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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 Southwick Country Park, Trowbridge, and run on hard trail paths, 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.

Facilities

parkrunners are welcome to use the toilets and parking provided by Hope Nature Centre as long as parkrunners in return use their facilities (i.e. buy a cup of tea or similar). It is important we respect the facilities provided by Hope Nature Centre who provide a very important service to our local community by employing young adults with learning difficulties.

Course Safety

The Southwick Country 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 Southwick Country 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 Southwick Country parkrun in a larger map

Getting There

Location of Start

From the car park on the eastern edge of the course, enter the park and take the right fork and walk approximately 400 metres north west.

Getting There by Public Transport

By Bus: Service 234 arrives in Southwick at 0818 from Frome, Beckington and Rode. From the other direction, the 234 arrives in Southwick at 0853 from Chippenham (0740), Melksham (0812) and Trowbridge (0834). Please check the timetables before setting out on your journey.

By Train: From Westbury direction a service arrives in Trowbridge at 0822. From the Bath/Bradford on Avon direction, service arrives at 0828. Please check train times before setting out and be aware that Trowbridge Railway station is 1.8 miles from Southwick Country Park.

Getting There By Road

From Trowbridge: Follow the signs to A361 Frome as you exit Trowbridge and descend the dip; Southwick country Park is at the bottom of the dip on your right.

From Frome: Follow A36 toward Bath; when you arrive in Beckington take the A361 signed Trowbridge, pass through Rode then Southwick. As you exit Southwick the Country Park is at the bottom of the dip on your left.

From Westbury: Take the A350 North and from Chippenham/Melksham take the A350 South to a village called Yarnbrook. From Yarnbrook follow the signs to North Bradley. In North Bradley take a left at the Rising Sun roudabout, signed for Southwick. When you arrive at the raoudabout in Southwick turn right toward Trowbridge; as you exit Southwick the country park is on your left at the bottom of the dip.

Course Description

The course is on a 1868 metre lap and participents will run 2 and 2/3rd laps anti-clockwise, reaching the finish line on a fast downhill stretch near the tea room and the car park, making for some interesting finishes. See the map above for more.

Post Run Coffee

We urge all parkrunners and volunteers to meet in Squirrel's Tearoom, the cafe in Southwick Country Park. It is run by the Hope Nature Centre who employ young adults with learning difficulties, they also have an animal farm and a shop. The full address is: Squirrels Tearoom, Southwick Country Park, Frome Road, Southwick, Nr Trowbridge, Wiltshire BA14 9QD.