parkrun #503 – 12^th January 2018

The park had really dried out a lot today – there was not even much of a puddle at the 600m corner! And at a mild 9 degrees C it felt more like spring than winter, many people were out in shorts and even vests.

775 people ran, jogged and walked the course, of whom 52 were first timers and 82 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of 35 different clubs took part. We have to say a big congratulations to the volunteers for the introduction of the double funnel – as the number of people finishing now needs that amount of space to cope with the sheer volume of people.

Stories from the park

The thing that always strikes me as funny about parkrun is that you have a strong sense of the stories of people in your part of the field, but little idea on what goes on in other parts of the field.

Obviously there was much excitement last week when Pippa Woolven came back and broke the female course record (which she had already held for 7 years from her previous run). She took over 40 secs off her previous run to record a tremendous 16:32, but apparently has said that she may be back for more since the UK female course record was also broken last weekend with 15:50 run in Cardiff by Charlotte Arter! Amazing and inspiring running! And whilst we are on impressive ladies results – congratulations to Jill Collett of Datchet Dashers, who was the first finisher overall today in a time of 18:26. In the men’s today, there was a big sprint finish for first male between George Taplin and Steven Jacobs, both finishing at 18:37 but George edging ahead and also getting a PB.

But I wanted to share stories from the part of the field in the 45 minutes and beyond. These are people who walk, or do a mixture of walking and jogging and running. There are families, dog walkers, couples, friendship groups and individuals. There are many there who are working through injuries and illness – staying active in the face of very challenging illnesses, or trying to work through recovery from surgery, or rehabbing and injury without surgery. There’s lots of chat, support, laughs and practical idea sharing. Sometimes there is group problem-solving – what to do when you are really not getting to sleep, or when you are not sure how to progress next with the medical challenges, and experiences with other types of exercise (does aqua-jogging work? how to swim or stationary bike without pain etc.) and other therapies that people have had success with in getting rid of pain.

Some of the experiences made me think about sharing it more widely – especially after the regional England Athletics endurance coach joked this week about the ‘church of parkrun’! For many people places of worship (of every faith) are a place where they are a part of a group who will support them through the highs and lows of life, where they can get practical advice and emotional support in tough times and a place and a time every week where they can go. For many of us in the 45 mins + part of the parkrun field, this is also a role of the weekly parkrun.

The dark side of depression (which Mind say affects 1 in 4 of us in the UK each year – regardless of age, gender, background) is that getting out of bed, getting active and finding joy in anything becomes increasingly hard – even though it is one of the key parts of fighting back against depression. And those that are very active before can fall hard when injury or illness strikes. One parkrunner talked about the fact that all of his friends were runners and when he got injured, he became increasingly lonely and depressed, to the extent that when he had a week’s holiday from work, he did not leave the house at all for 9 days. The injury and the weight that he has gained means that getting going is harder and lonelier than ever. But fortunately a friend has got him out and they are visiting lots of different parkruns to walk where he has no previous PB or experience to benchmark against.

Another parkrunner likened parkrun to Weightwatchers – “you come every week”, she says “and try your best, hoping that your hard work through the week will be rewarded with a PB. And there is a photo for you to see whether you are walking with better form (as per the physio’s instructions) and whether you can see any weight coming off. And you don’t even think of not coming, as friends will be on your case all week – even if it is a PW time, the chat and the fresh air is uplifting and gets you focussed for another week of doing those physio exercises and being good on nutrition and hydration.”

This sense of positive impact echoed a beautiful article in last week’s Sunday Times magazine on Emma Mitchell’s book ‘A Wild Remedy: How Nature Mends Us’. She talks about both the scientific evidence and her personal sense of beauty to show how walking in the woods is one key component (alongside antidepressants and talking therapies) to prevent her depression from being overwhelming. She says “when life is incessantly exhausting, has thrown you a terrible gluey lump of pain and you feel dreadfully, dingily sad, a leafy place and the sight of a bird can divert, and begin to heal the mind”.

So this brings me to my question in the headline – is there a friend that you know, for whom the set time of turning up, the company of others and the beauty & healing qualities of a walk in the woods could be a part of helping them to gain more optimism in 2019?

If so, do bring them along and introduce them to one of the walkers in the field – there is always the tail walker in the bright orange bib, who will be happy to walk and chat, plus a group of walkers with the Nordic poles, always ready to share the experience with others. And if walking 5K is too much, there is a brilliant camaraderie amongst the volunteers (many of whom are also working through illness and injury rehab) – and there are some jobs where you barely need to move (in case that is difficult), or jobs where you can just stand, or just sit… just email the black-parkhelpers@parkrun.com

Congratulations:

We also congratulate our new members to the parkrun milestone clubs:

50 Club – Roger GORHAM, Oona HEMPENSTALL, Susan WOOD

250 Club – David Thomas MARSHALL

Today’s parkrun was all made possible by 26 volunteers – a big cheer for them:

Barbara ALLEN • David PRIDDY • Fred ASHFORD • Jenny ZAREMBA • Andy TORRANCE • Vince ELLERBY • Ian SMALES • Chris ZAREMBA • Zoe SMITH • Freya SMITH • Kenneth BROWN • Carol COOMBS • David COOMBS • Andy SHEPHARD • Ian GILHAM • Nick ARCHER • Sophie GREATOREX • Heather PIPER • Charlotte PEDRICK • Raymond John HOYLE • Andy SMITH • Alexander MILL • Audrey PARSONS • Paula KELLY • Sam LOWE • Richard GOBLE • Lotte VISSER • Holly PHILLIPS • Tommy LAWS-BARRETT • Marie KOUHI • Isabella AMITRANO • Louise HEATHER • Callum PATERSON

Achievements this week:

There were some age graded results that deserved a huge cheer:

• Kevin MCDONALD (VM55-59) of Hillingdon AC with an age grading of 83.0% on his 80^th run
• Jill COLLETT (VW35-39) of Datchet Dashers with 81.4% as the first overall finisher (and obviously first lady!)
• John SMITH (VM75-79) with 77.7%
• Margaret MARDALL (VW70-74) with 76.2%
• Liz Lee (VW45-49) of Datchet Dashers with 75.6% and will do her 150^th parkrun next time

Although the amazing Margaret Moody still holds the course record of 92.5% set back in April 2014.

And finally…

Thank you to all of the people in the 45 mins + part of the field – I did not attribute stories to individuals, but know that you will recognise them. Our group of run reporters always wants to bring to life some of the different experiences of different individuals and groups within Black Park parkrun. If you would like to tell a little of your personal story, please do email parkrunstories@yahoo.com and we will hopefully catch up with you at Black Park and feature your story.

The male record is held by Ben LIVESEY who recorded a time of 15:09 on 10th March 2012 (event number 140).
The female record is held by Pippa WOOLVEN who recorded a time of 16:32 on 5th January 2019 (event number 502).
The Age Grade course record is held by Margaret MOODY who recorded 92.51% (22:15) on 5th April 2014 (event number 250).

Black Park parkrun started on 18th July 2009. Since then 18,265 participants have completed 193,949 parkruns covering a total distance of 969,745 km, including 30,175 new Personal Bests. A total of 747 individuals have volunteered 9,109 times.

After rain on Thursday, a sunny calm morning greeted the 705 runners and 56 volunteers, producing the sixth highest attendance! The numbers were swelled by 24 debutants to parkrun, as well as numerous visitors, partially due to other local events having to cancel due to firework displays taking place at their venues! Run Director Adam Horsfield entertained the masses with his run briefing, and reminded everyone of the impending 500^th Black Park parkrun, which is scheduled to occur on Saturday 30^th December.

The full team of volunteers marshalled and organised the event with the great expertise – the following individuals are to be thanked for giving up their time. Joe Nolan had also coordinated the pacing team to assist everyone in attaining target times from 22 through to 40 minutes. The full list of people of those who helped to make this event enjoyable for everyone is below.

Adam HORSFIELD  •  Amar BABHANIA  •  Andy TORRANCE  •  Antony SMITH  •  Audrey PARSONS  •  Bob STANBROOK  •  Carolyn LOCKETT  •  Chloe BREAGAN  •  Chris ZAREMBA  •  David DUGGAN   • David PRIDDY  •  Fiona JAMIESON  •  Fred ASHFORD  •  Freya SMITH  •  Gary HOOK  •  Holly PHILLIPS  •  Ian SEARS  •  Ian SMALES  •  Jackie STALLWOOD  •  Jenny ZAREMBA  •  Jeremy LOCKETT  •  Joe NOLAN  •  John MILES  •  Karen ALOE  •  Karen TRUNKFIELD  •  Kathryn SMALES  •  Kenneth BROWN  •  Marie KOUHI  •  Mark LUCAS  •  Mark STEVENS  •  Martin STEWART  •  Mary LORD  •  Natalie MUNN  •  Nick ARCHER  •  Patrick FITZGERALD  •  Paula KELLY  •  Paula WALKER  •  Philip Morris JONES  •  Philip WOOLHOUSE  •  Raymond John HOYLE  •  Ricky KLOAY  •  Rose O'NEILL  •  Sam LOWE  •  Sanchana MISHRA  •  Sarah MUNN  •  Sharon BUNBY  •  Sheila O'NEILL  •  Shona LOWE  •  Sophie GREATOREX  •  Stephen MCALISTER  •  Steve WELLS  •  Suzy GAULTON  •  Tim DAWSON  •  Tim SANSOM  •  Toby ROBINSON  •  Vicky HART  •  Zoe SMITH

There are still plenty of spaces on the volunteer roster over the next few weeks, so why not try viewing parkrun from a different angle? A variety of volunteering roles are available to be performed – please email blackparkhelpers@parkrun.com if you are interested.

Those collecting low number tokens

Collecting token number 1 was Adam Day (17:03) fractionally ahead of Dereece Green who recorded the same time. Charlie Edwards received token number 3 fifty seconds later – this is the fourth consecutive time Charlie been the 3^rd finisher! First female home was Alicia Bushell (JW11-14) in a time of 20:05 - a personal best for her on her third visit to Black Park. Second was Maria Jovani, visiting from Bedfont Lakes, in 20:52 and Cherry-Beth Harwood reached the funnel exactly one minute later for third place.

What the numbers tell us!

Everyone benefitted from the good running conditions and 104 people achieved Personal Bests! This is 18% of the runners who had previously recorded times, a great achievement, especially as many others got close to their best times!

73 people made their first visit to Black Park parkrun, hopefully everyone enjoyed the whole experience and will return again! It appears 58 people didn’t have times registered – the abbreviation of DFYB is parkrun terminology participants are regularly reminded of……Don’t Forget Your Barcode is great advice when getting to the start line on a Saturday morning!

Landmark runs

Four people have joined parkrun clubs following this week’s run. Campbell Wilson did his 100^th parkrun, whilst Kierendeep Sahota, G Singh and Varun Khullar ran their 50^th ‘s. Watch out for your emails so you can order your t-shirts!

Although not official landmark runs, a few others deserve a mention. Paula Walker completed the Black Park course for the 250^th time, whilst it was the 200^th time for Mark Taylor. Whilst researching these numbers, I also found a number of people who have completed all their parkruns at Black Park….and done it many, many times! Congratulations to John Smith (253), Maureen Pedri (275), Kathryn Smales (295) and David Morgan (361) for having such a phenomenal record.

David Duggan

parkrun #489 – 13^th October 2018

We always say that it does not rain on parkrun…but we got caught out this week! After a beautiful sunrise and a forecast that said that the rain would come on Sunday, the first drops started as Dave (the Run Director) started speaking and it cleared up just as we tidied up the course and started uploading the results! For those who are new to parkrun – it really is very unusual for it to rain on parkrun, so for all that it may have taken a while to dry out – please do come back next week! The park is looking very beautiful at the moment with all of the autumn colours out.

625 people ran, jogged and walked the course, of whom 30 were first timers and 71 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of 38 different clubs took part, with people from further afield including Dave MEDCROFT from Hogweed Trotters (near Bristol), Lucy PEARSON from Overton Harriers (Hampshire), Robert GRAHAM from New Marske Harriers (Redcar) and Nathan WARREN from Birmingham Running, Athletics and Triathlon Club. We hope that you enjoyed Black Park’s autumnal scenery.

Stories from the park

The first finisher today was Paul CORNEY of Hillingdon Triathletes, pushing his daughter in the buggy. At a speedy 18:41, we think that she is the speediest toddler ever – as in 489 runs, we cannot remember a runner with a buggy being the first finisher at all. Many congratulations! Tremendous running.

After the surprise onset of the rain, many volunteers scurried back to their cars to get raincoats and hats – but were soon in position and smiling! One of the memorable moments this week was Ian in his high-viz jacket performing ‘singing in the rain’ in the finish area. We learned that he has previous experience of musical theatre – having trodden the boards as one of the ugly sisters in Cinderella!

Luckily we managed to get the speakers at the start put away before the main onset of the rain. But whilst everyone on the course was working hard – the same was true for the volunteers. The main timer screen fogged up in the wet, but our brilliant timing team kept it very accurate (which was lucky as the paper records were so wet that they had stuck together). Keeping it so accurate throughout the hour was impressive, as there were a lot of clusters of finishers that made it very hectic in the finish area. Thank you to everyone for moving along and keeping the funnel moving! Many thanks to the scanners and finish token managers – we had a record number of mushed paper barcodes (if you would like a little polythene cover for your barcode in coming weeks, they are on the kit table at the right-hand end with the leaflets). And a final big thank you to Karen for tail-walking; I know that you got a little chilly. We have taken the high-viz jackets and finish tokens home for careful drying – all ready for next week.

Congratulations

We also congratulate our new members to the parkrun milestone clubs:

50 Club – Kerrie HOPE

100 Club – Stephen HARTRICK

250 Club – John SMITH

Thank you to John Tipping for managing to get photos that almost make it look like it is not raining! Have a look and see if you think that you win the wet T-shirt contest. The photos can be seen on the Flickr group, which can be accessed via the photo link on the Black Park parkrun page or via this link:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/123876000@N05/albums/72157699142230752

Today’s parkrun was all made possible by 26 volunteers – a big cheer for them:

Barbara ALLEN • David PRIDDY • Fred ASHFORD • Maureen PEDRI • Andy TORRANCE • Steve BREAGAN • Ian SMALES • Chris ZAREMBA • Zoe SMITH • Freya SMITH • John TIPPING • Nick ARCHER • Karen ALOE • Karen SPROD • Sophie GREATOREX • Chloe BREAGAN • Audrey PARSONS • Verity MITCHELL • Paula KELLY • Ken PHILLIPS • Sam LOWE • Lotte VISSER • Martin STEWART • Jose Ramon POLO GAOAT • Marie KOUHI • Charlie FENNELL

Achievements this week

There were some age graded results that deserved a huge cheer:

• Stephen McALISTAIR (VM55-59) of Hillingdon Triathletes achieved 77.7% (of the world record for his age group)
• Catherine STAUNTON (VW60-64) of Chilterns Harriers AC ran 75.5%
• Margaret MARDALL (VW70-74) achieved 74.6%
• Liz LEE (VW45-49) ran 74.1%
• John SMITH (VM75-79) ran 73.9% - celebrating his 250^th parkrun

Although the amazing Margaret Moody still holds the course record of 92.5% set back in April 2014.

And finally

Our group of run reporters always wants to bring to life some of the different experiences of different individuals and groups within Black Park parkrun. If you would like to tell a little of your personal story, please do email parkrunstories@yahoo.com and we will hopefully catch up with you at Black Park and feature your story.

Black Park parkrun started on 18th July 2009. Since then 17,534 participants have completed 185,616 parkruns covering a total distance of 928,080km, including 29,282 new Personal Bests.

parkrun #486 – 22^nd September 2018

This week there was the threat of rain, but 553 people ran, jogged and walked the course, of whom 44 were first timers and 74 recorded new Personal Bests (an impressive 14% of all participants!) Luckily the rain pretty much held off until the latter stages (even though much of the rest of the weekend was very wet indeed).

Representatives of 37 different clubs took part. We were delighted to welcome 5 ‘tourists’ from Ware Joggers coming to try out the course for the first time – we hope that you enjoyed it. The biggest Club presences came from local clubs: Burnham Joggers, Chiltern Harriers, Datchet Dashers and Hillingdon Triathletes. The first male finisher came from Les Croupiers RC in Cardiff and the first female finisher came from Blackheath and Bromley Harriers AC with 7 different running clubs represented in the first 10 finishers.

Stories from the park

With the mystery filming still in action (is it Star Wars… or is it not?), our intrepid bike marshals were on-hand to direct everyone the right way. And with Ray’s car playing up, the volunteers managed to assemble the course in a record short time. Sadly with the rain starting to come down rather heavily, not many people were able to stay for coffee at the Go Ape shelter, although some walked around the lake to enjoy coffee (and even a little brunch snack at the main café). But this fast ramp-up and fast ramp-down gave even more of the ‘flash mob’ impression – parkrun pops up, almost 600 people share fitness and fun and then disperse again to their weekend activities. With just a couple of weeks until the 14^th birthday of the very first parkrun at Bushey Park, we once again marvel at the positive impact of parkrun across the world.

Congratulations

We also congratulate our 2 new members to the parkrun milestone clubs:

50 Club – Pattie BERESFORD,  Linda BARROW

100 Club – Julie ROONEY

Also happy 50th birthday to Carmel Bees, running with friends and a helium balloon to celebrate.

Thank you to George for the beautiful photo set. There are some lovely group shots and individual photos, as well as the usual run photos. These are on the Flickr group, which can be accessed via the photo link on the Black Park parkrun page or via this link:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/gmardall/albums/72157700024604401

Today’s parkrun was all made possible by 29 volunteers – a big cheer for them:

Barbara ALLEN • David PRIDDY • Fred ASHFORD • Jenny ZAREMBA • Andy TORRANCE • Ian SMALES • Chris ZAREMBA • Bob STANBROOK • Diane KENDALL • Karen ALOE • Eliseo RIVAS NEIRA • Heather PIPER • Peter TOUGH • Raymond John HOYLE • Roderick PATON • Adam HORSFIELD • Verity MITCHELL • George MARDALL • Ken PHILLIPS • Martin STEWART • Holly PHILLIPS • Duncan WYLLIE • Jose Ramon POLO LOPEZ • Jose Ramon POLO GAOAT • Mia WYLLIE • Isabella AMITRANO • Charlotte THISTLE • Charlie FENNELL • Antoanela NACOV

Achievements this week

There were some age graded results that deserved a huge cheer:

• Edward DONOVAN (VM35-39) of Les Croupiers RC was the first male finisher and achieved 78% age grading (of the world record for his age group)
• Jessica KEENE (SW18-19) of Blackheath & Bromley Harriers AC was the first female finisher and achieved 77.7%
• Robin SMITH (VM60-64) of Datchet Dashers achieved 76.8%
• Margaret Mardell (VW70-74) achieved 76.5%
• Mairead O’ROURKE (VW35-39) of Chiltern Harriers achieved 76.5%
• Maureen PEDRI (VW60-64) of Running Sisters Network achieved 76.3%

Although the amazing Margaret Moody still holds the course record of 92.5% set back in April 2014.

And finally

Our group of run reporters always wants to bring to life some of the different experiences of different individuals and groups within Black Park parkrun. If you would like to tell a little of your personal story, please do email parkrunstories@yahoo.com and we will hopefully catch up with you at Black Park and feature your story.

Black Park parkrun started on 18th July 2009. Since then 17,405 participants have completed 183,739 parkruns covering a total distance of 918,695 km, including 29,024 new Personal Bests

parkrun #479 – 4^th August 2018

Stories from the park

This week’s field of 595 finishers ran with pacers and in spite of the very warm temperatures a fantastic 71 recorded new Personal Bests (12% of the field). Well done everyone and thank you to the lovely pacers.

There were 51 first-timers and 46 different clubs represented, including Shaef Shifters, Barking Road Runners, Cleethorpes and District AC, St Albans Striders, Stourbridge RC, Rock Runners, Iron Coppers and Defence Sports & Recreation. Estelle Axcell from Johannesburg Harriers AC had probably come the furthest… It was lovely to hear so many people say that it was their first time at Black Park and how much they loved the course.

It was lovely to chat to the ladies in their matching orange shirts. They had come together through Couch to 5K and now run all sorts of events together as a group! Their most recent group race had been 10K from the Millennium Stadium, and one member had just completed 100km walk along the south coast! There was excited discussion around where to go for the next race – with various overseas locations being mentioned! Bon voyage and happy running to you all.

Congratulations

We also congratulate our new members to the parkrun milestone clubs:

50 Club – Anaelle STENMAN, Daniel HUNTER, Emma WARBURTON, Peter HILL

100 Club – Adrian WILSON, Chloe BREAGAN

250 Club - Sarah WILSON

It was a double celebration for Chloe Breagan and her Dad Steve Breagan, as Chloe hit the 100 milestone on the same day as he managed his 300^th run. They had baked some lovely cupcakes for everyone to celebrate (thank you!)

Sarah Wilson and her family had gone big with the balloons for the fabulous 250 milestone – as you will see in the photos! Thank you to George for the beautiful photo set. There are some lovely group shots and individual photos, as well as the usual run photos. These are on the Flickr group, which can be accessed via the photo link on the Black Park parkrun page or via this link:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/gmardall/sets

Today’s parkrun was all made possible by 50 volunteers – a big cheer for them:

Barbara ALLEN • Mark LUCAS • David PRIDDY • Fred ASHFORD • Glyn WATKINS • Jenny ZAREMBA • Mary LORD • Michael HILL • John COBB • Alastair REECE • Joe NOLAN • Rose O'NEILL • Sheila O'NEILL • Kathryn SMALES • Chris ZAREMBA • Mike LEIGH • Kenneth BROWN • Bob STANBROOK • Karen ALOE • Steve WELLS • Karen TRUNKFIELD • Karen Anne PATTERSON • Jessica BEISHON • David MCSHANE • Joanne HARRISON • Raymond John HOYLE • Ian SEARS • Suzy GAULTON • Matthew ROBINS • John MILES • Fiona JAMIESON • Suzanne METCALF • Callum FITZSIMONS • Audrey PARSONS • Hilary GAUNA • Mark MOORE • George MARDALL • Nigel WRIGHT • Ken PHILLIPS • Sharon BUNBY • Abigail MORIARTY • Jo SHEPHERD • Bob BERESFORD • Holly PHILLIPS • Chris TAYLOR • Pattie BERESFORD • Caroline QUINN • Marie KOUHI • Diya ASWANI • Antoanela NACOV

Achievements this week

There were some age graded results that deserved a huge cheer:

• Alun Jones (VM60-64) of Thames Valley Orienteering Club achieved 85% age grading (of the world record for his age group)
• James Repper (VM45-49) of Chiltern Harriers achieved 83.4%
• Fiona Harrington (VW60-64) achieved 78.4%
• Margaret Mardell (VW70-74) achieved 77.4%

Although the amazing Margaret Moody still holds the course record of 92.5% set back in April 2014.

And finally

Our group of run reporters always wants to bring to life some of the different experiences of different individuals and groups within Black Park parkrun. If you would like to tell a little of your personal story, please do email parkrunstories@yahoo.com and we will hopefully catch up with you at Black Park and feature your story.

Black Park parkrun started on 18th July 2009. Since then 17,091 participants have completed 179,784 parkruns covering a total distance of 898,920 km, including 28,521 new Personal Bests.

This week 599 people ran, jogged and walked the course, of whom 60 were first timers and 68 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of 39 different clubs took part.

So it was a drizzly start to parkrun but dry by the time we all got to the start area. I had run in Black Park for a freedom run on Thursday and it was a bit of a bog after the thunder storm in the night!

Has anyone seen the Facebook parkrun groups?

Discussion groups for chatting about all things parkrun, deaf & blind groups, running with Asthma, statsgeek for all you lovers of stats, tourist group for all those who may for some reason want to run somewhere other than Black Park!! Have a look and see if there is a group for you!

This weekend I bought along my daughter’s boyfriend who at the age of 17 had never run a parkrun. I explained the way it works and after the clogged start he ran away from me… no respect for age at all! He finished sb 24 mins and will be back again!

Pacers week approaches next week… so find your target time pacer… hang on to their coat tails and then sprint for the line to beat the time! A guaranteed PB for everyone… well so long as you run faster than you have done so before

parkrun #467 – 12th May 2018

This run report is taking inspiration from the lovely run report at Druridge parkrun (Northumberland) today – celebrating the 63^rd Eurovision – how many songs can you remember?

Stories from the park

This week’s field of 725 finishers (our 3^rd biggest field ever) had 63 first-timers and 40 different clubs represented, including a large group from Bracknell Forest Running Club who had come along to try a little tourism, away from their (lovely) home run of Bracknell parkrun. They all said how much they enjoyed the course and hope to back again at some stage in the future.

We also welcomed people from some Clubs farther afield – within the top ten finishers were representatives from Leeds City AC, Cirencester AC, Southampton University Triathlon Club, Cambridge University Hare and Hounds as well as local clubs of Hillingdon AC and Wycombe Phoenix Harriers and AC.

Euphoria (2012 winning song from Sweden)

‘Everybody’ (2001 winning song from Estonia) who walks, jogs or runs parkrun are ‘Heroes’ (2015 winning song from Sweden). We did not see anyone ‘Running Scared’ (2011 winning song from Azerbaijan), nor any ‘Wild Dances’ (2004 winning song from Ukraine).

An amazing 96 people ran Black Park PBs! Very well done – can we dedicate ‘Fly on the Wings of Love’ (the year 2000 winning song from Denmark) for all of you. Maybe you will celebrate with some Bucks Fizz?

We also congratulate lots of new members to the parkrun milestone clubs:

10 Club – Daniel PIOTROWSKI, Daniel SAWYER, James HODGKINSON, Jason NICHOLAS, Oliver MCDOWELL (our ‘Rock n Roll Kids’ – 1994 winning song from Ireland!)

50 Club – April PATMORE, Daren ROSCOE, Harjit PADDA, Jonathan LUDFORD, Peter LOMAX

100 Club – Alan FOX, Tony WALKER

250 Club - Mark LUCAS

I managed to catch up with two of them:

Alan (100 runs) had been given a lovely ‘Congratulations’ (yes I thought that was a Eurovision winning song, but it was not!) balloon by his family. He finished looking delighted and shared that after years of pushing his body in football and other sports, this is now the only running that he does. But he turns out with the family, and the dog, and loves it. He is nursing his hip and looking forward to 250 runs now! (Am I allowed to squeeze in ‘Believe’ – 2008 winning song from Russia?!)

Mark (250 runs) has been a long term devotee of parkrun. He started in 2006 in Bushy Park and 12 years later has completed his 250^th run. He says: ‘What’s Another Year’ (1980 winning song from Ireland)! After a little break along the way he came to Black Park and is one of our massive volunteer supporters – you will see him pacing, writing run reports and supporting parkrun as well as running. Thank you Mark. He said: ‘Since I have been coming to Black Park for 50 years, it is perfect to run here now. I can’t imagine a Saturday morning without it… I may run some other parkruns now for a bit, but I will always come back to Black Park’. I wasn’t sure which would be the most suitable Eurovision winning song link here: the Great Britain winners from 1976 ‘Save all your kisses for me’ or 1981 ‘Making Your Mind Up’?!

First timers

We were thrilled to welcome a lot of first timers. Sadie Carpenter had been persuaded to come and give it a go by Jack and others from Harefield Hospital, but was concerned when she arrived and could not find them! Luckily she was reunited with them through the announcements at the start. Catching up with her afterwards she was grinning from ear-to-ear at her achievement and the enjoyment that she had from chatting with others out on the course. She was already looking forward to coming along again – we look forward to seeing you Sadie!

Today’s parkrun was all made possible by 24 volunteers – a big cheer for them:

Barbara ALLEN • David PRIDDY • Fred ASHFORD • Jim O'DONOVAN • Jenny ZAREMBA • Andy TORRANCE • Zoe SMITH • Freya SMITH • Karen ALOE • Sophie GREATOREX • Joanna MORIARTY • Peter TOUGH • Minnie CROSS • Raymond John HOYLE • Andy SMITH • Liz MACARTNEY • Audrey PARSONS • Darshan KENT • Alex MARTIN • Lotte VISSER • Alan HAYES • Marie KOUHI • Jaskaran Singh SALL • Isabella AMITRANO

There is a dedication that I cannot miss. You may have heard Ian ‘The Voice’ (1996 winning song from Ireland) ‘gently’ encouraging his wife Kath from the final corner to the finish line. You too can have such vocal encouragement if you just let him know your name! His career as a drill sergeant is put to good use (and he did help us to a zero funnel ducking run! Thank you Ian).

Thank you to Andy for the beautiful photos. There are some lovely group shots and individual photos, as well as the usual run photos. These are already on the Flickr group, which can be accessed via the photo link on the Black Park parkrun page or via this link:

https://www.flickr.com/groups/black-park-parkrun/pool/

Achievements this week

There were some age graded results that deserved a huge cheer:

• Kevin McDonald (VM55-59) of Hillingdon AC ran a new PB of 19:06 (to finish 3^rd) with 81.9% age grading (of the World Record for 5K for his age group)
• Catherine Staunton (VW60-64) of Chiltern Harriers AC achieved 77.5%
• Harbhajan (VM55-59) ran a new PB of 20:28 to achieve 77.0%
• Danny O’Leary (VM55-59) of Metropolitan Police AC achieved 76.9%
• Yvonne Olney (VW60-64) of Datchet Dashers also achieved 76.9%
• Phil Hall (VM55-59) of Hillingdon Mountaineering Club achieved 76.1%
• Liz Lee (VW45-49) was our first female finisher and achieved 76.0%
• Maureen Pedri (VW60-64) of Running Sisters achieved 75.5%
• Yvette Dumler (VW65-69) of Burnham Joggers and Barbara Allen (VW65-69) of Datchet Dashers both achieved 75.1%

Although the amazing Margaret Moody still holds the course record of 92.5% set back in April 2014.

I also felt the need to pick out a few Aesthetically Pleasing Finishing Times:

• Danny O’Leary with 20:20
• Mark Bowers with 21:21
• Mike Leigh with 23:32
• Paul Carkett with 24:42
• Ian Butler with 24:48
• Lotte Visser and Lucy Moat with 25:25
• Daniel Horton with 27:27
• Kevin Holligan and Emma Jackson with 29:29
• Justin Vetta with 30:30
• Harleen Eari with 32:32
• Bob Logan with 37:37
• Nastaran Sepanj and Yasaman Sepanj with 41:41
• Aisling McDermott with 44:44
• Carol Coombs with 45:54

And finally

A few small notes:

1)      This one is just for fun – if you google ‘parkrun Chrome extension’ and follow the instructions, you can have some fun viewing the unofficial badge progress according to your runs (just because I am proud to have earned a ‘Groundhog’ badge: for running the same time to the second at the same parkrun on adjacent Saturdays!)

2)      In your profile, it is worth enabling the email option – even if you do not want to volunteer. This enables us to email you if there is something about your result that we cannot quite fix without your help (without it, we cannot get in touch). In this section of your profile you can also set up results to be texted to your phone as soon as they are available.

3)      Finally, our group of run reporters always wants to bring to life some of the different experiences of different individuals and groups within Black Park parkrun. If you would like to tell a little of your personal story, please do email parkrunstories@yahoo.com and we will hopefully catch up with you at Black Park and feature your story.

Black Park parkrun started on 18th July 2009. Since then 16,441 participants have completed 172,174 parkruns covering a total distance of 860,870 km, including 27,530 new Personal Bests.

parkrun #465 – 28^th April 2018

Stories from the park

What a difference 6 days makes! Whilst London marathoners battled in very hot conditions last Sunday, today was cool and rather damp! Black Park looked lush and green, but everyone came back rather muddy!

This week’s field of 544 finishers had 29 first-timers and 33 different clubs represented , including;

• Hillingdon Mountaineering Club – welcome Phil, Linda and Katie (sorry that there were not more hills!)
• Run Mummy Run – welcome Carrie and Lynne
• #FriendsThatRun – welcome Claire
• Fitness Over Fifty – welcome Chris and Anthony

#Finish for Matt

Guide running with Linda Gaitskell (one of our two Visually-Impaired Runners finishing today) was David McShane of Datchet Dashers. David completed London marathon last weekend, having also run Paris marathon in similar hot conditions a year ago. He was as smiley and positive as ever. He was just one of a number of Black Park parkrunners who ran London Marathon this year. Well done to all of you!

The elite end of the race was certainly a case study in managing pacing according to the conditions – with all of the winners showing case studies of how to pace a marathon:

• David Weir sprint-finishing to take a record 8^th victory,
• Eliud Kipchoge running the first half at the 61 mins of his Breaking2 attempt and having enough left to kick away in the final mile to win comfortably,
• Vivian Cheruiyot ran a perfectly even 1^st half/2^nd half split to overtake the race favourites of Mary Keitany and Tirunesh Dibaba who had literally run their own legs off with an unsustainably fast first half,
• Madison de Rozario won her first marathon major just 7 days after winning the Commonwealth Games T54 marathon in very hot conditions on the Gold Coast of Australia. Beating the jetlag and exhaustion seems enough of an achievement – without beating all of the field!

This little side-bar on the importance of pacing is my link to the fact that Joe Nolan’s perfect pacers are back next weekend, to help you to achieve your own piece of glory. Do come along next Saturday!

There is also a chance for you to hear more about parkrun during the week, as the new parkrun podcast has started! It is called ‘Free Weekly Timed’ and is hosted by Vassos Alexander (of Radio 2 breakfast show fame and writer of running books ‘Don’t Stop Me Now!’ and ‘Up That Hill!’) and ultimate parkrun tourist Louise Ayling from Wimbledon Common. In the first podcast, you can hear them talk with Paul Sinton-Hewitt, as well as hear how Vassos’s feet fared in London marathon after he made the school-boy error of running in brand new trainers. D’oh!!

http://www.freeweeklytimed.com/

After today’s parkrun, many people went to the start to run a gentle 1K together to complete the 3.7 miles to #FinishForMatt. Matt Campbell, a semi-finalist in Masterchef: The Prefessionals and who had already completed Manchester marathon this year, sadly collapsed at the 22.5 mile mark of London marathon and in spite of receiving immediate medical assistance passed away that evening.  At the time of writing this the fundraising in his name for Brathay Trust on Justgiving.com has exceeded £300k. Our thoughts are with all of his family and friends.

Today’s parkrun was all made possible by 24 volunteers – a big cheer for them:

Barbara ALLEN • David PRIDDY • Fred ASHFORD • Jenny ZAREMBA • Sue BREE • Paula WALKER • Peter TOUGH • David MCSHANE • Minnie CROSS • Raymond John HOYLE • Rebecca CLARK • Adam HORSFIELD • George MARDALL • Paula KELLY • Ken PHILLIPS • James ROBINSON • Alex MARTIN • Pauline PHILLIPS • Clara WETTON • Martin STEWART • Holly PHILLIPS • Marie KOUHI • Jaskaran Singh SALL • Isabella AMITRANO

We are rather short of volunteers for the weeks ahead, so if you are able to help any day, please email blackparkhelpers@parkrun.com. We can book you in weeks or even months ahead and really appreciate the support!

Thank you to George for the beautiful photos – these are already on the Flickr group, which can be accessed via the photo link on the Black Park parkrun page or via this link:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/gmardall/sets

Achievements this week

78 people recorded new PBs, including our first finisher Charlie Edwards of Hillingdon AC.  He has been working up to this for many weeks now – well done Charlie!

We also congratulate new members of the parkrun milestone clubs:

10 Club – Charlotte DOCWRA

25 Volunteering Club - Marie KOUHI

50 Club – Arlene LOMBARD, Jamie PATTERSON, Lucy J DUNCAN, Mike MAY, Scott LANGDOWN

100 Club – Alex MOORE, Andy SMITH, Graham HILL, Janett BAKER, Jonathan David MARSDEN

There were some age graded results that deserved a huge cheer:

• Janet Binns (VW 60-64) of Datchet Dashers ran 22:10 to be second lady home – giving an impressive age grading of 86.3% (of the World Record for 5K for her age group)
• Kevin McDonald (VM55-59) of Hillingdon AC ran 19:22 to be 3^rd man home – with an age grading of 80.7%
• Michael Hill (VM60-64) of Datchet Dashers achieved 79.3%
• Margaret Mardell (VW70-74) running her 328^th parkrun achieved 78.5%
• Angela Duncan (VW75-79) of Hillingdon AC achieved 77.9%
• John Cobb (VM60-64) of Datchet Dashers achieved 77.2%
• Phil Hall (VM55-59) of Hillingdon Mountaineering Club achieved 76.1%
• Barbara Allen (VW65-69) of Datchet Dashers ran her 508^th parkrun and achieved 75.1%

Although the amazing Margaret Moody still holds the course record of 92.5% set back in April 2014.

I also felt the need to pick out a few Aesthetically Pleasing Finishing Times:

• Jonny Iles with 21:42 – a new PB for him
• Adam Horsfield of the DofE team with 22:22
• Kavanjot Benepal with 23:45 on his 75^th parkrun
• Hayet Bouguerra with 24:24 – a new PB for her on her 8^th parkrun
• Dave Matthews with 24:42 – a new PB for him on his 20^th parkrun
• Mark Jackson with 25:25
• David Ley with 28:48
• Qin Ma with 29:29
• Harbant Samra with 32:32 – on his first ever parkrun!
• Ruby Pillai with 33:33
• Sharron Lewin with 38:38
• Jackie Batten with 39:39
• Simon Skinner with 40:40
• Parminder Grewal with 47:47
• Sue Bree – our tail walker – with 55:55

And finally

Finally, our group of run reporters always wants to bring to life some of the different experiences of different individuals and groups within Black Park parkrun. If you would like to tell a little of your personal story, please do email parkrunstories@yahoo.com and we will hopefully catch up with you at Black Park and feature your story.

Black Park parkrun started on 18th July 2009. Since then 16,313 participants have completed 170,717 parkruns covering a total distance of 853,585 km, including 27,294 new Personal Bests.

parkrun #462 – 8^th April 2018

Stories from the park

The great news is that a couple of spring-like days meant that the blossom was coming out on the trees and the mud was much less than last week!

This week’s field of 623 finishers had 63 first-timers and 42 different clubs represented. There was a large contingent of visitors from Marlow Striders who clearly all had a great time – thank you for visiting! And our first male finisher had come all the way from Bristol in order to do some training for the English Road Running National Relay competition up in Birmingham next weekend, but had forgotten his barcode! #DFYB! Our next finisher was our female course record holder, Pippa Woolven from Wycombe Phoenix Harriers & AC in an impressive 17:19 (just 12 secs slower than her record).

Celebrations all round!

With the wonderful team of pacers out there an amazing 105 people recorded Personal Bests – that is 17% of all runners – wow!! As barcode scanner, I saw first-hand the delight as these people finished and regained their breath! The good news is that the course will get faster as it dries out more – so even more to come with pacers on the first Saturday of every month.

It is worth taking a moment to thank the fabulous pacers – many people commented on how encouraging and supportive they are. And their precision in terms of coming in on time was very impressive indeed – as you can see by scrolling down the results page. Thank you – top job!

We also congratulate new members of the parkrun milestone clubs:

10 Club – Abdulhameed NEIOUKH

50 Club – Ian GILHAM, Amanda KEEN, Louise DIGGENS, Robert GILL, Chris WILSON

100 Club – Simon SLATTERY, Russell COOK

250 Club – Michael DYER

As many of you know, there is a tradition of cakes for milestones – and Amanda Keen had surpassed herself with Kale & Apple Cake (yum) as well as a traditional sponge iced with the red 50 T-shirt and green holly leaves. Many of her friends from Burnham Joggers and parkrun and triathlons were there to help with the celebrations and cake!

Today Amanda was running as a VI-guide with Andrew Jones, who is currently working back to get under 25 mins after some injuries. Amanda started guide-running through parkrun and says how much it has enriched her own running; when guiding, it is a very close and trusting bond between the two of you, and the guide has to say everything that is coming up and that makes you both experience the details of the run more intensely. For most people their single biggest fear of becoming a guide-runner is that they would not be able to prevent a fall. Amanda has never experienced that issue, and indeed had a story of how Andrew had held her up one week when she caught her foot!

She also talked about the challenge at the start when it is busy – she likes to start a little further up the field, as it is easier for other runners to overtake the two of them, than it is for her to find a safe and wide-enough route for the two of them to pass. Her biggest challenges are people with headphones who cannot hear her call out, and people who run in front and then slow or stop suddenly.

We currently have 3 VI runners at Black Park – around 25-28 mins, 32-35 mins and 45-55 mins respectively. If you would be happy to guide, please drop an email to black-parkoffice@parkrun.com and we would love to add you to the rota.

If you would like to understand more and go on the official England Athletics course to gain more experience and register, then this is the link: https://www.englandathletics.org/disability-athletics/get-involved/sight-loss-awareness-and-guide-running-workshop

Today’s parkrun was all made possible by 59 volunteers – a big cheer for them:

Barbara ALLEN • Mark LUCAS • David PRIDDY • Fred ASHFORD • Glyn WATKINS • Jenny ZAREMBA • Mary LORD • Andy TORRANCE • Steve PARSONS • Joe NOLAN • Rose O'NEILL • Stephen MCALISTER • Antony SMITH • Chris ZAREMBA • Laura HAWKINS • Zoe SMITH • Freya SMITH • Kenneth BROWN • Bob STANBROOK • Diane KENDALL • Karen ALOE • Steve WELLS • Mantej DHATT • Karen TRUNKFIELD • Karen Anne PATTERSON • Tim DAWSON • Joanna MORIARTY • Rob LOWE • Oonagh THOMPSON • Joanne HARRISON • Minnie CROSS • Gary HOOK • Ian SEARS • Suzy GAULTON • John MILES • Michael PRICE • Fiona JAMIESON • David ROSS • Audrey PARSONS • Mitch KERBY • George MARDALL • Toby ROBINSON • Nigel WRIGHT • Ken PHILLIPS • Ben ROBINSON • James ROBINSON • Abigail MORIARTY • Amanda KEEN • Janett BAKER • Kathryn FROST • Mairi VODDEN • Sam PHILLIPS • Holly PHILLIPS • Anthony VODDEN • Ollie STRIDE • Yestin LINTON-SMITH • Marie KOUHI • Mary PALMER • Jaskaran Singh SALL

Thank you to George for the beautiful photos – these are already on the Flickr group, which can be accessed via the photo link on the Black Park parkrun page or via this link:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/gmardall/sets

Achievements this week

There were some age graded results that deserved a huge cheer:

• Pippa Woolven (SW20-24) of Wycombe Phoenix Harriers & AC (our female course record holder from her 2104 run) recorded 85.5% age grading today
• Catherine Staunton (VW60-64) of Chiltern Harriers and Margaret Mardall (VW70-74) both recorded 79.1%
• Dawn Godwin (VW45-49) of Windle Valley Runners recorded 79.0% age grading on her first parkrun at Black Park
• Ida Burrows (JW15-17) of Thames Valley Triathletes recorded 78.7% on her first parkrun at Black Park
• Ian Gilham (VM55-59) of Eton Tri recorded 77.2% on his 50^th parkrun
• Maureen Pedri (VW60-64) of the Running Sisters Network recorded 76.8%
• John Smith (VM75-79) recorded 76.5%
• Ben Robinson (JM11-14) of Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme recorded 76.1% with a PB on his 4^th run
• Simon O’Neill (VM50-54) of Marlow Striders and Guy Woolett (VM45-49) of Gade Valley Harriers both recorded 75.6% age grading.

Although the amazing Margaret Moody still holds the course record of 92.5% set back in April 2014.

I also felt the need to pick out a few Aesthetically Pleasing Finishing Times:

• Derek Shaw with 23:23 – a new PB at his 52^nd parkrun!
• Edward Harris with 23:32 – a new PB at his 3^rd parkrun!
• Michael Burnett of Hillingdon Triathletes with 25:25
• Tim Davies with 25:52
• Juan Crosby with 27:27 – a new PB at his 4^th parkrun!
• Annabel Greatorex with 28:28
• Hannah Vose and Mark Digby – both from Burnham Joggers, with 29:29
• Linda Lord with 38:38
• Anthony Bruce with 40:40 on his very first parkrun ever!

Looking ahead

The good news is that our new team of Run Directors are being trained up under Dave’s watchful eye and have been loading the results successfully for the last couple of weeks, and understanding how each of the volunteer roles makes Black Park parkrun work so well.

We are always looking for people who are prepared to help in one of the volunteer roles. Please email black-parkhelpers@parkrun.com with the date(s) that you can help. They are easy to learn and the volunteers have great fun together, as well as a sense of satisfaction when all goes well (especially in the weeks where we do not lose any of the finisher tokens!!)

Finally, our group of run reporters always wants to bring to life some of the different experiences of different individuals and groups within Black Park parkrun. If you would like to tell a little of your personal story, please do email parkrunstories@yahoo.com and we will hopefully catch up with you at Black Park and feature your story.

Black Park parkrun started on 18th July 2009. Since then 16,178 participants have completed 168,891 parkruns covering a total distance of 844,455 km, including 27,072 new Personal Bests.