We were off to Southampton on the Friday afternoon, ahead of visiting family and going to the football on the Saturday. Originally I had hoped for a new parkrun event, as I’ve been to a fair few in the wider Southampton area (Southampton, Eastleigh, Bartley Park, Netley Abbey, Lee on the Solent, Itchen Valley, Winchester, Portsmouth Lakeside, Queen Elizabeth and even Isle of Wight)- I was hoping for Meon Valley parkrun as it looked lovely (along an old railway line) but the hotels near there turned out to be more expensive, and then we were needed in Southampton to pick up Andy’s aunt on the way to his grandma’s, so staying centrally made sense. I looked up my results and the only time I’d been to Southampton parkrun before was on NYE in 2016, so pretty much ten years ago. Predictably back then I got lost on the way, but also really loved going to such a busy event. This is all relative- back then there were 646 people taking part, and apparently the busiest one I had been to before that was 264 at Wimpole. They had a double funnel operating back then though, as someone behind me was given a card with a letter and sent to the other funnel. The course was definitely different as well, but according to my blog there was a winter and summer course- the one I did had two laps back then but I imagine with the even bigger numbers now they would keep to the pretty much one lap that they have now.
The start and finish areas (two bottom photos taken from the same spot but one pointing towards the pop up and start area, one towards the finish funnel), start sign, pop up and Poddington
So, onto the 2026 edition! As our hotel was about 2 miles away, it was perfect for a parkrun sandwich. Although I set off in the right direction, I got slightly lost but when I looked at the map I was on a road parallel to the road I was aiming for, so that was OK. The parkrun starts in the common, but the common is huge. They do direct you to head near to the Hawthorns centre, and as I entered the park at the south entrance I saw the “to the start” sign, however a few runners up ahead turned right at the next junction after this, so I followed them and ended up way over to the east of the park rather than in the centre where it starts. Never mind, I had plenty of time! The start/finish area is pretty huge as they are in the same field but a long way apart. The finish funnel is so long (I walked by it when I finished and it took 1 minute to walk the length of it), and next to it was a tarpaulin of trust so I left my bag there. The purple pop up was by the start area so I got a quick photo, but all the volunteers were meeting at the finish, so I hung around in the middle as I was not sure where the welcome would be- this turned out to be by the start so I had to jog over there quickly when it began! It turned out that there was also a tree trunk of trust by the start area, and this would be closer to the scanners so I could have left my bag there too.
First timers welcome and pop up photo
The volunteer explained the course and it sounded more like a one lap than a two lap. They did tell us about a hill that lasted 1km, that we would then get to run down (I think the other side of) and asked that we didn’t overtaken in the first km due to it being so busy. Soon after was the main briefing- I think this is the trouble with all huge events now, but despite the volunteers holding up the “quiet in the run brief” signs, there was so much chatting. At one point the RD asked everyone to poke the person next to them and remind them to be quiet- someone next to me did this to people I think they knew, but the people just carried on. I was close enough to hear most of the announcements, but it’s a shame people cannot listen for a few minutes- there could be safety issues to share (in fact there was one asking buggy runners to be careful as there had been many instances of buggies clipping the heels of other participants), but also there were some lovely milestones including a family where the dad was doing his 100th, the two kids were doing their 50th and they had also completed 50 junior parkruns. A local running club were also doing most of the volunteering but I could not catch who that was. They also mentioned pacers, so I tried to spot them in the crowd. I had looked up my previous time (30:22) so decided I should try and get a course pb and pacers are always helpful as I don’t like looking at my watch while I run.
Anyway, the briefing was brief and we started pretty promptly (there was a mobility scooter on the path so they let them go before starting everyone off), but as with any large event it was very stop-start. There didn’t seem to be any seeding (for example at Preston park they have little signs by the start area for sub 20, sub 25 etc) and I kept coming up behind walkers and people running at a slower pace, so it took a long time to settle into a rhythm as I felt like I was constantly changing my pace. I did overtake the walkers (when there was space to do so) as it felt like if I didn’t it would just cause more congestion.
Run briefing and then scenes from the parkrun- so many colourful tops stretched out ahead
It’s such a nice park- the paths are pretty wide but and you go past lots of variety- wildlife areas, wooded areas, open grassland, play parks… and it’s pretty flat. There was a slope you ran up (and here I ended up running faster as there was a dog on a waist harness that was all over the place and kept looking like it would trip people up- I don’t like running near to dogs either as I feel like I am being chased, so I put on a bit of a sprint to get past the dog so I could then relax a bit) thankfully it wasn’t too steep or too long.
I was trying to spot the pacers and I think after about 1km I caught the 33 min pacer (there were little km markers by the side of the path). After about 3km the field thinned out enough that I felt like I could get into a rhythm rather than ducking and weaving and speeding up to overtake. I think around the 4km mark I caught up to the 30 min pacer, and he was absolutely brilliant. He had a little pack of runners with him and he was chatting to them, encouraging them on, and as we ran the final km he started a countdown-telling us we had 800m to go, that we should finish a bit under 30 mins, and really motivating everyone to dig deep. As I got to the finish they had just opened up the next section of the funnel (which I think had 3 or 4 lines rather than just a double funnel)- the person ahead of me kept running, as did the person behind me, so to stay in order we all ran the length of the funnel before finally being able to stop.
Super marshals, and the busy finish funnel
I saw 28-something so I was pretty confident of a course pb unless there was some error with processing the results. I then got to admire the funnel manager- it was such an impressive operation to see, although the number of people who could not follow the instruction of “keep walking, right hand out” was mind boggling. We had to stand there for a few minutes while the funnel next to us had their tokens, and even when they switched between funnels the next token person was ready and counted in before they then jumped into position. There were lots of funnel duckers too, so I saw quite a few people offering to take two tokens because a person in front had left. It’s so impressive that the time you get is even close to your watch time when you take into account all of this happening as well.
Celebrating a course pb! And token 554- this was the place I was credited with too which was very impressive with the amount of people takin part- 1100 that morning so I was pretty much exactly half way!
After I got scanned, I had to then go back along the funnel to get my bag (via a quick pop up pic to celebrate the probable course pb), and then returned back to the city centre (not getting lost- hooray!) where I’d arranged to meet Andy for breakfast at a fab vegan cafe (Cafe Thrive)- he had ordered as we didn’t have a lot of time- we shared scrambled tofu, hash browns and a breakfast bap, and bought a couple of peanut butter croissants to have later.
Heading back to breakfast
So of course, no voronoi update as I’d already been here but below is the course map. You started with a small anti-clockwise loop at the bottom, then headed up the east side of the common, back down the west side all the way to the bottom (where the water is) and then back past the start area into the finish area.
Below is the section of the run from 2016 (as I recorded it as one activity rather than 3 separate ones)- even the direction is different as the main loop here was clockwise. It’s very interesting to see how different routes can be created in the same space.
Another very enjoyable parkrun for my 443rd parkrun
What next? Well, hopefully some more tourism soon although a few things are up in the air right now. Hopefully enjoying more of this spring-like weather!
