Horsham parkrun

On the first standard parkrunday of 2026 I visited Horsham parkrun for the first time. I wanted to come here for the NY Special event, but I am old and did not wake up on time, so I ended up making up for it 3 days later. It was also one of the closest events left to visit for me, not in terms of distance, but based on travel time.

The event had been on my target list for a while, for the simple reason that it was a disturbing empty space in my Voronoi map, just South of London and before reaching the coast. Clair is the last one left, before moving my parkrun tourism targets further East.

Horsham parkrun is also weirdly apt for my return to UK events after a brief tourism trip to Italy at Farfalle parkrun since it is so close to one of our main airports. This was probably the coldest week of the year, with many events cancelled because of ice. I am proud of myself for getting up and thankful to the Horsham team for going ahead. All went smoothly and I only slipped on ice and fell on the way to the event, not on the course. Had to happen I guess. 🙂 Evidence of it on my video highlights linked below.

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

Trip to Horsham parkrun and parking

Horsham parkrun moves location between winter and summer. I visited in winter, when the event is hosted by Southwater Country Park, in a beautiful park South of Horsham proper. This is not one of the easiest locations to reach using only public transport, or, at least, it will require some planning.

According to the official event site, there are no train stations in Southwater. Horsham train station is managed by Southern, with services from London Bridge, London Victoria and Portsmouth. Once you get there, you will still be 4 miles away from your target location. You could walk for 90 minutes or run… or you could hop on either of the buses indicated by the official event site. I suggest checking availabilities and timetables for the specific day you decide to try this.

If driving, the venue offers several car parks and it is not difficult to reach from London or the coast. Once you arrive, the team will have signs sending you to a car park further away from the meeting point, probably based on agreements with the landlord. A large car park is available just in front of the meeting point and cafe, but the recommended one is about 10 minutes walk away from it.

I went to the recommended one which was still pretty empty around 8:40, while the closer ones was quite full when I got to the meeting point. Just bear in mind it will take you nearly 10mins to get there to avoid chilling in your car and getting there late. Also, you will have to walk down a hill, so be careful if it is icy. I learnt that the hard(ish) way.

The car park is not free, but you can easily pay using the RingGo app.

Horsham parkrun: start and briefings

Southwater Country Park looked like a pretty nice location to me, even if the weather did not really motivate me to explore it as much as it probably deserved. The visitor centre hosts a decent cafe offering also lunch options and there is a nice walk leading to a dinosaur themed children play area. This is to celebrate the discovery of dino fossils in the lake.

Runners and volunteers gather in front of the visitor centre. As said above, this is about 7/8 minutes walk from the recommended car park. A container outside the cafe offers 3 toilets, but they were closed on the day of my visit. I don’t know if there are more inside the cafe.

Due to the walk from the car park, I arrived when the First Timers Briefing was nearly done, so I could only catch the last few seconds of it. It was held in the clearing in front of the cafe, where outside tables are for people to rest or freeze after the event.

Immediately afterwards, there was a community announcement about an upcoming charity run, followed by the main briefing. I will be honest, I kind of zoned out during the briefing, getting familiar with the location. I usually arrive at least 10 minutes before the event and that helps me centre and focus, this time, it was a bit more rushed.

Once the briefing is done, everybody walks by the closest car park and up a little hill to enter a long tree covered straight. This was apparently a former railyway line and it will be a repeated feature of the run course. Once you walk past the first few buildings of an industrial estate, everybody stops and start lining up for a moderately busy start line.

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

Horsham parkrun course review – star ratings

Horsham parkrun course review – route highlights

There were 440 parkrunners on the day of my visit to Horsham parkrun. I guess there were competing forces at play here: on one side, the first parkrunday of January being prime NY resolution time, on the other the weather being truly miserable. Looking at long term averages is pretty complicated here: I think it is one of the most volatile attendance rosters I’ve seen around parkrunland. In part, I think it must be because the location moves location from summer to winter. The winter location seems to clock attendances of around 350-450, while the summer location hovers in the high 400s, with peaks in the 600s during summer. Healthy local attendance levels for sure.

Congestion wasn’t really a problem during my visit. At the start, it takes a few seconds to get going, but that’s mostly because you join the start bunch from the direction people will be running towards, so seeding is pretty random. Besides that, it’s a reasonably start line on good terrain, so it gets going fairly quickly. After that, there will be a fairly tight turn to enter the lakeside path in front of the cafe and then a slightly narrower path. Not much of an issue tho. Two little wooden bridges around the lake also provide choke points, but again, it flows decently well.

Surface-wise, it is mostly very good, clean hard path. On a day when a lot of events canceled because of ice, the course here was nearly 100% clear of it and I never risked slipping even if I was running wearing slick road shoes. No mud to be seen anywhere either.

Elevation-wise, at 57m elevation gain over 3 laps, Horsham parkrun is very mildly undulating. There are a couple of visible climbs, but they are pretty short. A few longer and milder enjoyable descents are peppered throughout, but in general elevation will not be a real concern here. Yes, there are uphills, yes, you will feel them. But they are behind you very quickly.

In terms of course layout, it is misshapen lollipop. It could remind something else, but let’s stick with lollipop. You run the out and back and the lake loop 3 times and end in the middle, in front of the visitor centre.

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

After the briefings, everyone walks along the straight that will become the out and back section to reach the start. Once everyone is ready, you start running straight, back towards the visitor centre. You pass the industrial buildings on your right, then descend the short hill towards the car park. At the end, leave the car park on your left and turn right and up, for a short segment in front of the visitor centre. Immediately in front of the cafe, turn 90 degrees right to enter the lake loop.

As you turn, you will soon turn slightly left and enter a wide curve to begin running around the lake. The first part of the loop is fairly open on the right, offering nice views, especially seeing how the whole field will be running together in a long snake of parkrunners, at least during the first lap. Eventually, you will pass by Dinosaur Island Children Play area and soon move into a segment more covered by trees.

After you turn right and cross a little wooden bridge, you enter a segment of the loop that strays away from the trees and enter the ‘forest’. One more straight and another wide curve will lead us towards a thicker tree-covered area and a light descent bringing us back towards the lake. At the bottom, you reach the late and turn right alongside it. Just a few seconds and then it’s time for a short uphill and one last left turn towards the lake. At the end, turn left and you are running under the visitors centre.

Pass a bench reserved to the ‘super fans’, then turn 90 degrees left again and you are up in front of the cafe again. Keep the left at the end of the first and second laps. Turn left again and you are in front of the lollipop stick. It’s an out and back, so go out and then… come back.

Do this all three times and at the end of the third lake loop, turn right in front of the cafe instead of left. The funnel will be seconds away.

Congratulations on completing Horsham parkrun!

Facilities at Horsham parkrun

I covered most of this above. The visitor centre is quite well appointed, with good selection and space indoor and a decent amount of outdoor tables if you are brave enough in cold weather. I was and managed to sit there about 15 minutes, using the accumulated body heat from the run, I guess.

The main Dinosaur Island play area is on the opposite side of the lake, probably 5 minutes walk away along the lakeside walk. I am sure there is enough to explore to spend a few pleasant hours around here.

I cannot comments on toilets. The outdoor ones were closed on the day of my visit and I did not check if there were indoor ones open for customers and parkrunners.

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 Horsham parkrun (winter location), I ordered a 7Up, a brownie and an espresso. This cost me £8.2, on the expensive side considering what it was.

Horsham 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

I visited Horsham parkrun on a miserable, freezing morning. But it was dry, and I really enjoyed it. I am usually skeptical about three-lappers, but Horsham’s is interesting enough not to get boring. Even during lap three.

I might come back to check the summer course out, I suspect it is probably worth the trip.

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