Ards Forest Park Parkrun

What to Expect

Ards Forest Park parkrun is a free, timed 5k that runs every Saturday morning through Coillte’s Ards Forest Park near Creeslough, on the shore of Sheephaven Bay. Like every parkrun in Ireland, it is entirely volunteer-led: a different set of local volunteers marshal the course, operate the finish funnel and scan barcodes each week, and the event only happens because enough people turn up willing to run it that week. The course winds through mixed woodland and along parts of the coastline within the forest park, making it one of the more scenic parkrun routes in the northwest. Walkers, joggers and runners of every ability are welcome, and it functions as much as a social fixture as a timed event, with many regulars going for coffee together afterwards. Ards Forest Park itself is one of the northwest’s better known amenity forests, with a network of waymarked trails beyond the parkrun route, so the same car park also serves regular walkers, cyclists and families out for the morning regardless of who is running that week.

Good to Know

• Every Saturday, 9:30am, at Ards Forest Park, Creeslough.
• Free to take part; register once at parkrun.ie and bring a printed or scanned barcode to get an official finish time.
• First-timers can turn up without registering in advance to walk or jog the course, but need a barcode from a one-off online sign-up to be timed.
• Results and a weekly run report are published on the event’s parkrun.ie page after each Saturday’s run.
• The forest park itself is a Coillte-managed amenity with its own waymarked trails, so the parkrun course shares the space with regular dog walkers and cyclists.
• Being run entirely by volunteers, the event can be cancelled at short notice in severe weather; check the event’s social media or parkrun.ie page on the morning if conditions look rough.

Getting There

Ards Forest Park is signposted off the N56 between Creeslough and Dunfanaghy, with a car park at the forest entrance close to the parkrun start and finish.