This week there were 335 runners, of whom 37 were first timers and 87 recorded new personal bests (PB). Representatives of 27 different athletics clubs took part.

Cambridge parkrun started on 30th January 2010, and since then 3,600 different runners, including participants from 202 athletics clubs, have completed 24,019 runs covering a total distance of 120,095 km, and there have been 5,994 new personal bests.

Notable PBs were earned by James 'Jim' Stocker who also achieved the day's highest WAVA score bagging a time of 19:17. Chris Potter ran a fantastic new best of 26:12 in his 32nd run - well done, Chris! A big mention must go to Louise Pryor who comitts a huge amount of her time to helping with the event. After doing the starter's speech, Louise went on to whack 20 seconds off her previous best time and ran a time of 26:15. Congrats, Louise! Tracy Hutchison took part in her 30th parkrun and ran a new best of 29:09. Fabulous running.

Apologies to anyone whose performance I've not mentioned. With over 300 runners I restrain myself to mentioning a handful, otherwise I'd be writing all night!

After the run, a number of parkrunners joined the Sport Makers workshop. Feedback following the event was very good indeed. If you are interested in learning more about Sport Makers and how you can get involved, please follow this link: http://www.sportmakers.co.uk/

Lastly, I'd like to thank all the volunteers who make the event happen so smoothly each week. This week's heroes were: Carley Gibbens, Chris Pyle, Guy Fleming, Heidi Uff, James Stocker, Jen Richardson, Jenny Parker, John Frank O'Callaghan, John Uff, Joseph Philip, Joshua Henry, Kathryn Heydon, Louise Pryor, Mary Holmes, Pat Jackson, Paul Rudin, Pauline Blake, Samuel D Johnson, Sarah Kelman, Sarah Nash, Sue Jones and Terry Braverman.

If you'd like to support the event by volunteering, we would love to hear from you. Please email CambridgeHelpers@parkrun.com

See you next week!

Introducing Jen

A large portion of my parkrun-related time is spent replying to emails from our fabulous volunteers. Sometimes I’m not able to get back to people as quickly as I would like, so Jen Richardson has kindly offered to assist in coordinating volunteers. This is going to be a huge help. It will allow me time to make improvements to Cambridge parkrun and do all those little jobs I don’t get round to – for example, writing things like this!

As well as being a great personal friend, Jen’s a dedicated member of the volunteer team and, more recently, the core team at Cambridge. She’s been a great motivator in getting others running and she's a fantastic ambassador for parkrun and running in general.

Yikes, we forgot the timer!

Only kidding! But wouldn’t it be awful if we did forget the timer? Or the finish barcodes? Or the laptop? Or the barcode scanners? Or if we forgot to process results?

You see, we adore parkrun, but it gives us a lot to remember. Friday night and Saturday morning are always a busy time for us; getting things ready, being sure we’ve got all the kit and making sure everyone knows what they’re doing. It all takes time and commitment from the core team and volunteers.

The one thing we need you to bring is your barcode. This is why we have no qualms over our no barcode, no result policy.

Please, print your barcode, laminate it if you can and be sure to bring it with you on Saturday mornings.

We’ve been more lenient with people who have been able to provide us with an athlete number. However, this adds a great deal of time to results processing, slows proceedings and leaves our volunteers less likely to want to undertake such arduous tasks in the future.

Want to wow us? Get yourself a time trial barcode: http://www.littlehugs.co.uk/

Don't be late, y'all.

Okay, so sometimes circumstances conspire against us and we don’t always start on time.

However, we now ask volunteers to arrive at 8:30, so that we’re ready to go at 9am and we will be making a concerted effort to do this.

Please, be sure you arrive with ample time to park and get a ticket from the parking machine if you require one.

Jubilee parkrun - fancy dress!

One of our regular parkrunners has enthusiastically suggested a fancy dress Jubilee parkrun on 2nd June. This may or may not be something to do with her having found the perfect outfit.

So, if you'd like to join the fun, we'd love to see you all dressed up for the event.

As ever, we'd welcome photographers so that we can all look back in wonder.

Lastly...

If you can't get enough Cambridge parkrun:

Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/parkrun.cambridge

Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Cambrdgeparkrun

Listen to The parkrun Show: http://www.marathontalk.com/parkrun.php

Looking forward to seeing you on Saturday!

We're delighted to announce that our recent winner of the Sweatshop prize is Linda Crook. Linda has clocked up 47 runs at Cambridge parkrun and is known for her enthusiasm, encouragement of others and great sense of humour. Cambridge parkrun wouldn't be the same without her! As well as running many impressive parkruns, she's also taken part in numerous other races.

We'd like to thank Sweatshop for their generosity and to congratulate Linda on her achievement. Her prize is a new pair of running shoes fitted at our local Sweatshop.

The winner is chosen by the event director or members of the core team. The successful candidates are often chosen for their perseverance, number of PBs in one month, total number of runs and improvement overall. However, we can award the prize for other reasons at our discretion. If you know someone who has overcome adversity, personal illness or is deserving in any other way, please let us know by emailing CambridgeOffice@parkrun.com and we promise to consider your nomination.

A load of t-shirts have arrived for the following people, we'll bring them to parkrun for you to collect. Congratulations to you all!

parkrun 10 t-shirts

• Jack Jenkinson
• Ian Ager
• Curtis Wood
• Toby Mortimer
• Dan Cade
• Jacob Chamberlain
• Hope Hutchison
• Lisa Johnson-Davies
• Alexander Marsh
• Lauren Murphy
• Bethan White

parkrun 50 t-shirts

• Gareth Lewis
• Brian Judkins
• Chris Johnson
• Stephen Bennett
• Steve Buchan
• Karen Field
• Sophie Darling
• Lucy Field
• Jen Richardson
• David Irwin
• Darien O'Brien
• Paul Jones
• William Tunstall-Pedoe
• Colin Seltzer
• Chris Darling
• Tom James Mathams

Looking forward to seeing everyone in their well-deserved new kit!

Happy running,

Heidi

It was a bit of a celebration last week as we launched our 100^th Cambridge parkrun. The time’s simply flown by and I hope you’ve all enjoyed the last 100 runs as much as we’ve enjoyed organising them. We saw 313 runners take part, which is the kind of number we never imagined we would get - really great, hope you all had fun!

First off, thanks to the volunteers who made it all possible – there wouldn’t have been a 100^th Cambridge parkrun without you. Volunteers last week were:

Adam SCOTT  •  Alan MIDDLEBROOK  •  Anita LEWIS  •  Ben SIMONSON  •  Brodie EVANS  •  Charles BARKER  •  Diane POTTER  •  Gareth Riley LEWIS  •  Graham DARLING  •  Hannah COOKE  •  Heidi UFF  •  Helen D JOHNSON  •  Istvan JACSO  •  James KILLICK  •  James RYAN  •  James STOCKER  •  John UFF  •  Jonathan ESCALANTE-PHILLIPS  •  Luke CARMAN  •  Margaret PHILLIPS  •  Mark HAZLEHURST  •  Mary HOLMES  •  Matthew TURNER  •  Paula KESSLER  •  Richard LYLE  •  Samuel D JOHNSON  •  Suzie HALL  •  Vanessa TOONE

The big ups

Of course, a huge well done to everyone who took part! Before we look at the men’s and women’s placings, I’d like to give special recognition to some runners who caught my eye in last week’s results. If you need motivation to get out of bed and get to parkrun on a Saturday morning, then the following people are a great example of what you can achieve:

• Julie Holmes ran a fantastic new best time of 26:20. This alone would be cause for celebration, but when you consider that Julie set a PB of 27:13 in December 2011 it’s even more impressive because that’s almost a minute off her best in a short space of time!
• Speeding their way to the 50 club, Julia Sudbury (43 runs) and David ‘man in a dress’ Irwin (44 runs) clocked up brilliant times in last week’s chilly conditions earning PBs of 25:54 and 21:43 respectively. Julia started running parkrun in a creditable 33:17 back in April last year. I think you’ll all agree she’s made some phenomenal progress to get the new best time.
• Sorrel Langley-Hobbs completed her 28^th Cambridge parkrun in a new best time of 24:07. Well done, Sorrel!
• Continuing his consistent improvement, Chris Poultney flew round his 54^th run in a time of 21:41. Chris is one of our longstanding runners, he joined us on our second event waaaay back on 6^th February 2010. He ran 26:03 then, so he’s another runner to have taken considerable chunks of his early times.
• Another parkrunner demonstrating that hard work pays off, Ritchie Carter has reduced his time from 27:21 in June last year to a speedy 21:24. Good work, Ritchie!
• There’s a ticket to the sub-21 club with Kristy Guneratne’s name on it. In her 65^th Cambridge parkrun, she ran a super-fast 21:09!

 Chris Johnson – belated awesomenesses to you!

 Last time I had a looksee through the results to decide who to pick out for fame and recognition, I totally overlooked Chris Johnson. So, well done on your PB back in November! Chris did his 44^th Cambridge parkrun last weekend. He needs to shave off just one more second to be under 19 minutes. You can do it!

Men's placings:

Dan STAITE (SM35-39) (Unattached) was first in 17:02 - first win in 4^th appearance.
Chris DARLING (JM15-19) of Cambridge Triathlon Club, was second in 17:08 - 3 previous wins.
Till Jakob Wenzel WAGNER (SM25-29) (Unattached) was third in 17:36 - 1 previous win.

Current standing in the Men's annual points competition:
Chris JOHNSON (Unattached) 3560 pts.
Tom James MATTHAMS (Unattached) 2591 pts.
Iain WOOD (Cambridge and Coleridge AC) 2513 pts.

Women's placings:

 
Sophie TOOLEY (JW14) of West Suffolk AC, was first (18^th overall) in 19:24 - 5^th win in 8^th appearance.
Nicki DAVIS (SW30-34) of WaldenTri, was second (22^nd overall) in 20:05 - 7 previous wins.
Christine ANTHONY (VW45-49) of West Suffolk AC, was third (31^st overall) in 20:31 - 1 previous win.

Current standing in the Women's annual points competition:
Diane BUNCH (Unattached) 3784 pts.
Kristy GUNERATNE (St Radegund RDC) 3686 pts.
Alex GEOGHEGAN (Unattached) 3081 pts.

The following runners recorded the best Age Grade scores:
Sophie TOOLEY (JW14) was graded 83.93 % for the time 19:24 (18^th overall).
Sebastian ANTHONY (JM14) was graded 80.13 % for the time 17:42 (4^th overall).
Christine ANTHONY (VW45-49) was graded 79.77 % for the time 20:31 (31^st overall).

This week there were 313 runners, of whom 29 were first timers and 73 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of 30 different athletics clubs took part.

Cambridge parkrun started on 30th January 2010, and since then 3,003 different runners, including participants from 177 athletics clubs, have completed 18,674 runs covering a total distance of 93,370 km, and there have been 4,824 new Personal Bests.

The Women's course record is held by Susie HIGNETT who ran in a time of 16:28 on 26th June 2010 (event number 22).
The Men's course record is held by Tom VICKERY who ran in a time of 15:47 on 26th March 2011 (event number 59).
The Age Grade course record is held by Susie HIGNETT who recorded a 89.88 % run (16:28) on 26th June 2010 (event number 22).

Finish funnel – help us, it will help you

As more people take part, we need to tweek the process with the finish area. Here’s a video of Bushy parkrun’s finish funnel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuvagW6qMmY&feature=related  Bushy has a huge turnout each week and recently had 1,000 parkrunners at an event, so this is a great example of a smooth, effective system at work in a large event. We hope to make our finish look just as good and we’re working on ways to achieve this.

In the meantime, observing the following points would help us massively:

• Don’t be a funnel ducker. Remain in the funnel and walk on through, don't duck under the tape.
• Keep moving. We need to keep the funnel clear.
• Don’t cross the finish line more than once. If you head back and help a friend round, that’s fine, but they must finish alone.
  

I’m happy if you just remember those points and ignore the next paragraph. If you’re fascinated by the ins and outs of funnel management (ooh, pun there!) then read on:

We understand that adhering to rules is about the last thing on your mind when you finish a 5k. Promptly lying down seems far more appealing, I know. Bearing the above points in mind makes processing results much easier. Where somebody ducks out of the finish, it gives us more times than finishers and causes our results processing team a headache. We don’t ask you to keep moving because we’re sadists, I promise, but if people stop before collecting a finish token, thereby allowing others to overtake in the funnel, they end up further down in the results and email us during the week to ask why – this is something which can take a while to untangle and we simply don’t have time to do it during the week. Crossing the finish more than once gives more finishers than times. Again, another results processing nightmare.

Bridges – because I know you love them

 I know, I know. You all read these newsletters for my pesky, slippery bridge updates. Well, I’ve got some good news for you.

Work to unpeskificate the wide bridge near the Visitor Centre is beginning very soon and is expected to be completed within a fortnight or so. For those who don’t know what this will involve, the existing wooden slats will be replaced with non-slip ones. If you head to the back of the Visitor Centre and walk up the ramp which leads to the viewing platform, look down: the replacement slats will be similar to those you’re walking upon.

In addition, the park rangers took a look at the narrow bridge at the far end of the course (where the first lap heads right and subsequent laps head left). In view of the pounding this bridge takes, the rangers thought it prudent to give this bridge the same treatment of depeskification*.

They asked me to thank you all for the donations made both online and to the tombola kindly organised by Jenny Parker and her mum last year which contributed funds to this cause.

Huge thanks to the volunteers!

Had a bit of a panic earlier in the week when I thought we may not have enough volunteers this weekend. I’d very much like to thank those of you who have responded to the plea for help on Facebook and Twitter and offered to help.

As our event grows, it’s imperative that our volunteer team grows too. If you wish to do your bit and would like to be added to our database of volunteers, please email CambridgeHelpers@parkrun.com We would love to hear from you.

Birthday reminder

Cambridge parkrun will be 2 on January 28. You’re all invited!

Fancy dress is very much encouraged, but by no means compulsory.

Cambridge News will cover the event and have confirmed they will be sending a photographer.

Probably wise to arrive early on 28^th if you’re planning on using the car park, because the parking machine is becoming very busy before the run and we may have more runners than usual.

Saturday mornings not enough? You just want more parkrun?

Well, that's great because you can:

Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/parkrun.cambridge

Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Cambrdgeparkrun

Listen to The parkrun Show: http://www.marathontalk.com/parkrun.php

Happy running and hope to see you all on Saturday!

*Thanks to Jonathan Escalante-Philips for coining the word ‘depeskification’.