I headed to the West of Crawley, near Gossops Green, for Ifield Mill Pond parkrun. It’s a pretty run, though it’s worth knowing that this isn’t a rural run. The run neatly threads its way through a pocket of prettiness while houses and civilisation are very obvious.
I parked at Gossops Green Community Centre, but was the only one. It’s a good spot, though, as there are toilets (open from 8:30) behind the shops on Gossops Parade. It’s just a short walk down the hill to where the run starts, next to Broadfield Brook.
The course has a few out-and-back sections, and in places is pretty narrow. There’s enough space so long as we stick to the left. In several places, as you can see from the photos, there’s room to go onto the grass, but on this very wet day, trying that would probably have led to some comical slips and falls. I stuck to the path, and where that meant staying behind someone, I stayed behind.
There are a couple of 180° turns. One at the far end you do three times, and one near(ish) the finish twice. It’s enough to slow you a little bit, but then there are smiley marshals there to take your mind off it, so it’s definitely part of the fun.
At the pond there were some muddy areas next to the path on which geese waited, honking occasionally at the parkrunners. The picture below shows some of them on both sides of the path, biding their time to cross and join up again.
To my mind, this isn’t a course that’s a good choice for a social outing. Not on the course, anyway - both before and after people were chatting happily. With better conditions, one of you could be on the grass while running and walking, but otherwise the path is 3-4 people wide, so 2 people next to each other is a bit limiting. But on this day everyone got along and moved in and out when needed.
For full info, including exciting free local-bus info with a parkrun barcode, see the Ifield Mill Pond course page.
Results from Ifield Mill Pond parkrun, event #152, 10/2/24; 101 finishers