MUSA Cookstown parkrun

What to Expect

MUSA Cookstown parkrun is a free, timed 5k held every Saturday at 9.30am in the grounds of CAFRE Loughry Campus, the agricultural and food college set in parkland between Cookstown and Dungannon. The next event is Saturday 15 August 2026, and it runs every Saturday after that. Like every parkrun it is free, needs no membership and welcomes walkers and volunteers as readily as runners.

The course loops through Loughry’s parkland, bordered by mature woodland and the Killymoon river, on a mix of tarmac paths and grass that turns soft after heavy rain. Loughry has been an agricultural college site since 1907, starting life as the Ulster Dairy School and now training students in food and farming as part of CAFRE, and the campus setting gives the run a quieter, more rural feel than a town park course. Results are recorded against a personal barcode scanned at the finish. Regular turnout is several dozen most Saturdays, drawn from Cookstown, Dungannon and the wider Mid Ulster area, and the whole thing is run by volunteers each week.

Good to Know

• Next event: Saturday 15 August 2026, 9.30am, then every Saturday
• Venue: CAFRE Loughry Campus, Loughry, Cookstown
• Distance: 5km, free to take part
• Registration: sign up once at parkrun.org.uk and bring your barcode each week
• No barcode means no recorded time, though you can still take part
• Surfaces are tarmac and grass, so trail or off-road shoes help after rain
• Volunteers are needed every week and can be arranged through the event’s page

Getting There

CAFRE Loughry Campus is signposted from the A29 Cookstown to Dungannon road, roughly a mile and a half south of Cookstown. There is ample free parking on site for parkrun. There is no direct bus service to the campus gate, so nearly everyone travels by car. Cookstown is on the A29 between Dungannon and Magherafelt and the A505 from Omagh, about 45 miles from Belfast, and the campus is an easy stop for anyone driving through Mid Ulster on a Saturday morning.