This parkrun day will be remembered by me for a couple of reasons. 1 – I had to get up about 6am (Yuk). 2 – I visited a new parkrun in a nice new park for my 48th different event. 3 – It was cold
Ill address the last point first. As I travelled to the park I had a tshirt, jumper and coat on with gloves and a hat. As soon as it neared time to run I removed my jumper, coat hat and most importantly gloves to join the start line. Before I had reached the bollards at the far end of the course I regretted not keeping my gloves on as I couldn't feel my fingers.
In relation to point 2 – lots of laps at parkrun - I feel I'm going to lose count along the way and come in early. (I remember completing 5 laps at Highbury Fields parkrun a couple of years ago and getting completely confused however I did do the full 5 laps). I hadn't looked at the course map on the website beforehand however I could see that there was a bridge over the lake so as I was going round I thanked the marshal each time I went by. After 4 "Thank you marshal" I knew I was ok to finish next time I saw the left path at the end of the lap.
Cheltenham parkrun was my 48th different course and I can honestly say they are all different however all have the same great sense of community, summed up on this parkrunday with the brilliant costumes handed out to the centurions to complete their 100th run!
Point 1 – 6am, it's early, it's cold, it's dark and I was tempted to stay in bed.
I saw before the start a pacer in a high-viz who was pacing 28 minutes and I decided to try and stay with him. After the pre run brief I'd lost him in the crowd and for 3 laps I was running blindly - I wear a watch but don't look at time or pace. Then with about 3/4 of a lap to go I spotted him running along. I drew alongside and thanked him for volunteering as a pacer. Rounding the last couple of corners of the lap a little sprint up the hill to the finish and I was handed token 169 and I was relieved that I could go and find my gloves!!
Volunteers
This week's heroes in yellow, thank you to -
Michelle BALCHIN, Janine BENNETT, Martin BICK, Harry BROOKS, Billy BRYCE, Cheryl CLAY, Richard DIXON, Claire GALLAGHER, Freddie GOYMER BROWN, Luca GRAY, Mark HALLIWELL, Georgia HALLIWELL, Claire Elizabeth HAWES, Mike JARVIS, Gavin JERMAN, Melissa JONGA, Ian JORDAN, Brian MAGGS, Eoin MCQUONE, Mark MEDLAND, Peter MITCHENER, Lucy MUSGRAVE, Rachael NOLAN, Isabelle OWEN, Marc PLUMMER, Ben POWELL, Felix SMITH, Prashanth Kumar SRIPATHI, Simon WESTGATE
Celebrations this week
Congratulations to the following Cheltenham parkrunners who entered one of the parkrun clubs at the event
25 volunteer club - John WILLGOSS
10 club – Peter CANDISH
50 club – Alice CANDISH - 48 at Cheltenham parkrun, 1 at Forest of Dean and Mulbarton
Harry JOHNSON - 35 at Cheltenham, 2 at Killerton, Trelissick, Kingsway, Forest of Dean, 1 at Bushy, Parke, Ashton Court, Tewkesbury, Wycombe Rye, Evesham and Thornbury
100 club – Colin ALBERT - 94 at Cheltenham, 3 at Guildford parkrun, 2 at Trelissick and 1 at Alice Holt
Sophie JOHNSON - 83 at Cheltenham, 2 at Bushy, Trelissick, Kingsway, Tewkesbury, Killerton, Forest of Dean, 1 at Evesham, Wycombe Rye, Gloucester North, Ashton Court and Parke
Tom JOHNSON - 84 at Cheltenham, 2 at Bushy, Killerton, Ashton Court, Tewkesbury, Kingsway, Forest of Dean, 1 at Parke, Trelissick, Evesham and Thornbury
5 stats from Cheltenham parkrun this week
This was event 261 at Cheltenham. In 261st position was Stuart WILSON who completed his 2nd parkrun in a new PB of 30:38
29 volunteers made the event possible this week. In 29th position was Michael RIDLEY who completed his 29th parkrun in a new PB of 21:23
53 new PB's this week. In 53rd position was Chris FULLER who completed his 121st parkrun in 22:59
The average run time for the event (overall) is 28:03. This week Chloe MASON matched this time in her 56th parkrun
Position number of the week = 290 – Rita CRANE who completed her 79th parkrun in 31:51
PB's
This week there was 53 personal bests recorded.
Here is a list of the parkrunners with over 50 runs who achieved a PB this week –
Chloe MASON - 28:03 - 56 parkruns
Simon PALMER - 31:09 - 67 parkruns
Phillip JUKES - 20:12 - 76 parkruns
Pauline FULLER - 28:34 - 121 parkruns
Well done to all achieving a PB this week
First timers
28 first timers took part this week, for 10 of them this was their 1st parkrun.
Well done to all the 1st times, hope you enjoyed your parkrun and you will be back next week
Official Report
This week 374 people ran, jogged and walked the course, of whom 28 were first timers and 53 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of 23 different clubs took part.
The event was made possible by 29 volunteers:
Mike JARVIS • Janine BENNETT • Claire Elizabeth HAWES • Gavin JERMAN • Michelle BALCHIN • Peter MITCHENER • Prashanth Kumar SRIPATHI • Freddie GOYMER BROWN • Claire GALLAGHER • Mark HALLIWELL • Lucy MUSGRAVE • Simon WESTGATE • Martin BICK • Isabelle OWEN • Melissa JONGA • Mark MEDLAND • Marc PLUMMER • Felix SMITH • Ben POWELL • Rachael NOLAN • Billy BRYCE • Brian MAGGS • Cheryl CLAY • Richard DIXON • Ian JORDAN • Georgia HALLIWELL • Luca GRAY • Eoin MCQUONE • Harry BROOKS
The male record is held by Graham RUSH who recorded a time of 14:59 on 10th September 2016 (event number 187).
The female record is held by Emily SMITH who recorded a time of 17:15 on 24th September 2016 (event number 189).
The Age Grade course record is held by Val NAYLOR who recorded 95.77% (24:27) on 3rd September 2016 (event number 186).
Cheltenham parkrun started on 16th February 2013. Since then 11,759 participants have completed 91,674 parkruns covering a total distance of 458,370 km, including 16,340 new Personal Bests.
Did you know?
Cheltenham now has 11568 registered parkrunners
#dfyb
Kevin