A poem for parkrun
When Santa took part in a parkrun he began to shout:
"The girls and boys won't get any toys if you don't help me out;
There's 3k to go, I'm way too slow, I'll never complete a PB"
When Santa took part in a parkrun he cried "Oh! Woe is me".
"Save your breath" said Rudolph "and focus on what's at hand;
You'll soon be half way there F C; I'd say you're doing grand;
Better you turn up each week than try to win the race;
Now come on, put some effort in, you'll soon recover the pace".
Well Santa crossed the line alright, just outside his personal best;
Rudolph said "Well done, old chap, now have a little rest;
Then find Donna, Dasher, Blitzen, Vixen and the other boys;
Hitch up the sleigh and off we pop to go and deliver those toys".
by Charlie Bezzant.
An early Christmas present from Lucozade Sport
If you live in or near Brighton and Hove, or just fancy a weekend break to the coast, why not enter our competition to win one of two pairs of tickets to the Sussex Beacon Half Marathon on Sunday 21st February, complete with a Lucozade Sport Runners’ Training Pack to fuel your journey. Our team of Sport Scientist will be there to support you before and after the race with top tips and products from our sports nutrition range.
To enter please
email me with your name, daytime phone number and nominated friends, putting SUSSEX BEACON HALF in the subject box; entry will close at 12pm on Tuesday 22nd with winners notified by 12pm on Wednesday 23rd.
Look forward to hearing from you - Edd
What is the image on parkrun.com home page
Thanks to everyone who commented on the new graphic on our home page. The following comments were gratefully received with their views of identity of the little image at the bottom right.
Joanne Muir-Little: I think it's a mole.
Daniel Norman: A poo. It’s not an animal. The DNA of the poo is Subterranean Reindeer, as it has a red nose at Xmas time.
D Elliot: The mysterious creature on the front page of the Parkrun web site looks like, a rare breed of the Black coated,red nosed hoveapuss. Only seen around this time of year....................But i could be wrong!!!
Troy Squires: It has to be a penguin, surely? Lovely cute and simple illustrations. And the festive season themed copy lines work brilliantly.Awesome stuff. Merry Christmas!
Charles Bezzant: Its surely the head of a robin, made to look like a Chad!
Ronald Gosling: It's a snowman, last in the race to the dressing up box after all the scarves and hats had gone. Had to borrow a balaclava. Still, he got a PB.
Phil Bolton: Tiger Woods. In disguise, of course - getting away from it all!!
Casey Austin: a lesser-spotted Christmas time volunteer!
Steve Ackroyd: Is it a Penguin? Merry Xmas!
Claudia Garrido: It is an owl of course! what were you thinking?
Jo Büsck: Is it a mole :)
Feedback from the field
Hi Paul!
Hope you are well.
I have just read through the latest parkrun newsletter which prompted me to go to the main parkrun website to have a look at the newly designed home page. After having a good look, I think the little animal at the bottom right is actually a lesser-spotted Christmas time volunteer!! ;o)
Unfortunately that's me at the moment too! I currently feel awful, today I had the rare opportunity to have a Saturday morning lie in, it's not often I'm still in bed after 7am, and I can assure you it's not through choice! Daughter away for the night, Hubby off to work early, a well deserved me time plus, being banned from running at the mo by my Physio due to iliopsoas bursitis made it even more plausible. I managed to stay in bed until 8.15, got up, had a cuppa, all at my own pace, then checked my emails to discover a pleading email from my Parkrun Director asking for volunteers this morning due to lack of them! I feel awful!!
Therefore, that little animal could actually be me. :o(
Have a great weekend!
Kind regards,
Casey Austin - a Roundshaw runner.
Car park charges in Bushy and Richmond Parks
parkrun has been asked to get involved with movement to oppose the government initiative to bring car park charges to these parks. While I have an oppinion as an individual, its a fine line that we tread as an organisation. The parks have been very kind to us and we reciprocate by being careful about how we use thieir facilities. As a consequence parkrun will not be taking sides on this issue. However we invite everyone to make their own mind up about the merits either way. Please find below a letter I have received from teh Friends of Bushy Park.:
Dear Paul,
I am pleased to report progress on The Friends of Bushy Park's campaign opposing parking charges.
After consideration of the treatment given to the petitions sent to Royal Parks in response to their consultation documentation [The Friends petition had nearly 8000,signatures and the No 10 website had 5759 and other petitions 13,000 odd] it was decided that the best way of influencing the Minister Margaret Hodge who is ultimately responsible for decisions on the Royal Parks is that protests should be sent direct to her. Politicians count petitions as being one protest per 400 signatures. You will recall that the consultation documentation put out by the Royal Parks comprised 24 paragraphs on 7 pages and a total of 14 question. No question could be answered by ticking a box. Each required a sentence in reply. It is not surprising that there were only 1986 full responses. Perhaps that was the intention to curb responses.
A web site www.keepbushyparkfree.org.uk has been established.
It has been necessary for an alternative to be put forward to parking charges. We are suggesting a small toll on the 90% of cars that use the park as a rat run. Only 10% of cars park for the occupants to use the park and it is mad to charge
them when the Royal Parks main desire is to raise money and reduce motor traffic within the park.
Local residents do not oppose a toll, which is not surprising. The other consideration is that even at weekends 60% of traffic passes straight through the parks having come from further afield than the boroughs surrounding the parks.
We have considered whether to leaflet cars within the car parks and to ask parkrun and Teddington Rugby Club & others to distribute leaflets advising of the web site. We came to the conclusion that the manner in which clubs and organizations advise their members of our web site is best left to them and leaflets within the car parks would probably be in contravention of the Park By-Laws. Handed to your members and guests is another matter.
Given that very detailed correspondence was achieving little movement on the part of Royal Parks we have requested a meeting with the Deputy Chief Executive of Royal Parks. This will take place on the 6th January next. We shall, of course, argue that if parking charges are introduced that there must be exemptions for all sports clubs and their guests.
I have the numbers of those registered for "parkrun's" events and wait membership details of Teddington Rugby and Cricket Clubs and the number of competitors or visitors you host.
If there are any other particular points that you feel would be helpful to use at the above meeting I would be pleased to receive them.
Many thanks for your help. If your require further information let me know.
Best regards
Barry Rideout
parkrunner of the week
Name: Jo Quantrill
Age: 54
Home PR: Banstead Woods, Coulsdon. I am planning to run Roundshaw when my injuries heal.
Occupation: Practice nurse, Croydon.
Pastimes: cycling, pilates,reading, baking.
No of runs: 28 Banstead and a few at Wimbledon.
How parkruns have changed my running: parkruns have made me more relaxed about trying to achieve a PB at every race because there is always another chance. I enjoy meeting lots of interesting runners of various standards and their families. parkrunning has made me realise there are more important things to an event than the race itself.
No of times volunteered: must be over 20 times.
What do you do at parkrun: write the occasional report as part of the report team. I enjoy writing about the people who dont make it into Athletics Weekly! Other jobs as needed.
What do you like about parkruns: the non clubby atmosphere, the camaraderie between the runners, meeting the supporters, the pre and post event chat, the inclusiveness and not feeling on the scrap heap when injured.
Most memorable moment: The first Banstead Woods event.
Anything else: Thanks to all the co-directors for working so hard to ensure each event is unique and first class.
Happy running
Paul
Crispy’s Corner
Christmas Roundup
A few more events have been added to the Christmas roundup list (see
http://www.parkrun.com/crispy.aspx) – please be aware that extra runs may be at different times to usual, so please see the relevant event’s news page for full details.
Starting the New Year with a Bang
2009 saw the parkrun growing across the country. It’s already looking like 2010 will see parkrun grow even bigger thanks to the hard work of Anita, and lots of new volunteer teams. The first new events of the new year will be in Milton Keynes and Newcastle which will both start on January 9th. Best wishes to Niyckhola and her team in Newcastle, and to Gareth and his team in Milton Keynes. Full details can (as always) be found on their event websites. I’m sure they’ll both be pleased to have any offers of assistance.
Wimbledon Anniversary
And Wimbledon get things going even sooner with their third anniversary being celebrated on 2nd January – happy third birthday.
Memorable Phrase (yet again – yawn!)
Many of you will see that I have been busy adding more memorable phrases to those runners who have not got one set – But there are still plenty to go – pleaser make all our volunteers lives considerably easier and set a memorable phrase (if you have not already done so). You can update your record by following the ‘edit profile’ button at the top of this column.
Barcodes
Please, please, please print out and take your barcode with you to your run. It helps us to get the results correct, and lets the volunteers get off to a nice warm cafe sooner.
Don’t Stop Moving when You Cross the Line
And I finish this week’s column with an appeal – when you cross the line at the end of your run, please do not grind to a complete halt in the funnel. It blocks the way for runners coming up behind you, and makes life very difficult for the person on timer duty, which in turn can mean lots more work for the person on results processing duty. If you are asked by volunteers or other runners to bunch up, please do so – they are asking for a reason. So when finishing please remember ‘keep moving, stay in order, bunch up!’
Cheers and happy running
Chris