Parkrun tourism: Fire Service College parkrun

My husband and I recently did some parkrun tourism at Fire Service College parkrun in Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire. We’ve been slowly working our way round all the Gloucestershire parkruns and I’ve got just one left to do (Kingsway).

Fire Service College parkrun went away when the first lockdown started in 2020 and didn’t come back. It was replaced by Wolford Wood parkrun. Now Wolford Wood has stopped and Fire Service College came back in May this year. No doubt as a result of this, it is very popular with tourists, with the majority of runners being first timers to Fire Service College. On the day we ran it, 129 of the 193 participants were new to Fire Service College, including 18 first timers to parkrun.

As its name suggests, the parkrun is on the grounds of the national Fire Service College, which is a huge, flat open site. As it is a secure working site, parkrunners have to strictly keep to the area of the parkrun for warming up and cooling down.

There is a large car park close to the start line, which is very well marshalled. Toilets are in the sports centre on site, right by the car park.

Dogs aren’t allowed on site all – I saw a lady sat outside the fence watching the runners with her two dogs.

Both the first timers’ briefing  and the main briefing were delivered by very friendly and helpful volunteers. We learned that the course was wide enough for overtaking, so there was no clear overtake on the right or overtake on the left rule. We also learned that, while flat, the course can be quite uneven under foot.

Fire Service College parkrun is a three lap course, which is essentially laps of two large sports fields, with a cut through woodland in the middle.

My husband and I lined up near the front and there was a very quick ‘3,2,1 go!’. I wasn’t quite ready with my watch and my music, but I took off quickly. I thought I was in second lady position.

The course heads out on the grass in a straight line as far as the entrance gate. It then turns left and runs along the side of the sports field, before briefly entering the woodland. The woodland bit is a tarmac path, but it is uneven and damaged.  It then goes round the edge of another sports field before going back into the woodland. The course then cuts across the middle of the first sports field before we do it all again. And again. The finish line is right by the start line.

The course is very well marked with little yellow flags and arrows and some arrows sprayed on the ground, so there’s no chance of getting lost.

As we were warned, it was a bit uneven underfoot, but not as bad as at Thoulstone parkrun the previous week.

Before going to Fire Service College, I felt there was a very small chance of being first lady. I remained convinced I was second lady and I was more than OK with that. I didn’t dare look over my shoulder to check whether any women were gaining on me!

I crossed the line in 22:44, which I was very happy with. I was a few seconds behind my husband, so he was happy too! After a couple of months of me beating him in races and at parkrun, he’s started to beat me again.

When the results came through, it turned out that I wasn’t actually second lady as I’d thought. I was actually first lady! This was a very pleasant surprise. I got first lady three times last year (Newent, Marine Parade and Mallards Pike), but this was my first time this year. I also had the highest female age grading of the day, and the first finisher had the highest male age grading of the day. This is unusual. There is usually a woman in her 60s who has run 24 minutes who takes the highest age grading.

If you’re looking for a flat parkrun in the Cotswolds, Fire Service College is well worth a visit. Although I suspect it would get rather muddy in the winter or after periods of heavy rain.

Parkrun tourism is when you run at a parkrun other than your regular (‘home’) parkrun. Some people do it every week. Some people never do it. We mainly do it when we are on holiday or need to be somewhere other than our local park at 9am on a Saturday. But we also like to go somewhere different just for fun every now and then. Some people do challenges with their parkrun tourism, which are on the 5k app. I’ve never bothered with these, but my friend Joy aka Pink Oddy is a fan.

We’re slowly working our way through the Gloucestershire parkruns. I haven’t blogged about all of them, but we’ve now done: Berkeley Green, Cheltenham, Cirencester, Fire Service College, Forest of Dean, Gloucester City, Gloucester North, King George V Playing Field (Cheltenham), Lydney, Mallards Pike, Newent, Stonehouse, Stratford Park (Stroud), Tewkesbury, Tetbury Goods Shed, Wotton.