Malling Rec parkrun

This parkrunday I visited Malling Rec parkrun for the first time. I picked the location mostly because its event number was in a cluster were I had some ticks on my Wilson Index, so why not working on a series a bit further. I had been planning to come explore this interesting new venue for a while after all. Little did I know, that it was also the event celebrating Malling Rec parkrun’s first birthday. Lucky break, getting to enjoy a special, fun event that meant a lot to the team. And also contribute with my little report and video highlights.

Over the last few weeks I have been travelling a lot around the edges of London, from Uckfield parkrun also in East Sussex to the polar opposite Aldenham parkrun. Summer is a good time to visit more traily courses, so I definitely don’t want to miss my chances. So many still to see and experience.

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

Trip to Malling Rec parkrun and parking

As it should be clear by its name, Malling Rec parkrun starts and finishes on the Malling Recreation Ground, by the Malling Community Centre, in Lewes, East Sussex. According to the official event site, the closest train station is Lewes. The station is served by Southern and it shows recurring services connecting it to Brighton, Eastbourne or London Victoria. According to Google Maps, the station is 0.8 miles away from Malling rec parkrun meeting points, or about 20 minutes walk.

The event site also shows a range of local buses that can be used to reach Malling parkrun from nearby cities.

Coming from London was rather simple and, early in the morning, not congested at all. Once you are on the motorway down to Brighton, you only need to head left onto the A275 and once you reach Lewes, get through the tunnel and then a few minutes on narrow local residential roads. I used the GPS coordinate above on Waze and I had to keep going a few 100 metres after it thought I had arrived. Then, suddenly, the Community Centre appeared.

There is a small free car park by the meeting points. The team recommends to use alternative locations in town and they are right. I arrived at 8:30 and I was able to claim the last available parking spot by pure luck. Technically, I think it was not necessarily a marked parking spot either. Bad Ingo.

Malling Rec parkrun: start and briefings

The meeting point is very visible from the community centre and cafe or from the car park. It is not a very large green area after all and the hub is pretty concentrated. Car park and children playing area both sit at the feet of a small hill, with the cafe on top of it.

If you want to use the toilets, go up the hill and enter the cafe. My feeling was that staff was only preppy for service before 9am, but they had left their doors open to allow access to the toilets.

The team here has a pretty good sound system, so the call for the First Timers briefing was pretty easy to hear. On the day I visited, there was a very large group from a running club, so the First Timers Briefing was very busy. The volunteer giving it did not disappoint, delivering a fun and informative briefing.

Shortly afterwards, without need to move anywhere else, everyone started bunching up around the open, grassy start line. That’s where everyone was at 9am, when the Main Briefing started. Again a nice welcome to all tourists and a well deserved celebration and thanks to all volunteers in the day of Malling Rec parkrun first birthday.

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

Malling Rec parkrun course review – star ratings

Malling Rec parkrun course review – route highlights

There were 228 parkrunners on the day of my visit to Malling Rec parkrun. It’s not a record because I see at least one instance above 300, but it is definitely one of the highest attendance days during the first year of this interesting new event. I am sure birthday celebrations will have increase attendance a bit, also considering the large tourist contingent from a running club. That said, average attendance seems to be around 150 during dry months and below 100 during winter. Or at least, this is what happened during year 1. How much will Malling Rec parkrun grow? At this attendance level, the event does not feel busy and the two-way flow segments look glorious. Higher numbers would not be a problem here, I am sure. If you park in town, that is.

There are no major problems along the route. There are 2 180-degrees turnaround points where you will have to slow down a bit, but they are fairly wide. Most of the course is also an out and back and you need to do it twice so you will see people running in the opposite direction for most of it if you are around the middle of the pack. I think the only minor bottleneck where people running in opposite directions might get close to each other is the few metres of narrow path immediately after you leave the fields and enter the tree covered area. All in all, a very convenient course that makes for nice busy visuals along the way.

Surface-wise, this is all off road. The portion next to the start/funnel is along grassy playing fields, while the straight out and back under the trees is on hard path following the track of an old railway line. I would not call this a hard trail, but there are a few rocks and roots here and there. On a dry July day, I had absolutely no problems running in road shoes, but I have no doubt rain must quickly make trail shoes become a requirement. Or at the very least, something you will regret not thinking about.

Elevation-wise, at 28m elevation gain over 2 laps, this is flat. There is one noticeable ramp when you transition from fields to trail, but it is short and manageable. And obviously, when you come back that becomes a glorious downhill transition back into the open, green fields. Besides that, I experienced something unusual here that I had never experienced before. When running the trail out and back in the forest, I thought the other direction was downhill, both ways. Weird. I think reality is that the way out seems to be mildly uphill, while the way back is slightly downhill. But it is not a gradient that should really impact your running experience.

In terms of course layout, it is very simple. Run 3.5 sides of the playing fields, then a long straight under the trees. At the end of it, turn back and run it all again in the other direction. Once you are (nearly) back to the start, turn around again and do it all one second time. If I have one comment, I probably would have preferred a design where only one side of the playing fields was included in the second lap, but I guess there was not enough distance to allow that on the straight.

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

Once it is time to go, everybody sets off from a wide start line on grass. The first 100/150m will get everyone to the 180-degrees pin that will mark the end of lap 1 and beginning of lap 2. But for now, you just reach one corner of the playing fields and turn right 90 degrees to tackle the first long side. Get to its end, turn right again and right again soon afterwards. At this point you will be on the longest side of the playing fields, seeing the entrance to the forest area at the end of it.

As you approach the trees, you see the steepest ramp of this course. It is not terribly steep and it is fairly short, but you will feel it a bit. Climb it and navigate the short bottleneck at its top. And here you are, on the long out and back segment under the trees. This is, essentially, fairly consistent throughout. A wide hard path where you will pass under two beautiful railway bridges.

Shortly after the second bridge, you will reach another cone and turn 180-degrees around it to start the way back. Once you reach the playing fields again, enjoy the downhill bit and then run around all the way once again. Don’t take the last turn left to head for the finish funnel yet though. At the end of your first lap, turn 180-degrees here and get back on the fields. There is a second lap!

The second time you reach this point, however, you can turn left. And you see the finish funnel, maybe 100/150m away. If you have it in you, this is a perfect time to start a sprint finish and reach the end on a high.

Congratulations on completing Malling Rec parkrun!

Facilities at Malling Rec parkrun

As you arrive, you can easily see the meeting point and a small children playground on lower ground and the buildings housing cafe and community centre on top of the small hill. As already said, toilets are in the cafe. I walked around the building to see if there were other public toilets without breaking into the cafe without buying anything, but I did not find any.

The cafe is on the small side, but it offers a great outdoor seating area for after the event. Wooden tables are arranged on an L-shaped terrace overlooking the grounds: beautiful and relaxing for a good weather day.

In terms of selection, there were a few pastries and a lot of not mainstream replacement sodas. I usually don’t mind them, but the coke replacement I got was way sweeter than I usually like. Prices were also excessive for what I got, kind of Brightony I guess. Bit of a surprise for a Londoner used to ridiculous prices.

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 Malling Rec parkrun, I ordered a replacement Diet Coke, a massive pain au chocolat and an espresso. This cost me £8.75.

Malling Rec 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

A fun unusual route with a great team and interesting railway bridges along the way, I enjoyed my visit to Malling Rec parkrun. And I am sure I enjoyed more than I would have during winter with a lot of mud, so I am glad I have waited a while longer than I planned to come here. Also, happy birthday again, Malling Rec parkrun!

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, Malling Rec parkrun team for your hospitality!