Attempting to spread my tourism of parkruns to the West Country I decided to visit Killerton parkrun on my latest visit to Taunton, which is a real beauty. Killerton is a National Trust house and grounds in Devon fairly close to Exeter (for more info see here). It was a glorious sunny morning on the day of my visit but due to a fair bit of rain in the days preceding it was a bit muddy in places. The run director, who also gave the first timer and visitor briefing warned that trail shoes were recommended and that if we didn't have trail shoes it might be worth getting some before the next visit due to the largely cross country nature of the course and the time of year. Parking at this parkrun is free for National Trust members and £2 for non members. If you are a National Trust member you are also asked to put your name down on a clipboard at the end of the run as your visit counts towards funding the property receives from the trust for visitor numbers. It is a very pretty and scenic run around the grounds of Killerton with some great views of the local landscape, it is also fairly hilly, not nearly as hilly as say Rushmere, but still a fairly good challenge and a good excuse to get your trails out (especially in wetter months). I also set a fairly quick time here to continue my run of sub 25 parkuns. Also cowpat warning! [I visited here on 27th October 2018]
Difficulty
This course is definitely a 3 out of 5. The terrain and undulating first couple of km, combined with slippery mud, a banked start, cow pats, puddles and lack of grip combine to make this a real challenge, in summer it might be a bit easier, but you'd still have the banking and undulations to deal with.
The Course
A single lap anti-clockwise course (been doing a lot of lap based parkruns lately, so a single lap parkrun is a nice treat!). You start on a field with a sloped bank which is a short walk north from the car park and stables and you can catch a view of the house on your walk out to the start. The briefing is held at the start and the visitor briefing is worth attending to give you some tips of what to expect out on course (including tips to bring trail shoes, unfortunately I was wearing road running shoes and just about managed but I would have been better in trails or hybrids).
You start running in a more or less northerly direction (the course is banked here across the field so go careful). You have a left and a right turn to negotiate staying out in the open along a fairly flat grassy/muddy trail route for about a km (watch out for cowpats, which are plentiful), before sweeping left and west into the woods for the next km or so where you are following an undulating wood trail which will take you south, with a couple of sharpish turns. Turning right out of the woods back out into the open you are now heading west again with open views to your right, and the wood to your left. You are on a compacted gravel/mud path now heading downhill and you will be staying close to the woods for 500m or so. You now sweep left away from the woods and are heading south towards a farm, this path was very muddy with plenty of puddles on the morning I visited and was very slippery without trail shoes on. After 500m or so you will reach the farm and you turn left here to head east for about 1km. For the final km there is a right turn then left turn and then you are on the final straight which is North West across some fields.
The finish is not at the start and is very close to the stables and carpark where you would have parked.
The barcode scanning area is a short walk from the finish at some tables under a National Trust gazebo next to the stables.
Elevation
The first two km are undulating but in a general downwards direction, so while there are some challenging uphil sections you are rewarded with more downs than ups, the final 3km are broadly flat but with a slight upwards incline towards the finish. According to https://jegmar.com/stats-hq/fastest-races/parkrun/ it is ranked 338 in elevation out of the 519 that they have ranked.
Parking, Facilities and Coffee
Parking here is in the National Trust carpark and is free for members (print a free ticket using your National Trust card and display in your car), or £2 for non members. Toilets are available in Killerton's visitor car park. Coffee is provided by Killerton's Stableblock Tea Room who open at 09:30 especially for parkrunners, I can thoroughly recommend the flat white.
Link to the official parkrun site for this event: http://www.parkrun.org.uk/killerton/
Link to the National Trust website: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/killerton
Link to a video I found on youtube of a first finisher view of this parkrun :
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