Telford parkrun, Shropshire

Telford parkrun route - one small lap, cutting across the middle, then one large lap, going all the way down to the bottom of the map, past Fletcher's Pool.

The Town Park is just to the South East of town, and the parkrun starts even closer, outside the Visitor Centre. I chose free parking down at the SE corner of the park, just over a mile away from the start. There is paid parking much closer to the start, either the Dark Lane car park mentioned on the course page, or for just £1, the Rugby Club, diagonally opposite the Dark Lane car park (some say the postcode for the latter is wrong, and when I checked it pointed to the rugby club, so it would get you there, if not quite where you might expect - check that you're being taken to Dark Lane, at least).

The visitor centre. Post parkrun, so no evidence of it, but the start is on the path to the right.

The start takes you downhill to get to the lake, and you then head round the lake and cut across the middle of the park for the first, short, lap, before repeating the loop and adding some more on at the bottom edge. It's very straightforward, and it's organised such that very few, if any, people need to worry about being lapped by the faster runners.

Runners get going.

The course is very green, and mostly shaded, with tree-lined paths making up most of the course. It's a very pleasant place to be. It's a busy event, with close to 400 finishers this Saturday, but it very quickly didn't feel crowded, despite the paths not being that wide. There's enough space for people to stretch out, once through the first section going downhill.

Greenery and runners

The finish area is not quite as far up as the start, but it does still involve a cruel hill at the end of the run, before a last quick section on the flat coming into the finish itself. There's loads of space here afterwards to relax in the sun, if there is any, or just to mill around chatting.

The finish line and grassy area for a nice lie down.

Telford parkrun is another great parkrun, with good facilities, a great park to run/walk around and plenty to see and do afterwards if you want to stick around (it may be that if you do, you should check with the rugby club when they close their gates, but that may not be an issue, and could just be an excuse to move to the small free parking areas at the South of the park).

Results from Telford parkrun, event 388, 21/5/22, with 377 finishers.