

When you enter the rugby club, walk along the car park and behind the buildings until you reach the playing fields. Enter the fields and you will see Uckfield parkrun meeting point straight across the fields. Not a long walk, just a couple of minutes away.

When you get across, hang around with the friendly and welcoming team. There was a crocodile by the pop up sign on the day of my visit, excellent way to celebrate the scorching heat wave. He will be joined by a whole host of ducks in a small puddle about half way through the back section of the course. Little things that bring the event alive, well done team.

Once the First Timers briefing, I was surprised to see how many tourists there were as part of a relatively small field. Then the Main Briefing just by the start line a few metres away. While the Main Briefing took a bit of time giving the necessary health warnings due to the weather, both briefings covered something really specific to this great little event. Cows.

Yes, apparently there are often cows out there. They track them and know when they are out and about. Unfortunately, they were probably hiding somewhere in the shade today, so I did not get to see any. However, the volunteers actively warn you about unusual mud-looking patches along the course. The kind that makes your trainers smell. Those, I have seen! 🙂

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

Uckfield parkrun course review – star ratings

Uckfield parkrun course review – route highlights

There were 108 parkrunners on the day of my visit to Uckfield parkrun. This seems to be pretty much in line with attendance levels seen since April, ie tightly in a 100-150 range. April seems to be the month when Uckfield parkrun comes out of hibernation, because before you can see attendance levels consistently in a 40-75 range. I similar patter, while with slightly lower numbers, can be seen in 2024, confirming this even is highly influenced by seasonality. I suppose this makes sense, mud must make it pretty hard. In terms of course capacity, I don’t think there would be any issue catering to higher numbers.

Most of the course is on open, decently wide paths, with a few short segments where it becomes narrower and can create a few minor issues overtaking. That said, there are 3 bridges you need to cross twice each, so a couple of little steps and narrow segment to navigate. There is also a small gate, but it is wide open so you barely notice it while running. All in all, it is a pretty easy, open course. Just make sure you don’t take a wrong turn somewhere if you happen to be alone. But this is made very difficult by the many volunteers, signs and ribbons put up by the team along the course.

Surface-wise, this is all trail, with a little grass sprinkled in. And cow dung, don’t forget the cow dung. Mud-wise, it must get interesting during winter, but when I visited it was totally dry and road shoes were ok. Not perfect though, because paths are very irregular at times, with a lot of little ups and downs, so trail shoes would have been slightly safer and more comfortable. In winter? Go with trail shoes without hesitation.

Elevation-wise, it’s not an obvious one to define. At 58m elevation gain over a single lap, it would be something between flat and undulating on a comparative basis. And all in all, this would probably be a fair definition, with two caveats. First, the paths are never really flat, always going up and down in a noticeable manner. And then there is the big hill waiting for you at the final loop. You start going up slightly and then running by along its side, giving you a false sense of security. And then it hits you after the turnaround point, with a steep, longish climb. That one is brutal, the downhill immediately afterwards is fun.

In terms of course layout, rather simple to describe, but much more interesting once you are in it. To strip things down, it’s only lap of the rugby fields, followed by an out and back with a wide loop around and up a hill at the turnaround point.

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

After the main briefing, everyone is already lined up by the wide start line on grass at the edge of the playing fields. You start the loop around the fields, turn left on an arch at the end of the first lap and then tackle another straight segment going back towards the clubhouse buildings. Once you reach them, turn left again and, if the overflow car park has been used, run in the middle of two clusters of parked cars. Kind of cool, in an out of place urban kind of way. You are now crossing back towards the meeting point, where you will turn left again, reach the start line and then turn left towards the main trail part of the course.

The ‘entrance’ into it is via a short and narrow downhill ramp. Since this comes after about 450m, you are still likely to be part of a big group and I had to slow down because overtaking was not easy at that specific point. It immediately widens though, as it transitions into a flat path under tree cover. Soon it is time to turn left and cross a short bridge across a stream. There are a couple of steps here to get onto the bridge and off it.

Afterwards, you have a longer segment alternating tree covered parts and open ones surrounded by high grass. It starts with a wide turn and then it becomes relatively straight. Then you meet a volunteer positioned by a wide gate and soon afterwards another volunteer showing a tight right turn into another short bridge. This is the start of the little ‘bubble’ detour to the right you can see half way through the map. You run around a small lake with open grass fields to your right and nice views over the hills. It’s not long before you take another left turn, cross another bridge and rejoin the original straight line direction.

The next straight segment is on open terrain, with a very slight positive gradient. More beautiful views to the right and the most irregular section under foot. At the end of it, turn left once more to pass under some mature trees and then start a gentle climb towards the hill. Just before the point where the opposite side of the final loop rejoins with the course, head slightly to the left for a very short detour before rejoining the path at that crossing point. Here is where you turn hard left and start running alongside the foot of the hill, with more nice vistas.

Reach the opposite side of the hill just in front of the beautiful hotel and turn hard right. Take a picture of the hotel, because there is no avoiding the steep hill climb at this point. Off you go, run or walk up for about 150/200m. At the top, when you see the church bell tower, you can breath. Turn right again and go down for a shorter, steeper descent that will get you to the previous crossing point.

From here, you need to do it all again in reverse. With one difference, when you reach the rugby fields, there is no boring lap there anymore, the funnel will be just in front of you. Bask in the glory, aim for it.

Congratulations on completing Uckfield parkrun!

Facilities at Uckfield parkrun

While the clubhouse area looks pretty sparse, Uckfield parkrun does offer the basic facilities parkrunners tend to need.

Toilets are available in the main club house, with entrance from the car park side. They are open before the event, clean and functional. No queues when I arrived.

After the event, the green container sitting by the club house magically turns into a pretty decent cafe. At the briefing they confirmed it would be open today, which suggests there might be parkrundays when it is not. Maybe seasonal or linked to rugby training schedules?

I felt bad looking at it, thinking about the poor people working in it with the heatwave cooking a metal container. That said, as I soon found out, they do have A/C, so they were in a better place than most of us. In terms of choice, coffee is kind of crap and the selection of pastries is minimal, but it is better than most rugby clubhouses parkruns in similar locations use.

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 Uckfield parkrun, I ordered a lemon fanta, a pain au chocolat and a wannabe espresso. This cost me £5.2. Very honest and pretty aligned to quality.

Uckfield 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

What a great parkrun tourism trip for a spring or summer day. The course is really interesting, never boring and rewarding. And the team is great, with a lot of little quirks that make this location really special. A shame the cows did not show up, is this a reason to come back?

I would love to come back and who knows, maybe something in the future will bring me to the area once again.

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