Loch Neaton parkrun, Watton

07/09/2026

This Saturday 12th September will be the 300th parkrun at Loch Neaton.
Amazing to think you’ve all been pounding the Watton turf for over six years.
We hope you can join us and celebrate.

05/09/2026

How lovely to welcome soooo many people today (94) ❤️

We welcomed visitors from Forres, Clapham, Clare Castle, Lancashire, Corby and Colchester. Warm welcome to Oliver first timer to parkrun.

Congratulations to Claire from Colney Lane on her 99th parkrun, and Nina from Dereham on her 200th parkrun (yummy lemon cake).

And another first for Loch Neaton - we welcomed Elliot and his 'crew' from Armoured Muscle with their log!!! Congratulations on completing the 5k course in a time of 56:44.

We also wish Fiona and Richard the most amazing luck as they set off on Thursday to climb Kilimanjaro.

Huge thank you as always to our awesome pink hi vis heroes ❤️ if you can help out in September give us a shout!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend 😊

01/09/2026

Good evening lovely people, hope you all had a super Bank Holiday weekend.

We are back this Saturday (5th), however, we need a couple more marshals for us to go ahead.

So please can any of you help out? It’s great fun volunteering.

Please comment below if you can help. Thank you 😊

28/08/2026

Just a quick reminder.

Don't forget we are CANCELLED tomorrow because of the motor bike event at the sportie.

Enjoy your bank holiday and we will see you in September 😀

22/08/2026

A big thank you to Julie Houghton for our run report today. Hope you enjoyed your holiday in Norfolk.

Loch Neaton parkrun, Watton - event #298.

I’ve been on holiday this week in Norfolk and this was my first time at Loch Neaton parkrun so I offered to do the run report. Loch Neaton is called a "loch"—despite being a man-made lake - to honour the Scottish labourers (navvies) who dug out the area in 1875 to extend the Thetford to Watton railway line.They dug up massive amounts of earth to build a nearby track embankment, leaving a deep pit which naturally filled with freshwater from the adjoining River Wissey.

The reviews mentioned the very welcoming volunteers and I wasn’t disappointed. I had a friendly greeting from several people and introduced myself to the run directors. There were two today as a young man was trying out the role as part of his Gold Duke of Edinburgh award. He did a great job at the start of the run supported by Beryl.

The first timers briefing was clear and helpful with a colourful map showing the different loops and laps - three laps of the playing fields. We were reassured that there were plenty of marshalls. Someone commented that there are so many volunteers here there are nearly as many as there are runners.

We headed down to the start and soon set off after the briefing. There was a small loop up, a small loop down then three laps of the two playing fields. We’d been cautioned that it might be slippery in places after two days of rain but I felt fine in trail shoes. We’d also been warned about a car boot sale that we needed to run through today near the end of playing field section. We had to run through three times but it wasn’t busy so that wasn’t an issue. A marshal was there encouraging us on and even reminding us how many laps to go. The only issue for me was the strong cooking breakfast smell, thankfully only on the third lap, which doesn’t suit my stomach mid run! After the third lap there was a repeat of the lower loop in the opposite direction which gave a brief view of Loch Neaton! Then up a short incline to the finish.

Congratulations to the 78 finishers today! First finisher and first timer Bobbie was in the 11-14 age group! I was thrilled to be the 2nd female finisher not far behind Sarah! Many thanks to the 23 volunteers without which today’s event wouldn’t have been possible!

22/08/2026

What a lovely turnout this morning. We welcomed visitors from Wisbech, Daventry, Peterborough, Thetford, Garboldisham and Thailand.

Huge thanks as always to our awesome volunteers for another superb job.👏 ❤️

Don't forget we are cancelled next week due to the motor bike show 🏍️

Enjoy the rest of your weekend 😊

22/08/2026

Where is my owner? Probably freezing somewhere 🥶
I've been dumped at reception at the sportie 😓

15/08/2026

15/08/2026

67 happy participants enjoyed the lower temperature today but the airless conditions were not appreciated by many!
We welcomed visitors from Horsham, Dereham, Didcot, Lincoln, Maldon, Sheffield, Folkestone, Watton and Harlow.
A beautiful bride to be graced us with her presence on her 150th run together with her entourage.
Margaret is on the eve of her 200th volunteer appearance and Amanda completed her 100th event.
First timers Emma, Emily, Joe and Jordan enjoyed their experience.
Many photographs were taken which will appear later on unless you let us know you don’t consent.
As always we will be glad of any volunteer assistance at future events.

10/08/2026

To give you plenty of notice, so that you can plan your Bank Holiday parkrun.

We will be ***CANCELLED*** on Saturday 29th August due to the Bike Takeover at Watton Sports Centre (which is always a good event to go to anyway). We will be back on 5th September (scary that will be Autumn)