PARKRUN REVIEW: WYTHENSHAWE, MANCHESTER, UK

Name: Wythenshawe Park
Address: South Manchester

improveyourrun9
Jun 5
3 min read

COURSE INFO & REVIEW

*Note: course info is accurate to my knowledge based on the run I did back in October 2025.

This parkrun is located at Wythenshawe Park, South Manchester. I have run at this park a number of times before for the Sale Sizzler 5K events over summer, so knew most of the park already, but this was the first parkrun I had done here.

Today I was running with one of my clients, Han, to see if we could get her a parkrun PB. Unfortunately we had picked a bad weekend for it as it was "Storm Amy" which meant that there were fierce winds slowing us down a lot so we just had to do it as quick as we could in the circumstances.

"Expect widespread gales and damaging gusts of wind, with the most severe conditions expected in the north-western areas of the UK." - not the optimal conditions for a 5K run!

Woman and Man in front of Wythenshawe parkrun sign — At the start of Wythenshawe Parkrun with my client, Han

I parked in the car park where the track was so that we could do a warm up by jogging over to the start point. I've parked in this car park before for the Sale Sizzler which is usually full, but there was a bit more availability today and it's a free car park.

Runners ready to start Wythenshawe parkrun — Near the start point of Wythenshawe Parkrun

The course started off on a big grass area and it wasn't that clear where we would be running so we just ran along with the crowd until they turned. You then join on to the path near where the Oliver Cromwell statue is.

Cromwell statue at Wythenshawe parkrun — Part of the route near the Oliver Cromwell statue

You keep going on this path which is the reverse route of part of the Sale Sizzler, and then turn right. This takes you along that route for a while until you cross over a path and on to the grass area where the football pitches are. The next notable part is turning right on the bridge across the stream and back on yourself with trees now on your right.

Strava map for Wythenshawe parkrun — Strava Map for Wythenshawe parkrun

You will run along this for a while with trees surrounding you and you will pass the farm, car park and playground and then take a diagonal path through the wooded area next to the playground.

After going through a gate you are back on the tarmac path and the statue will be in the distance. At the T junction you turn right to do a second lap of the same route already described.

When you get back to this T junction on the second lap you will turn left towards the finish with the Hall on your left and will run a bit further on until you get to the funnel.

The winning male time was 18:19 and the quickest female time was 22:12.

MY RUN ON THE DAY

As mentioned, this run was with a client and her target was to run between 33-35 mins. Due to the conditions we knew it would be difficult to get at the lower end so getting a quicker time than Bramhall Parkrun in August was also a target (34:52).

For this reason, I can't comment as much on my specific run like usual but I know that I found this quite a tough course due to the terrain not being all on paths like at Stretford. Han managed to run nearly all of the route without stopping, but there were a couple of times she had to walk, which was down to the strong headwinds after turning back on ourselves once we crossed the bridge.

We came in around 34:23 and this was quicker than the time she got at Bramhall back in August. I think if the storm hadn't have been around we definitely would have finished under 34 mins so although it was a parkrun PB, the time wasn't a true reflection of her current fitness.