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The Course

The course is in Colwick Country Park and is 5km long. The course is on a mixture of concrete paths and grassed areas. Some of the paths go through areas of woodland and trees and therefore will accumulate mud and leaves, and leave puddles after rain. Dependant on availability, marshals will be situated at key areas of the course that happen to be particularly muddy or wet.

Please remember that the parkrun uses shared paths. For the continued success of the event, please give way to other park users. This won't hurt your time, it won't stop you from getting a PB and it will make sure everyone continues to to enjoy the event.

Please, wherever possible walk, jog, cycle or use public transport when attending the event. If you do have to drive, please consider car-sharing to reduce our impact on both the environment and other park users.  Please also watch out for other park users when arriving and leaving. Parking is limited so try to arrive early.

Course Safety

The Colwick parkrun is a fun, free event organised by volunteers for the benefit of everyone. We wish to make the run as safe as possible, so runners, spectators and helpers are asked to take care about the following:

  • Colwick Country Park is a well-used site for walkers, fishermen and Adventure Centre users so please do be considerate to others whilst on your run.
  • Please arrive by foot, by pedal-power or by public transport if you can - your efforts help to reduce our impact on the park and the planet.
  • Please consider volunteering to help occasionally - this event survives only because of your generosity - please vist the volunteer page for more information.
  • Take care near roads and car parks - some vehicles drive very quickly. Please congregate away from the cars and be careful in particular if you have children. If you’re driving to the run, please drive carefully even if you’re late!
  • When running, take care on uneven surfaces - whether on grass or on tarmac. Watch out for cyclists, other runners, pedestrians, children, deer, dogs, vehicles, park maintenance work, falling branches, bollards, posts and other obstacles around the course.
  • Runners with dogs are welcome, but please keep dogs on a short lead or harness and under control throughout the event.
  • Runners pushing buggies are also welcome, but please take extreme care of other runners around you. If possible start from the back of the field and try to keep to one side of the main body of runners.
  • Please make sure you’re fit enough to run 5k (3.1 miles). Health advice about running can be found at the excellent Runners' Medical Resource website.
  • Remember to warm up before the run.
  • If you see a runner with a serious problem, please stop to help them out and get help as soon as possible.
  • If you’re watching, keep clear of runners on the course, and look after any children and dogs you may have with you.
  • While rare, Lyme Disease is present in areas where deer live, and occasionally passed to human’s through infected ticks. See NHS Choices website for more about Lyme Disease, and how to deal with ticks.
  • This is a free training event, so all run and attend at their own risk.

We hope these tips help to ensure that Colwick parkrun is fun and safe for everyone.

Age Grading

All parkrun events use Age Grading to help athletes compare results.

Age Grading takes your time and uses the world record time for your sex and age group to produce a score (a percentage). This score allows you to compare your personal performance against other people's performances even though they might be a different age and a different sex to you - the higher the score the better the performance. The scores can also be compared across different run distances - to allow you to, for example, compare a 5km time against a marathon.

For more information, please see the Running For Fitness website.

Course Map


View Colwick parkrun in a larger map

Course Description

(Note that the course may change slightly in the first week or two of the event as we decide on the best possible route)

The parkrun course at Colwick Country Park is 5km long and is made up of 1 lap of the main lake and 2 laps of the smaller West lake. The route is mainly on informally surfaced paths combined with short road and grass sections.

The run starts alongside the Colwick Adventure Centre and the west lake and follows the main path clockwise around the smaller west lake. After approximately ¾ of a lap of the lake runners split off to the left through the woods to then complete a lap of the larger main lake. Following the lakeside path clockwise, runners will reach the main entrance and fishing lodge, proceed along the straight main drive and then continue clockwise on round the south shore of the lake and past the marina.

On nearing the Adventure Centre again the route will split left and complete a further whole lap of the small lake before returning to the start.

Getting There

Location of Start

The course starts at the Adventure Centre Car Park (also called the West Lake Car Park)

Getting There by Public Transport

Nottingham City Transport buses: Number 44 from stop Q3 on Queens Street (outside the Post Office).

Park and Ride service: City link 2 from stop CL2 on Lower Parliament Street (outside Victoria Centre)

Getting There on Foot

Access Colwick Country Park via Mile End Road off Colwick Loop Road

Getting There by Road

Colwick Country Park is adjacent to the Park and Ride and the Race Course, 2 miles from Nottingham City Centre. Take the A612 out of Nottingham and at a mini roundabout turn right down the side of the race course and along the river Trent.

The entrance to Colwick Country Park is on River Road - located off Mile End Road which in turn is off the Colwick Loop Road.

For satnav users, the approximate postcode is NG4 2EW.

Parking

A small free car park is located near the site entrance, with two further car parks on the site which are charged at £1 all day via barrier access. Please see the site & route map for details.

Other Facilities

There is an ice cream van and light bites (tea, coffee and snacks) available at the park via an external company who will be on site, so please join us for a coffee after the event when the weather allows. There is also a Toby Carvery Pub that opens at 11am.

Toilets are located on site in the small building midway between the fishing lodge and large tarmac car park.