Bracknell parkrun
Event number 188
13th October 2018
Run report by Jenny Griffiths
Mental Health Awareness Week #runandtalk
Today marked the end of mental health awareness week for 2018. It is well known that exercise helps with a variety of mental health conditions, and a 5km walk, jog or run can be hugely beneficial.
Sometimes we want to turn up to parkrun and “race it”, try and beat our PB. And if we beat it, we feel amazing and sit eagerly awaiting the “congratulations on your PB” text message. parkrun was good for our mental health that day.
Sometimes we want to beat our PB but the conditions or your legs just aren’t on your side and we fall short. We still got out of bed, ran or walked 5k, have all those endorphins circulating your body – and we’re one parkrun closer to the next milestone t-shirt. We also earned breakfast. parkrun was good for our mental health that day.
Sometimes we decide not to race parkrun and turn up, meet a friend and jog or walk 5k chatting and laughing all the way round. Or maybe we didn’t meet a friend but made one, and completed the 5k with a new parkrun pal. parkrun was good for our mental health that day.
Sometimes we don’t think we are brave enough to come and do our first parkrun, because there will be people watching, we don’t know if we could finish it, we don’t want to be last. But we do. And we are never last because the tail walker always has our back, and we do it, despite all odds. parkrun was good for your mental health that day.
Sometimes we arrive ready to be a hi-viz hero, and volunteer so that a few hundred people can come and complete their parkruns. As a marshal, we helped keep parkrunners safe; cheered and supported right to the end. As a finish area volunteer, we helped ensure everyone got safely through the finish funnel and was assigned their correct time. As the run director, we made sure there were sufficient volunteers and that parkrun could go ahead. parkrun was good for your mental health that day.
parkrun issued a blog post about some scientific research this week, which showed that EVERY participant (all of whom had mental health issues), reported that parkrun was beneficial to their mental health.
http://blog.parkrun.com/uk/2018/10/10/research-reveals-benefit-of-parkrun-on-mental-health/
If you know someone who you think would benefit from parkrun, please bring them along. You or they can contact the run director with any questions or concerns beforehand – but rest assured, they will be most welcome. We always have run/walk pacers who will be wearing special blue pacer vests – look out for them – they don’t like being on their own!
This Week’s parkrun
This week 244 people ran, jogged and walked the course, of whom 29 were first timers and 27 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of 19 different clubs took part.
The weather was fine and dry, until about 10 minutes before the start when we all had to duck for cover under the trees and umbrellas. Kudos especially to the volunteers this week for getting totally soaked, but continuing with their roles. Thank you!
Congratulations to David WATLER on running his 50th parkrun today (hopefully we’ll have a photographer to take your 50 photo next week), just sneaking under 30 minutes. Well done to Alasdair POLL, Sian MCBRIDE and Matthew SWANN for being the first finishers for male, female and U11 respectively.
The Usual Stats
The event was made possible by 22 volunteers:
Jenny L GRIFFITHS • Stephen DOWLING • Lola Rebecca AITKEN • Alexandra PERRIOR • Alfie Lee ELLARY • Andy SCOTT • Mike SANKEY • Debbie WATSON • Ellouise CLARE • Steph CLARE • Paul SCOTT • Doug BRADY • Samantha GWYN-GRIFFITHS • Mark NEVE • Jan JALOVY • Miriam STALLARD • Kerry SCOTT • Luke TAYLOR • Heidi PAISLEY • Stephen L'ESTRANGE • Liz GEORGE • Kathy PERRIOR
Today's full results and a complete event history can be found on the Bracknell parkrun Results Page.
The male record is held by Richard ALLEN who recorded a time of 16:46 on 10th December 2016 (event number 91).
The female record is held by Sophie QUIRK who recorded a time of 17:54 on 29th July 2017 (event number 125).
The Age Grade course record is held by Sophie QUIRK who recorded 86.59% (17:54) on 29th July 2017 (event number 125).
Bracknell parkrun started on 4th April 2015. Since then 8,024 participants have completed 56,399 parkruns covering a total distance of 281,995 km, including 9,762 new Personal Bests.
