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Drayton Manor Park

Join us for the first ever Drayton Manor 5k & 10k! Run around the rides and rollercoasters inside the fantastic Drayton Manor Resort, including the Accelerator, Stormforce 10, Thomas Land and the Zoo! Following the race, you will be first in line to make full use of the rides within the park with Theme Park access included in your race entry!

Included in the entry is:

Free Official Race Photos

Live Chip Timed Results

Post Race Refreshment

Unique Themed medal to be revealed!

Home to thrilling rides, attractions, live events & a themed hotel, Drayton Manor is the ultimate destination for thrill-seekers featuring some of the UK’s most popular rollercoasters and amusement park rides.

Start Times:
9am – 10k
9.10am – 5k

5k- 1 lap
10k- 2 laps
www.runthrough.co.uk

Drayton Manor 5k & 10k- April 2025 - RunThrough Events | Running Events in London & UK

Come and join us for the unique opportunity to run a chip timed 10k around Drayton Manor Resort and enjoy free theme park entry.
www.runthrough.co.uk www.runthrough.co.uk
 
I like the idea, nothing wrong with people getting fit. If I was going to do one however, I would prefer Alton Towers for a few reasons;
  1. Challenging terrain and many height changes.
  2. Gorgeous house.
  3. Gorgeous gardens.
  4. Within the peak district (also gorgeous)
  5. Better rides at the end.
I can see the appeal of this though, I would just prefer Alton Towers. If they open the run to include some of the admittedly gorgeous parkland the surrounds Drayton Manor, then this might interest me a bit more, they might well be doing this. I can however, seeing this appealing to many people.
 
DistortAMG said:
I like the idea, nothing wrong with people getting fit. If I was going to do one however, I would prefer Alton Towers for a few reasons;
  1. Challenging terrain and many height changes.
  2. Gorgeous house.
  3. Gorgeous gardens.
  4. Within the peak district (also gorgeous)
  5. Better rides at the end.
I can see the appeal of this though, I would just prefer Alton Towers. If they open the run to include some of the admittedly gorgeous parkland the surrounds Drayton Manor, then this might interest me a bit more, they might well be doing this. I can however, seeing this appealing to many people.
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But, the route last year for towers was many laps including the car park! You’re not seeing much of the gorgeous house from what I could tell.
Also, no access to showers. You think smiler restraints are ripe - imagine the hum of many unwashed runners!!
(I am tempted by both, but for me the best bit of a run, especially when it’s cold, is the hot shower afterwards)
 
Alix said:
But, the route last year for towers was many laps including the car park! You’re not seeing much of the gorgeous house from what I could tell.
Also, no access to showers. You think smiler restraints are ripe - imagine the hum of many unwashed runners!!
(I am tempted by both, but for me the best bit of a run, especially when it’s cold, is the hot shower afterwards)
Click to expand...

But in general, Towers is a much nicer location than Drayton I think. You did run past the towers and couple of times on the route around Alton, finally coming back round and finishing in dark forest.
 
Much has been made of Alton Towers opening hours this season, and recently the alleged staff cut backs, but please spare a thought for those who may want to visit Drayton Manor Park and Zoo.

The park is not opening on Tuesdays and Wednesdays for the rest of the season (apart from the week of Halloween, coinciding with half term).

From next week, only Thomas Land and the zoo will be open on Thursdays, with the rest of the park remaining shut.

The park is closing at 4 pm on every operational day, apart from Saturdays and Sundays (5 pm). Although in the Halloween event week it's 5 pm closures across the board.

Fireworks weekend sees a 7pm close for Saturday and Sunday.

Oh and the park only opens at 10:30.

With a whole five and a half hours of opening time, for most of the rest of the season, that's probably a whopping 2 rides on The Wave with current operations.

Best value park of 2024.
 
I also thought it's ashame the Christmas Wonderland event is only running from 10:30-17:00 every day and 10:30-16:30 Christmas eve.
Last year it shut at 8pm and was fantastic value for a Christmas event, I remember it being around £30 each and that included Santas grotto, Mrs Claus kitchen, a decent offering of rides which we managed a lot and outside and inside shows and entertainment.
The wishmas express was also a good addition but was a additional couple quid but honestly it was a Christmas event that didn't just feel like a complete money spinner, the gifts me and my younger brother got from Santa's grotto were pretty neat too.

There was a little bit of a queue for the Christmas activities but the queues in Thomas land, accelerator and Bounty pirate ship were all none existent and considering this was 22nd of December I fear this is why it's been scaled back until 5pm this year.
 
The park has had operation issues this season and has struggled to cope when it's really busy. I went in the summer and ops were slow across the board. The park could easily have been open to 6-7 pm as there loads of people still in the park at close.

It's something they need to address for next season when the focus won't be on new rides.
 
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Jb85 said:
When will it become clear that staffing these parks is a nightmare

People can earn more doing sod all or working at the local shop. Why travel to a theme park to work - which in Alton’s case is in the middle of nowhere
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For the love of it… like those of us who work in Civil Service are told pay is only part of our benefits… the thrill of serving the nation is much more rewarding… just such a shame Octopus Energy don’t accept that as payment for my gas bill
 
Oh dear. Not quite the biggest year yet for the park as they were claiming then.

Opening hours at Drayton used to be very conditional on crowd levels, with them often extending until 6, 6:30 or 7 depending on numbers, in the way that Europa do. That seems to have well and truly died the death now, with 5pm close whatever the crowd levels. It’s totally unacceptable especially in the summer holidays, and with how slow the queues are moving. Perhaps they think that it will be easier to retain staff if they have consistent start and finish times at work? Otherwise I can’t see any business sense in what they’re currently doing. It saves money on wages but leaves guests with awful satisfaction.

It’s really saying something when you note that even Pleasurewood Hills had longer opening hours in the summer holidays.
 
They have won 8 awards this year and best value 3 years in a row.
As for the park closing on a Tuesday and Wednesday in September and October that’s been like that since the early 2000’s. You got to remember the park is aimed for families and most kids aged 3+ are at Nursery or school.
I’m very disappointed that they scrapped there older version Halloween event this year and it was very popular last year.
As for the Christmas event really the only queues the event had was for the Wishmas express but that was down to lack of planning and having time slots so close together. They using Thomas and Rosie this year instead to help with the crowds but with the park closing at 5 the light trail will only be used 60-90 mins max.
The fireworks events at the park compared to the Bryan’s have been awful and it will be a free for all to get out after they finished.
Even the summer nights was cut to 7pm from 9pm last year and was only on the Saturday only (except Bank Holiday Sunday which also was open to 7pm)
I think all the parks budget for this year went on the new ride and the other ride re-themes which left next to nothing for the events. Except the media day opening of gold rush which was put together very well.
 
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