Frimley Lodge parkrun

Last parkrunday I visited Frimley Lodge parkrun for the second time. Since this is about 1h away from my base in South West London, a slightly unusual choice when there are so many events in the South East I still have to visit for the first time. But Frimley Lodge was the only Surrey event that, while visited, was not covered by an article on this website or by a video on my YouTube Channel. So my return was inevitable, and something I had been planning for a while.

After the launch of my Regionnaire Hub, the first pages about LonDone and the first two LonDone Rankings, Surrey was the obvious next area to explore. I have collected a lot of information through my parkrun adventures and this is a fun way to share it with the community.

My last trip to Surrey was just a few weeks ago, at Mole Valley parkrun. A second visit again, for the same reason. And these two events couldn’t be more different. One is essentially flat, pleasant in good weather, while the other is a scenic but relentless climb up a vineyard.

Frimley Lodge parkrun was also, I think, my first deliberate parkrun tourism trip. Long ago, before I started logging them on this site or recording them on video. Funny to think how a dark period of my life then triggered what turned out to be a very enjoyable hobby for me. And today, I was there again. Under the rain, but with some light shining behind the clouds.

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

Trip to Frimley Lodge parkrun and parking

The event takes place in Frimley Lodge Park. The beautiful park is in Frimley Green, a village in the borough of Surrey Heath. It is in the North West of Surrey, not far from county borders. This part of Surrey is not very far from Guilford, so very well served by major motorways and the railway lines.

According to the official event site, the closest station is Farnborough North. The station is managed by Great Western, offering connections to Reading, Guildford and Gatwick. The station is 1 mile away from Frimley Lodge parkrun meeting point. Farnborough Main station, is 2 miles away, so a bit further away, but it offers easier longer distance connections, being on the London Waterloo to Portsmouth line.

If you prefer driving, as I did, Frimley Lodge parkrun is very close to the A331, minutes away a large junction with the M3. So again, excellent connections with the South Eastern motorway network. Once you reach the park, turn into it from the main gate on Sturt Road and follow directions for the car park. It is a busy event and it takes place in a park where many other groups exercise on parkrunday mornings, so it gets busy. There is an overflow car park, but it might not be available if weather conditions are particularly bad.

On the day of my visit, I arrived there at 8:20 and the car park was already pretty busy. Not completely full, but busy enough that after a few minutes volunteers started looking for tight spots to accomodate newcomers. And, as I would come back soon, this was going to be a relatively low attendance day for Frimley Lodge parkrun.

Learning: if you decide to drive here, come early. It will avoid last minute panic.

Frimley Lodge parkrun: start and briefings

As you leave the car park, walk back towards the central avenue and turn left. It will just take a minute or two to reach a clearing in front of the cafe. Keep walking and just after the cafe you will enter a larger clearing. Here, in part under the trees and in part over the meadows, you will find Frimley Lodge parkrun meeting point.

On the day of my visit, it was surprisingly raining after nearly 2 months of real summer. The trees provided some protection from the rain, alternatively, people could go wait by the cafe buildings.

When time came, the First TIme Briefing was called next to a sponsor banner away from the trees. No more protection from rain anymore, but a nice welcome by two very friendly and excited volunteers. Then back to tree cover where everybody was congregating and where the ED was getting ready.

The Main Briefing started soon and it was pretty quick and efficient. The main warnings were about occasional tree roots and then a plea: try not to fall into the canal, the paperwork after fishing you out is horrendous. Understandable I guess: if you really want to, do that during the third lap, so they are not responsible for fishing you out.

Then everybody starts walking. I thought the start line would around the corner, but it wasn’t. It’s on the opposite side of the big field, so the herd cross it together, before seeding by expected pace.

Here it was. 3, 2, 1.

Time to go!

Frimley Lodge parkrun parkrun course review – star ratings

Frimley Lodge parkrun course review – route highlights

There were 460 parkrunners on the day of my visit to Frimley Lodge parkrun. This is a high number in absolute terms, but a big decrease from the previous week. A week ago this event hit its second highest attendance, with 777 finishers. I don’t know what triggered it, but maybe the overcrowding pushed some of the attendees from last week to one of the other great events in the area. Looking at long term attendance, it is consistently high, but fairly volatile. The floor seems to be in the mid 400s, with most events clocking in 5-600 attendees and the odd outlier above that. Given course layout, these are very large numbers and you will realise it deceptively late. The start is on a wide field and it will take a while to get to the first tight turns that don’t benefit from a broad field around them. Eventually, when you get to woodland and canal side trails, it will be narrow. And even if the field will naturally spread, if you are in the middle of the pack, 600+ runners here will most likely create meaningful congestion. 460 were ok, and I think you can add 50-100 to that without negatively impacting the experience, but 777 must have been carnage.

There are some subtle bottlenecks around this course, but nothing too concerning. A few bollards feature when transitioning from field to woods, but they are usually isolated ones on fairly comfortable corners. One specific feature is the model railway: you run towards it and then take a sharp right turn to cross through the middle of it. This means you will cross a set of railway tracks: all good if dry, maybe a bit slippery if very wet. Finally, the first part of the canal side straight can get quite narrow. As reminded by the team, try not to fall into it.

Surface is a mix of grass, hard paths and easy woodland trails. On dry days, the course is definitely regular enough to tackle in road shoes. It was when I visited, regardless of the rain, since it had been dry for a long time. However, since you both cross fields and run through woodland trails which were mushy with leaves even when I visited, I am pretty sure it can get quite muddy during winter. Probably not as muddy as nearby Woking parkrun, but still enough to make trail shoes the sensible choice.

Elevation-wise, at 31m elevation gain over two laps, this is definitely a flat course. It is not dead flat, but the only real elevations I noticed were the little bump to get up onto the canal-side straight and the slightly longer downhill to get down from it. There are some other very mild inclines, but I only know that because the team mentioned it and I can see it in the chart below. If your legs feel good, elevation won’t be what keeps you away from a good time here.

In terms of scenic value, Frimley Lodge parkrun offers an understated kind of beauty. You will not find sweeping vistas or major landmarks. But you will run through nice woodland and alongside a peaceful canal covered by mature trees. I would put it above your average run in the park.

To describe the course high level, I need to drastically simplify it. 2 laps, on one side of the lap you go down fields and woodland to reach the Southernmost point of the course. Then you turn around and go all the way up in a straight line alongside the Basingstoke canal. And repeat it all twice, roughly.

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

The start line is by the side of a field, allowing for a wide pen. But not as wide as Bushy, so seeding recommendations are still present. Start line congestion is minimal, and everybody starts running towards the edge of the field. Then you cross through a tree line separating two fields and immediately find yourself on the side of another field. Run through the short side, take a wide turn to the left end run the slightly longer side of the same field. At the end, take a 90-degree right turn and you are now on a good path with mature trees on both sides.

This path quickly leads you to the meeting point. Run past the meeting point, then run by the cafe and quickly turn hard left on a much narrower path to the side of a field. Here you briefly run in front of the cafe and then enter another small tree covered area. Run through this refreshing copse of trees before alighting again on the side of a field. Once again, this will be an L section, with the short side of the field followed by a left turn getting onto a slightly longer side. The longer side is probably on a slight uphill incline, but barely noticeable.

At the end of the longer straight, take a right turn and a short path will lead you to a small car park. Cross it and you will reach one of the buildings of the model railway. Turn hard right after the building and cross the mini train tracks. Follow along and run to the right of more train tracks for a short while, as you enter the woodland trails segment. As you leave the railway behind, the woodland trails segment keeps going through twists and turns for a short while, until you have to pass some bollards and take a hard left turn. A small incline and you are onto another field. This time, you will cross the field through its middle and reach the woodland on the opposite side.

On the other side, more woodland trails. This time, the path is narrower and there are some protruding tree roots signalled by the team. At the end of this segment, a steeper ramp towards the left will get you up onto the canal side path. It starts narrow, enough for two people to run next to each other. But it widens one third of the way in. At the beginning, the view on the canals are partially obstructed by shrubs, but that opens up too.

This is a long straight, but eventually, you reach the end. Take a half turn left and go down a steep incline that gets you back to the side of the little car park that led you to the model railway earlier. You can see people running in the opposite direction through the car park, but you keep right and avoid entering it. Instead, you leave the woodland and enter the field, crossing it in a straight line. Go through the short side of this field, pass a small line of trees and get on another field. Keep going to the end of it. This is where the finish funnel is set up, but the first time you get there, you need to keep going and do it all again once more.

The second time you get there, turn left before leaving the last field and go for a 50m sprint to reach the funnel.

Congratulations on completing Frimley Lodge parkrun!

Facilities at Frimley Lodge parkrun

This is a mid size park, with a lot of dedicated sports facilities. Not only several playing fields, but also a nice children play area with a zip line and, of course, their very own, elaborate, model train line.

Frimley Lodge 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 had a good memory of Frimely Lodge parkrun from my first visit and my second visit confirmed it. It is not a must see venue, but it is definitely more interesting than average. The course is very well designed and it offers a varied and comfortable experience. Volunteers are very welcoming and the cafe is charming.

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

Finally, obviously, thank you, Frimley Lodge parkrun team for your hospitality!