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The Course

The course is 5000m (5K) long. This has been accurately measured by us with a professional measuring wheel. The course is in Pennington Flash Country Park, Leigh, Greater Manchester, and run on Gravel paths and off-road, although some sections of the course do accumulate mud, leaves and puddles after rain. Dependent on availability, marshals will be at key sections of the course, or temporary signs in place.

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 Pennington Flash 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:

  • Please be considerate to the park and other park users at all times.
  • 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 Pennington Flash 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 Pennington Flash parkrun in a larger map

Getting There

Location of Start

Pennington Flash Country Park
off St. Helens Road
Leigh
Greater Manchester
WN7 3PA

From the main car park in Pennington Flash Country Park and walk past the children's play area to the start of the race, which is around 500 metres from the car park area. The parkrun start location will be signposted from the main car park.

Getting There by Public Transport

Bus

From Leigh Bus Station take the number 600 bus to the outskirts of the Park, alight at the Robin Hood pub. For up to date information and times please call GMPTE on 0871 200 2233.

Getting There on Foot

The Park is only a short walk away from Leigh town centre, there is a footpath entrance into the Eastside of the Park from St Helens Road, which will take you along the old Pennington Railway line.

Getting There by Road

The Park lies close to the A580 East Lancashire Road and is well signposted.The A580 can be accessed via junction 23 on the M6 or via the M60 Manchester ring road.There is a £1.20 charge for parking on the main car park. Alternative parking can be found at the entrance to the park on the left as you enter the main entrance and close by at Leigh Sports Village. Both of these car parks can be accessed free of charge.

Course Description

The course begins with a 400m run along a bridleway to a 3 lap clock-wise loop (1400m per lap) consisting mainly of a gravel trail with a grassy downhill section towards the end of the loop. Runners then finish with the same 400m run down the bridleway back to the start/finish. Anyone running the Pennington Flash parkrun for the first time will be amazed with the great views of both the park and Flash.

Post Run Coffee

Please join us for a post run coffee at the Rangers Hut near the main car park.