How guides work

A guide is one runner’s honest account of a route they know well, with everything a visitor needs to run it tomorrow morning without a second search. It isn’t a leaderboard or a heatmap.

How guides are checked

Every route comes from a real run by its guide. The practical details (which gate, where the taps and toilets are, when the park opens) are checked on the guide’s own runs, and updated when something changes.

Forecasts are shown as forecasts, with their source and time, and never mixed into the guide’s own advice.

Reading a course map

Every course map is drawn by code from the same ingredients: the route matched onto OpenStreetMap paths, and the guide’s numbered notes. The style can change; the geometry never does.

Start — Where the guide begins the route; loops finish here too.

Numbered moments — Turns, crossings and places worth knowing, in running order.

Kilometer markers — Every kilometer from the start, beside the line.

The course — Chevrons show which way round everyone runs.

Water — Drinking taps and refill points.

Toilets — Public toilets on or near the route.

Transit — The station exit to use, in the line’s own color.

Keeping guides current

Anyone who runs a route can report a change: a closed gate, a dry tap, a new detour. The guide checks it and updates the page. Photos and clips are pinned to the exact place they were taken, so the next runner can recognize a turn before they reach it.

Privacy: routes never start or end at anyone’s home. GPS recordings are trimmed and matched to public paths before they’re published.