How time flies by it is 2 months since I finished off my Capital parkrun challenge and now I have 2 new Greater London events to run, first up is South Norwood!

Wow there have been times in running London’s green spaces that have heartened my soul and South Norwood Country Park is one of those success stories!

This park was opened into 1989 and it is amazing to see it’s transformation from once a disused sewage farm into a beautiful nature reserve that the local community can enjoy is a joy to behold for time and memorial!

Not sure the reason why but it was brilliant to see so many fellow parkrun tourists friends at this event, it was great to catch up, chat and reminisce where I met them during my capital challenge!

So many lovely memories of previous events came flooding back that it almost brought a tear to my eyes, tops days with great company 🙂

Course

The course comprises of just over two clockwise laps of the park that is entirely a trial run with no tarmac in sight!

Important points to note

• The course surface is almost made up of a well maintained gravel path, with just a few small sections made up of either earth or grass based in nature
• In elevation terms apart from a very short raise to the parks observation mound it is very flat and fast in nature
• Finally in wet conditions this course could be tricky to run and trail shoes maybe the way to go

Personal Stats

Just great to be there and support my friend Martin around the course time 42:32

Important Info

There is a free car park by the visitor centre that is next to the start, Sat Nav SE25 4QL and always important toilets were available at the centre before the start of the parkrun!

For the post run coffee we decided to use the refreshment building by the pitch and putt course, but you can also use Croydon Arena next door!

Facilities included

• Wild flower meadows
• Wet land and lake
• Viewing mound
• New children’s playground
• Pitch and putt
• Visitors centre

 

Final Verdict

I would like to thank Jasmine and her team of volunteers for making us all feel extremely welcome. The thing that sticks in my mind is this event has only going five weeks, they were only four runners short of their inaugural total of runners and it did not faze them a bit, outstanding work Team Norwood!

Special mention to Andrew Warden in the green top beating his previous PB at South Norwood by nearly 5 minutes, top running sir!

So finally if you want a flat lovely course to run around then South Norwood is the place to visit!

For me I have one new parkrun to run in Hoblingwell to regain my Greater London parkrun regionnaire status. So watch this space for my 49th and currently final capital parkrun!

Best

Mark aka Silent Runner

Run on 05/08/2017