Before I delve into saying how wonderfully you all ran for event 110, I'd once again like to apologise for the lack of recent event reports updates. Whilst the server has been a little creaky, I must take some of the blame myself. I will try in earnest to get the reports up to date over the following week - it's only fair that your achievements get shouted about in a timely manner!

In what appeared to be really quite perfect conditions today, we welcomed 165 runners to War Memorial Park - not quite a record, but nearly so. As it transpired, the actual run turned out to be a bit more humid than many would like, but it didn't stop 41 of you running new personal bests! We also had 19 runners at the parkrun for the first time today and wondered how many were regular parkrunners elsewhere and visiting Basingstoke whilst "en vacances"?

I'm going to begone with convention today, and start with the ladies race as we had some particularly impressive oestrogen-fuelled action today! Firstly, we had something we rarely experience: a sprint finish! In this case, it was youth against experience: Charlotte Chalwin (JW14) of Basingstoke & Mid Hants AC managed to just pip Jane Georghiou (VW55-59) of Farnham Runners on the line: both runners ran 20:47. Jane should, however, take great consolation in that she not only got a personal best today and broke the age category record, she became the first ever person at Basingstoke to clock an age-grading greater than 90% (90.46%). This is really quite an incredible performance, with a performance of 90% being considered as "international elite". won in a time of 20:47 for the 1st time. Kerri Barton (SW25-29) of Overton Harriers & AC was third time of 21:36 - also a new personal best for Kerri!In the men's race today, we saw one of the most impressive wins for a while. The win once again came in the form of an Aldershot, Farnham & District runner in his first ever run at Basingstoke.

In the men's race, today was the turn of Craig Williams (SM20-24) to fly the flag for AFD and he crossed the line in a time of 16:32 - nearly a minute ahead of his nearest competition. However, whilst this is obviously an impressive performance, we'd also like to point out that second placed Ian Carley (VM40-44) of Farnham Runners ran his first ever sub-17:30 at Basingstoke (in a total of 18 runs on the course) with an excellent time of 17:28. Kirk Haddon (SM25-29) of Gateshead Harriers & AC finished in a time of 17:46. It was Kirk's first run at Basingstoke, although we have a feeling he was visiting from the Tyne area as he's normal parkrun is Newcastle.

There were a number of personal bests today, and those who ran particularly big margins today were Colin Campbell (34 seconds - and the first time sub-20 minutes!), Stuart Higgins (1 minute and 45 seconds), Tony Eysele (32 seconds), Chris Collingwood (2 minutes and 19 seconds), Jason Burke (1 minute and 16 seconds), James Hemmings (47 seconds), Graham Price (40 seconds), Mark Jourdan-Brown (1 minute and 38 seconds - and first time sub-25 minutes!), Megan Watson (1 minute and 31 seconds - another first sub-25!), Neil Skidmore (1 minute and 42 seconds),  Mark Hodkin (1 minute and 10 seconds), Debbie Hemmings (1 minute and 12 seconds), Sarah Winter (1 minute and 55 seconds), Malcolm Brown (44 seconds), Cheryl Eysele (57 seconds), Paula Mosquera (1 minute and 8 seconds), Liz McGill (42 seconds), Jo Croucher (1 minute and 15 seconds), Sandra Samuels (35 seconds), Katrina Vincent (57 seconds), Sara Blackall (1 minute and 19 seconds) and Sandy Bell (1 minute and 2 seconds), Margin of the week belongs to Anna Irwin who managed to knock an highly impressive 3 minutes and 49 seconds from her previous time!

In the points competition Chris Furness has a lead of just one point over second placed John Mosquera. Clare Murgatroyd leads Lynn Brastock by 105 in the ladies competition.Since the event started, 1658 runners from 107 different clubs have completed the race 9364 times and covered a distance of 46820 kilometres.

The male course record is held by Brian Wakem who ran 15:54on 18/07/09, event number 54. The female equivalent is held by Sophie Morris who ran 16:56 on29/11/08, event number 21. 

BARCODES: Please make sure you bring your barcode from now on in order to get your result processed. You can access your personal barcode through the link on any of the parkrun newsletters. If you're having trouble printing the code out, then please email BasingstokeOffice@parkrun.com and we'll sort you out!

After the parkrun, we reconvene for a spot of refuelling at Cafe Giardino in Festival Place (Link) where we promise not *all* the talk will be about running! We welcome new faces every week. Make sure you pick up a "Garden Club" discount card to enjoy 10% off your nourishment each week.Don't forget you can also follow Basingstoke parkrun on Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/runbasingstoke) for up-to-the-minute updates and news relating to the run. Twitter @runbasingstoke with any questions!

Did you know that the diameter of the sun is approximately 109 times that of the earth? Well, you do now! It was almost like the weather gods knew that fact (well, they probably did, to be honest) and bathed War Memorial Park in some of the most glorious sunshine we've ever witnessed for event 109. Whilst this may not necessarily be the best conditions for fast running, it certainly helps to get you out of your beds and along to the park! And, judging by all the smiling faces today, we secretly suspect that the sunshine actually meant that some of you *enjoyed* the lung busting pain that the parkrun brought today (it's ok though, we won't tell anyone).

145 of you crossed the line today (including 14 first timers) - an exceptional turnout - but the most impressive fact is 47 (that's almost a third of you) ran new personal bests today. So, the next time someone tells you that "they can't run in the heat", refer them to the results of Basingstoke parkrun event 109 and see if they change their mind.

Ian Carley (VM40-44) of Farnham Runners took his second win today in a time of 17:37 - a new personal best for Ian. Running at Basingstoke for the first time, Philip Cooper (SM25-29) of Steel City Striders RC took second place in 18:02. Greg England (VM45-49) of Overton Harriers & AC finished in bronze today in 18:03 - a time which gave him the highest male age graded score of the day.

It was a case of seventh time lucky for Jane Georghiou (VW55-59) of Farnham Runners in the ladies race: in her seventh appearance, Jane took her first win in a time of 21:04. Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Jane's performance was her age graded score: although just a few seconds from her personal best, Jane obliterated the field today with a score of 87.97%. Truly impressive! Carol Sworn (VW40-44) of Hart Road Runners took second place in 22:52 with Marie Evans (VW45-49) of Winchester & District AC taking the final podium spot in 23:02.

As we mentioned earlier, there were so many personal bests run in today's race. Whilst each personal best - even if just by a second - is still an achievement, some of you ran bests by really quite exceptional margins today. Congratulations are therefore in order for Alfie Farry (new best by 2 minutes and 13 seconds), Nick Stevens (1 minute and 3 seconds), Alex Blackall (44 seconds), Winifred McNee (1 minute and 7 seconds), Hazel Dicks (35 seconds), Cameron Wynn (1 minute and 54 seconds), Susan Pavani (3 minutes and 21 seconds), Stuart Graham (43 seconds), Paula Mosquera (30 seconds), Kieran Little (3 minutes and 15 seconds), Matthew Watson (46 seconds), Nigel Bridgeman (57 seconds), James Hemmings (47 seconds), Dean Smith (33 seconds), Cheryl Eysele (1 minute and 52 seconds), Gary Lillis (3 minutes and 19 seconds), Neil Bausor (42 seconds), Sarah Carpenter (1 minute and 19 seconds), Ian Nelson (32 seconds), Melanie Hodkin (1 minute and 6 seconds), Caroline Squire (42 seconds), Steve Neal (31 seconds), Debbie Hemmings (1 minute and 39 seconds), Neil Skidmore (31 seconds), Tracey Grigoleit (33 seconds), Matt Owen (44 seconds), Penny Metcalf (1 minute and 3 seconds), Caroline Partner (48 seconds) and Zoe Blagbrough (1 minute and 11 seconds). Margin of the week belongs to Ruth Chenery, who knocked a huge 4 minutes and 5 seconds from her previous time!

In the points competition Steve Gillingham has a lead of just one point over second placed John Mosquera. Clare Murgatroyd leads Sue Caratelli by 8 in the ladies competition.

Since the event started, 1650 runners from 107 different clubs have completed the race 9262 times and covered a distance of 46310 kilometres. The male course record is held by Brian Wakem who ran 15:54 on 18/07/09, event number 54. The female equivalent is held by Sophie Morris who ran 16:56 on 29/11/08, event number 21. 

BARCODES: Please make sure you bring your barcode from now on in order to get your result processed. You can access your personal barcode through the link on any of the parkrun newsletters. If you're having trouble printing the code out, then please email BasingstokeOffice@parkrun.com and we'll sort you out!

After the parkrun, we reconvene for a spot of refuelling at Cafe Giardino in Festival Place (Link) where we promise not *all* the talk will be about running! We welcome new faces every week. Make sure you pick up a "Garden Club" discount card to enjoy 10% off your nourishment each week.

Don't forget you can also follow Basingstoke parkrun on Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/runbasingstoke) for up-to-the-minute updates and news relating to the run. Twitter @runbasingstoke with any questions!

With Basingstoke once again being bathed in warm, summer sunshine (no, Basingstoke hasn't suddenly become Barbados: "sunshine" is a rare and quite fantastic phenomenon in the UK), we once again had an excellent turnout for today's parkrun: 148 of you toed the line at today's event, and we welcomed 17 new faces to the event! Probably the most impressive statistic of the day, however, was that 50 of you ran a new course personal best - that's over a third of you!

The parkrun today was again in the very able hands of Sue Caratelli and Lynn Brastock after one of our normal race directors, Euan Bowman, had to (reluctantly) take the Saturday off owing to other duties. We do, however, doubt Euan's allegiance to Basingstoke - we thought he was away from the parkrun as he had important tasks to complete elsewhere. However, our undercover parkrun mole noted that Euan made an unscheduled appearance at the Amager Fælled parkrun in Denmark - the traitor*! The picture to the left shows Euan with the Amager Fælled Race Director, Jonathan Sydenham:

* Only joking, Euan. At Basingstoke, we're always completely humbled by the dedication Euan shows to parkrun, and, I'm sure you'll agree, he more than deserves a break every now and again! Our sources tell us that Jonathan was extremely sorry that their normal Copenhagen coffee bar was shut last Saturday and a few "results issues" meant he couldn't spend the time he wanted to with Euan. That can, however, only mean one thing - Euan has to go back to Copenhagen for another visit!

James Moorcroft (SM20-24) of Team Kennet took his first win today in his 26th run in War Memorial Park in a time of 17:50. James was chased all the way round by Pete Williams (VM40-44) of Overton Harriers & AC who finished in 18:02 (we understand that Pete is on Mission Race As Much As You Can at the moment, so this made for a pretty solid effort on tired legs).Robert Halsey (VM45-49) of Basingstoke & Mid Hants AC took third in a time of 18:07. Robert also won today's age grading competition with a score of 78.29%.

Kerri Barton (SW25-29) of Overton Harriers & AC was victorious for the second time in the ladies' race today in a time of 21:43. Louise Smith (SW25-29) of Chineham Park Running Club ran a massive new 23 second personal best to cross the line second in 22:08 andNaomi Shaylor (VW35-39) of Cani-Cross was third in a time of 22:35. We'd like to draw attention to the fact that Naomi is now a proud member of the "50" club, having run her 50th parkrun last weekend - at the Forest of Dean. Congratulations, Naomi! 

Another runner who deserves a mention this week is young Alex Stock (JM14). Alex ran his tenth parkrun today and, as a junior runner, earns the prized "10" club t-shirt. Alex also won his t-shirt in style with a huge 1 minute 17 second personal best!

As mentioned above, there were an incredible 50 new personal bests today! Although every personal best is praiseworthy, those who ran bests of particularly good margins today were John Holloway (2 minutes and 3 seconds), David Ansdell (1 minute and 22 seconds), Dean Smith (35 seconds), Alex Stock (1 minute and 17 seconds), Alison Jones (37 seconds), Mike Todd (1 minute and 29 seconds), Megan Watson (1 minute and 23 seconds), Darren Pardoe (1 minute and 2 seconds), Richard Barker (1 minute and 4 seconds), John Pardoe (57 seconds), Stuart Banks (53 seconds),Peter Chiverton (1 minute), Vivianne Walters (36 seconds), Karen Gladman (52 seconds), Melanie Hodkin (1 minute and 43 seconds), Paula Mosquera (1 minute and 33 seconds), Bradley Nutley (2 minutes and 54 seconds), Liz McGill (1 minute and 20 seconds), Simon Plumtree (1 minute and 31 seconds), Grant Hodgson (1 minute and 30 seconds), Kim Trowern (3 minutes and 3 seconds), Jo Croucher (45 seconds), Sara Blackall (1 minute and 3 seconds) and Sandy Bell (39 seconds). Particular congratulations are due to Jackie Bridges, who ran Margin of the Week with a massive new best of 4 minutes and 25 seconds!

Since the Basingstoke parkrun started, 1616 runners from 104 different clubs have completed the race 8952 times and covered a distance of 44760 kilometers. The male course record is held by Brian Wakem who ran 15:54 on 18/07/09, event number 54. The female equivalent is held by Sophie Morris who ran 16:56 on 29/11/08, event number 21. 

Apologies for the lack of race reports recently - there have been a few site issues and, whilst they are all written, I'm unable to upload them. Be assured your running efforts over the past two weeks haven't gone unnoticed, and I'll get the reports up as soon as I can!

Many thanks,

Rachael Elliott