It is fitting that our first North London parkrun should be so well received. Congratulations to Stuart and his team for ushering in the new weekly event and thanks to the 64 runners who took part.

Looking at the various events photos from last week it appears that Halloween was taken pretty seriously. The photo of the week comes from Bedfont Lakes parkrun and was shot by Steph

We had record attendances at Sunderland, Bromley and Albert Park contributing to an overall record of 3,049 runners at parkrun for the week.

Our intrepid Bramhall Event Director, Rob Downs, sneaked into Richmond parkrun and winning the event keeping his 100% record of winning away from home. Only thing is that in the two years and 96 events since his last run at Richmond he has improved his age grade by 4%. And his time by 30 seconds.

Another of our prolific event directors, Chris Phelan also posted a win this weekend.

Even though the weather was generally bad at all locations, Brighton and Hove successfully celebrated their 2^nd birthday with 254 parkrunners. Congratulations to you all.

Become a fan of parkrun at www.facebook.com/parkrun, recommend the page to your friends, and post interesting photos & updates on our wall!

 

Following fantastic interest in last week’s Merrell IceMan competition, I have great pleasure in announcing the following winners who have each received a pair of tickets to the event. I hope the next time you see them, you’ll wish them all the best as they take on the gruelling, army barracks duathlon course – they’ll need it!

•              Steve Williams – Cardiff

•              Chris Ready – Heaton Park

•              Rachel Holmes – Richmond Park

•              Mark Hanby – Previously Bushy Park (looking for new event near Bath)

•              Mike Harvard – Banstead Woods

To help give you focus during the dark cold winter months, keep your eyes peeled for more competitions for places in our partnered events. Can’t wait; check out the Lucozade Sport events calendar for your next challenge.

Thanks to everyone who entered but didn’t win – fingers crossed for next time!

Edd – Lucozade Sport

 

Chris McManus will be at Gorleston Cliffs parkrun this Saturday to answer any questions you have about training or competing or indeed about the Lucozade Sport products he’ll be handing out on the day to help you before and after your event. The ‘big ginger’ is looking forward to seeing you again, so make sure you test his extensive knowledge about all-things-running or just say hi.

 

We need your help! If anyone is interested in assisting at the following venues then please drop Anita an email. We are looking for potential event directors, committee members and folks who can volunteer at these events:

·         Greenwich parkrun

·         Portsmouth parkrun

·         Swindon parkrun

·         Kingston upon Thames parkrun

 

Name: David Sinclair

Age: 26

Home parkrun: Banstead Woods, having also taken a 6 week sabbatical to help get the Roundshaw Downs event off the ground.

Occupation and pastimes: I'm commencing Officer Training with the Royal Air Force in November to then become an Aerospace Battle Manager. I run with South London Harriers and spend a fair amount of time on the bike.

No of runs: 20

How has parkrun changed your running: I was inspired by the parkrun ethos and community down at Banstead Woods and it gave me a platform with the right mix of people in which to start taking my running and training more seriously and also to enjoy it a lot more than I had done previously, once I met Chris Phelan the event founder I joined South London Harriers and the rest, as they say, is history.

 No of times volunteered: 97 times at 67 events.

What do you do at parkruns: What don't I do at parkruns!! As a volunteer I started out with photography and athlete registration and unwittingly worked my way up to co-director, I've now pretty much done every job from car park marshal to website uploads and have filled in on one occasion writing the news report!

What do you like about parkrun: Literally everything! Notably the community spirit, the way parkrun gets people out running who would have never otherwise got involved in athletics, seeing people achieve things they wouldn't have previously thought possible, the inclusive nature of the events, the camaraderie and the feeling you get of being part of such a great event for the community.

 Most memorable or Funniest parkrun moment: Too many to really single out just one above all the others, but one which sticks in the mind would be the first Banstead Woods anniversary event and through seeing the awards given out to the points winners, parkrunners and volunteers of the year I remember feeling the sense of how much the event means to everyone involved. As for the funniest it would probably be the cake which was presented to Jim Mundy for his hundredth marathon during the pre-race announcements, 100 candles meant it was more of a Victoria sponge flamethrower than a cake!

 Anything else: I'd like to give a very special thank you to Paul-Sinton Hewitt for working tirelessly from day one to get the parkrun concept off the ground and to have made it what it is today and what it will be in the future. Also to Chris Phelan for having founded Banstead Woods parkrun and subsequently offering me the opportunities and responsibilities I've had in the co-director role which gave me a lot of confidence and inspiration when going through selection for the RAF. I can honestly say that being involved in parkrun has been the most positively influential part of my life over the last 2 years and I hope it continues to go from strength to strength and offer the same experiences and inspiration to others.

 

I travelled over to our first event in North London at the weekend and it was great (despite the appalling weather). Finsbury parkrun has a couple of moderately challenging climbs just to add some extra interest, although Danny Norman complained they were too much for him – he’s not used to hills poor lad. Well done to all the team at Finsbury, and do remember each event runs on volunteer power so if you can help out occasionally please get in touch with finsburyHelpers@parkrun.com

 

You’d think they were trying to rival the south London parkrun cluster or something, but the fourth Manchester area parkrun starts on 14th November. This one is closer to Manchester central so we’ve called it South Manchester parkrun – it will be largely run by Manchester University (our third University lead parkrun after Leeds and Sunderland). It looks set to be another cracker. More details can be found at www.parkrun.org.uk/south-manchester

 

I have now closed the Crispy Challenge to new entries. The final number of challengers ended up being a nice round 100. Well done to them all for sticking their necks out, and good luck over the coming months. A few have not run since the start of the challenge – what are you waiting for? We’re all behind you. I will be opening a new challenge in June once this challenge period finishes, so do not worry if you missed the boat this time. Full challenge list at www.parkrun.com/results/challenge.aspx

 

Cheers and good running

Crispy