Somerdale Pavilion parkrun - event 234

On the 8th November 2025 I ran the Somerdale Pavilion parkrun which was the 234th event held at the venue, my 261st parkrun and 178th different course I'd attended.

There are a handful of parkrun events that have gained iconic status. Events such as Whinlatter Forest, Woolacambe Dunes, Fountains Abbey and Great Yarmouth North Beach are often spoken about by parkrun tourists as 'must visits' and are notorious for either being a challenge or just breathtakingly beautiful.

Somerdale Pavillion parkrun fits into the upper echelon of 'special' category and is famed specifically for it's quite bonkers course layout and 'curly wurly'. Which is the name given to the spiral part of course that winds around in a circle to the centre and comes back out again, all on a single path.

Football once again came to my support and was used as a vehicle to make parkrun tourism more palatable. Driving three hours to Keynsham just for a 5k run is difficult to justify in anyone's book, but combining it with a Gillingham FC away day makes much more sense. So when we were scheduled to play away to Bristol Rovers a plan was hatched.

One thing that I hadn't factored into my now well polished routine was Hayden and Phoebe's school trips.

Hayden was due to visit the Isle of Wight for four days to take part in his PGL trip, which all three of the kids have done as part of their final year at junior school. Phoebe was due to be in southern Spain and enjoying the sights of Granada and Seville. So with both kids always Stephanie and I took some time away ourselves and had a lovely few days in Christchurch enjoying the woods of the New Forest and the seas of the Jurassic coast.

Friday then was a challenging travel day, as we had to get back from Christchurch on the South coast, pick Hayden up from the coach at 5:30 in Gravesend and then head west to Bristol for our football/parkrun adventure.

To make things easier for myself, Steph drove home from Christchurch, meaning I was well rested. Hayden had a more challenging time as he'd already been cooped up on a coach for four hours and now needed to spend another three in the car. At least on the trip with me he had access to a tablet which he been banned from over the previous few days with the school.

The drive west wasn't particularly enjoyable. In the dark the whole way in torrential rain meant that plenty of concentration and tired mind by the time we arrived. I drove in one go without needing to stop in order to get some better food options at the hotel rather than a service station burger. The Brewers Fayre at the Premier Inn is always reasonable value and was just what both of us needed after a long day.

After the heavy rain the day before I was expecting a rough morning, but we woke up to quite glorious weather. It was blue skies and sunshine above and over the rolling fields nearby was a wonderful setting of rising mist that made the parkrun venue even more appealing when we arrived.

Up above the mist in the distance was a train of hot air balloons which were heading in our direction and we had them accompanying us for the duration of the event.

Somerdale Pavillion is a sports complex on the edge of a housing development on the edge of Keynsham. It is my understanding that the location was the previous spot of a chocolate factory. Fry's chocolate creams were made here if you remember them, which I just about do as my mum was quite partial to the mint version if I remember correctly.

The course itself is ran on the cyclo-cross circuit that is situated as park of the complex. I have no idea of what cyclo-cross is, other than it being a form of bicycle racing which is done on trail based courses.

As mentioned above the course includes a curly wurly element which is completed three times. Once each on both laps and again for a third just before the finish which in on the exit of the element itself.

With the course winding in and around itself in an area that was vastly reduced in size in comparison to a standard two lap course,  I took the opportunity to run without Hayden.

Parkrun rules do dictate that children under 11s need to be accompanied by an adult. But having Risk assessed it myself, determined that I'd be able to see him across the whole course at any time I'd be able to catch him up and finish, whilst completing another lap with him to ensure we did finish together as determined by the rules.

This did mean however I got my full monies worth on the curly wurly. I walked it once when we arrived to show Hayden what the fuss was all about (he was actually a little bit impressed!), three times as part of my run and then a fifth as I walked around again with Hayden as he finished the last part of his third lap.

Fridays rain did mean that the course was muddier than it probably had been in previous weeks, but the sun was out and the weather was actually warming up quite nicely. But the ground conditions had taken a bit due to the rain and I witnessed two people slipping over as they navigated one of the many bends on the course on a muddy, slippy surface.

I did run the course and found it rather challenging as aside from the slippery parts it was also quite rough on the ankles and there were places you had to carefully navigate your way through as a wrong move and you'd be foot deep in a pothole.

I took both of those though in the spirit of the event and made the whole thing even more bonkers, even more fun. It was also nice to be able to run and still have Hayden with me but without the moaning and histrionics!

I finished in 157th place out of a field of 190 participants in a time of 31:45. That was despite me catching up with Hayden and completing the last part of the course at walking pace as we enjoyed some of the course together.

Hayden eventually finished just under 55 minutes and after his lazy stroll around the field we were in danger once again of missing breakfast. So it was back to the car as quickly as we could and back to the hotel for bacon and pancakes.

I thoroughly enjoyed the parkrun event and it is definitely one that all parkrun tourists should visit of and when they can. 

After such a good morning, it was the football that was going to ruin the day again wasn't it?

Unfortunately not, Gillingham followed the script for a nice change. Hayden and I took our first visit to the Memorial Ground and came home with a 1-0 win courtesy of an unbelievable Max Clark wonder goal.

Picking Hayden up on Friday from his school trip he croaked to me that he'd lost his voice somewhere on the Isle of Wight after a silent disco. Said football was the worst idea for him in his state and it proved to be rather accurate! He could barely speak walking out the ground and for those who know Hayden will know that's a blessing!