Parkrun tourism: Longrun Meadow parkrun
Longrun Meadow parkrun is the parkrun in Taunton. As the name suggests, it take place on a meadow.
My husband, eldest and I all went to Taunton to do a bit of parkrun tourism at Longrun Meadow recently. (If you’re new to parkrun, parkrun tourism is when you travel to different parkruns rather than running at your usual (home) one.)
The course really is a meadow, although it is run on paths. It is essentially a flood plain and does get flooded in winter (although the path is higher than the flood basin). We ran it in June, when the grass was high and the path was dry and dusty.
There were 318 people running or walking when we took part, which was on the high side of normal. There are usually about 260 to 320 runners at Longrun Meadow parkrun. Male first finishers’ times usually start with a 17 and female first finishers’ times usually start with a 19 or 20.
Parking is at Somerset College on the edge of the meadow. The toilets are at the Tesco close to the meadow. Don’t park at Tesco though, or you risk a fine! The start line is easy to find as it’s a big wooden shelter (Oak Barn). This is where the briefing takes place. We also went to the first timers’ briefing, delivered by a boy of about 12. There wasn’t a lot to learn other than that it’s a two-lap course and there’s a narrow bridge. Actually, I think there was two narrow bridges, but that was fine!
After the briefing, everyone moved over to the actual start line, which was on a tarmac path. This wouldn’t seem like a narrow path under normal circumstances, but it felt like one with 300 runners assembling. So it’s really important to get yourself into the right position for your pace. My husband and I lined up near the front as usual, with my son slightly behind, as this was only his second run this year. (His first being Severn Bridge parkrun a couple of weeks earlier.)
The start of the run felt like a bit of a squash. Then everyone suddenly stopped as there was a gate. Runners were crashing into each other, as they were trying to get through a very small pedestrian gate because the big, wide gate was closed. One of the runners stopped to open the big gate and everything was fine after that!
The tarmac pretty quickly came to an end and we were running on a gravel path, which was very dusty after a few weeks of dry weather. You could literally see the dust in the air as we ran.
Longrun Meadow is a very pleasant course. It is very flat and two laps, crossing the River Tone. With the grass so high, there wasn’t much to see apart from grass with runners’ heads peeping over the top!
As we ran, the sun came out and it was very warm. Despite the course being flat, it felt like a struggle on the second lap.
My husband got his best time this year and I equalled my second best time (achieved at Cannon Hill parkrun). I was 5th female and 1st in my age category. My eldest was about 30 seconds slower than he was at Severn Bridge.
Longrun Meadow parkrun was a lovely course and well worth a visit. (I’m sure it is very different in the winter though. I would definitely recommend checking the Facebook page before setting off in winter.)
