Tonbridge parkrun

On this hot parkrunday, I decided to head out to Kent and visit Tonbridge parkrun for the first time.

I have been going East a few times recently, including my visit to Hadleigh parkrun last week. But that was Essex, my last visit to Kent dated as back as January, when I had a beautiful and memorable trip to Whitecliffe Lakes parkrun. That was little more than 6 months ago: as much as this could become a memorable semi-annual celebration, I think I should probably come to Kent more often if I want to complete exploring all events in this beautiful corner of the country. I am at 9 out of 26 currently: still a good amount of touristing to go!

This was not a long planned visit. While I do have a few events I’ve looked in for the next few weeks or had done for recent weeks, this parkrunday was left blank. On parkrunday eve I still did not know where I would go and, while I had a half plan to re-do an event in Surrey, I still checked the parkrun app to see if any new event would serve my challenge obsession. And that’s how Tonbridge stood out. A random high prime number, how could I miss that?

Tonbridge was also an eyesore in my Voronoi map, since I had visited nearby Leybourne Lakes parkrun and Kingdom parkrun. I had been eyeing this event for a while obviously, and now there was a perfectly pointless reason to come! The out and back design of the course intrigued me, and I didn’t even know there was a castle overlooking the course yet!

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

Trip to Tonbridge parkrun and parking

Tonbridge parkrun takes play in Haysden Country Park, on the Western edges of the town of Tonbridge, in Kent. While you will head further into the park during the event, start line and meeting point will be by the Lower Castle Car Park and the Swimming Pool.

In terms of general location, Tonbridge is not far from Sevenoaks or Tunbridge Wells. This means we are on the North-Western part of Kent, not far from the M25 and London. It should make a trip down here fairly manageable however you decide to reach it.

However, the official event site does not offer any potential train option to get there by public transport. It does suggest an Aviva bus, in case you want to try checking out that alternative. No worries though: google maps came to help and it showed me that Tonbridge station is not too far away. The station is served by Southeastern and it offers connections to London Charing Cross, Ashford International and Hastings. Once you are there, Tonbridge parkrun meeting point will be 0.7 miles away, or about 15 minutes walk. Or a bit longer, if you walk at a leisurely pace and take in the charming surroundings.

If you are driving, start with the postcode above and then pick the Lower Castle car park as destination. Tonbridge is not far from the M25: after a short detour onto another major motherway heading for Sevenoaks, you transition to local roads and quickly reach Tonbridge town centre. As you cross through it, turn towards the castle and navigate a few turns around the very small local roads around the castle. Head for the car parks and try leaving your car close to the Swimming Pool building.

The car park is not free, but it can be paid for easily using the RingGo app and cost is reasonable. It is a busy location, so come early enough. When I got there, I arrived at 8:30 and there were still a lot of available spots.

Tonbridge parkrun: start and briefings

As you leave the car park, head for the swimming pool building. Do not use the ‘get me there’ function of the parkrun app, it is set wrong and it will send you the opposite way. Once you reach the large swimming pull building, turn right and cross a little bridge to reach the fields where the meeting point is. Turn right again after the bridge and cross a little gate: you are now where you want to be.

Facilities will all be back at the swimming pool building, so go there when ready. Once you are though, you will be met by a large open field, with volunteers congregating next to the perimeter path and a small garage building. A very long funnel and signs to identify pace groups will meet you. Which might look surprising, because well within the First Timers Briefing, the area did not look very busy. But suddenly, when it is nearly 9am, the horde will arrive. Oh yes, it will.

The First TImers briefing happened by the little garage building and it was a fairly intimate affair. The numbers here are high and they all mostly local, which is a great testament to the community!

Once it’s nearly 9am, everybody starts lining up in big messy bunches along the path and, eventually, the Main Briefing will start. They have loudspeakers, but it’s busy enough to make it slightly challenging to hear. But not hard enough not to catch the countdown.

Here it was. 3, 2, 1.

Time to go!

Tonbridge parkrun course review – star ratings

Tonbridge parkrun course review – route highlights

There were 669 parkrunners on the day of my visit to Tonbridge parkrun. Beautiful number, auspicious. Looking at their historical attendance levels, I actually ended up visiting on a day that was busy, but not as busy as most other weeks this year. Since March, Tonbridge parkrun seemed to have settled on fields of more than 700 parkrunners, with one exception seeing 561. Even before March, attendance seemed to be often above 600, with a few events below that mark. As things were on the day I visited, the event definitely felt busy and, while the team found a smart way to deal with it immediately after the start line, there is nothing they can do to manage flow in and out the many bridges that feature around the course. On the way out, I think every bridge acted as a bottleneck, with people having to stop and wait for their turn to walk over the bridge. I can only imagine things get exponentially worse with 15% more runners, on days when fields are in the mid 700s. Tonbridge risks being a victim of its own success if attendance continues growing: if a new event were to sprout somewhere nearby, I think it would be a good thing for Tonbridge parkrun.

As said above, this is a tale of many bottlenecks. The course profile is relatively open and airy, even in the forest trail segments, but what makes it novel and whimsically enjoyable is also what creates a lot of repeated congestion. There are many bridges along the course, 4/5 at least, maybe more. And it is a an out and back course, so some of them will see substantial 2-way flow. A few of the bridges accomodate 2 runners abreast, some of the later one are actually only good for one person at a time. This meant that a large group of people would approach the bridge and then wait for their turn to get on it and walk to the other end. For the later, narrower one, mid pack parkerunners also had to give precedence to lead runners already coming back. It is still a very enjoyable course, but I think it would probably benefit having 20/30% fewer runners on the course.

Surface is very mixed. It starts on grass, then transitions on paved paths, forest trails and hard paths. A bit of everything and all surfaces were a pleasure to run on with road shoes on the day I visited. I can imagine some sections can get slipper or muddy during heavy rain periods, but trail shoes are definitely not needed during summer.

Elevation-wise, at 12m elevation gain over one out and back, this is a completely flat course. Do you accumulate those 12m just going up and down the bridges? Probably not, but close enough. Looking at the chart below, it looks like there might be some minor elevation gain shortly after the starting straight, but it is not something I have noticed while running the course. Hills will not be something to be afraid of when visiting Tonbridge parkrun.

In terms of scenic value, this is definitely an event I would put above average. It’s not that there is any specific breathtaking view, you don’t even see the nearby castle from the course. But it is such a collection of different environments, all beautiful in their own way, that the combination of it all is quite special.

The course is designed as a lollipop. You go out all the way to the lake, run around the lake and then come back over the same route. The stick of the lollipop is anything but straight, including curves and a mini out and back in itself, making things even more interesting.

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

The start is on the path to the side of big, grass fields. It would never work if all 700 parkrunners were asked to follow the path, so the team has done something smart: a diverting line of cones was positioned on the grass, getting progressively wider. It allows the large field to funnel out, regardless of the narrow start. This means that there is essentially no congestion at the start and everyone can run for about 300m towards the end of the field. Then there is a gentle, wide left turn and another 100m along the same field, before transitioning onto another, nearby field.

After a short L-shaped segment on the side of this new field, everyone reaches the first bridge. This is also the only one that is quite significantly elevated from the main path. You need to climb up and then descend twice as much to the path on the next field. This was also the bridge where I experienced the bottleneck that took longest to clear, with maybe half a minute or so spent standing in line waiting for my turn to get on the bridge.

As you go down from the bridge, enjoy a short downhill and keep running straight on the side of a field again. At the corner, you will enter the short out and back bit. Turn 90 degrees right and run for maybe 100/150 metres before turning around at a cone. This is quite scenic, especially during the way out. A large field of people running in opposite directions, while nearly everyone is still fairly close to each other. As you get back to the area where you had entered this detour, keep going straight for a while alternating open grounds and light vegetation before taking a turn into the woodland.

The change in scenery is quite interesting too. It starts going under a road bridge, with barriers to navigate on both sides and colourful graffitis under the bridge. As you emerge from under the small bridge, you are now running under mature trees and not alongside open fields anymore. The path starts narrow but flat and well beaten, and it will gradually become more ‘traily’ as the run progresses.

You will very soon meet another very narrow bridge at a 90-degree left turn from where you are coming from. This was another major choke point for me, having to stop and wait for my turn to get on it and walk to the other side. It is only the first one in a series of a few similar little bridges that come in quick succession. It’s a beautiful setting and a fun course, but congestion was there. It got a bit better with any further bridge though: I guess the previous bottlenecks had acted as flow regulators.

As you keep going, woodland becomes slightly denser, creating a beautiful, immersive atmosphere. Eventually, you come out into a clearing for a quick, large right-leaning curve and then you are back into the woodlands. And now a section of true forest trails begins. Less well pressed, but wider paths and beautiful, scenic mature trees all around. I started seeing bigger groups of people coming in the opposite direction here, creating an even more engaging chaotic environment.

It won’t be long before you cross one more bridge, this time wider. Immediately after the bridge, a left turn gets you onto the loop around the lake. For a short while, you will see the lake on your right, but then the left side of the loop strays further away from the water. You see glimpses of the lake here and there, but this is mostly a wide semi-circle through beautiful green fields, with trees on your right.

At the top of the lake, you get back to the shores. The mid point of the loop is where you have the best views on this beautiful lake, then you start going back towards the intersection point. This time, close to the shore, with frequent views on the water. It won’t be long before you will reach the intersection again and, this time, turn left onto the bridge again. And now, the way back starts, following exactly the same route.

The only difference is at the very end, when you will follow the perimeter path of the field through a few twists and turns, rather than cutting through the grass as you did on the way out.

Congratulations on completing Tonbridge parkrun!

Facilities at Tonbridge parkrun

All facilities are consolidated within the swimming pool building. Toilets are available before the event, just enter the building and they will be on your right before having to pass the turnstiles.

The same building hosts a small cafe for refreshments after the event. It is nothing to write home about, but it offers some limited sweet or savoury options and a few tables. Seating is all indoor, so not great for a warm day, also bearing in mind it is only separated from the pool by a large glass window, so humidity carries over.

The cafe is totally fine if you only want quick refreshments, but if you want a more relaxed and better quality parkbreakfast, I guess you could have a short walk and go to Tonbridge high street, where I am sure there will be several options to pick from.

Tonbridge 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

Tonbridge parkrun has grown massively recently, and it definitely deserves it. It’s a beautiful, out and back course with a lot to offer. It is now probably at risk of becoming a victim of its own success, but I did enjoy my visit even with the slight overcrowding.

It’s very well worth a visit if you are in the area, you will enjoy it.

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