Congratulations to Alison Rose who has been awarded the Sweatshop Prize for January 2012. Alison has improved her personal best by 2:53 since she started parkrun. She has completed 22 runs to date. 

Well done Alison. Also a big thanks to Sweatshop for all their support. Alison will be able to claim her prize of a new pair of running trainer from her local Sweatshop store. 

I am pleased we can reward runners for their ongoing effort and determination through the Sweatshop prize. If you have any nominations for the accolade please let me know via email to finsburyoffice@parkrun.com. 

Happy running and remember to dress up warm for Saturday!!

 Thank you to everyone that has taken part in and volunteered during January. We have had a number of large fields this year with 111 runners on the 21st Jan and 105 today. Long may it continue. 

I have been informed by the park authorities that there is another event taking place on the 11th February and therefore, Finsbury parkrun will not be on that day. Sorry for the inconveience caused. I think I may try out Ally Pally parkrun - where might you visit?? There will be no volunteer presence at the park as we want to run elsewhere so please tell all your parkrun buddies so no one is disappointed.

We had some great times today - Well done Nick SHASHA for his first place in sub 17 minutes. Well done Emma Sherwood on her win today in 22:01. I note that male points competition is very close with Mark being 6 points ahead of Scott. Alison has a clear lead in the female points competition. Wonder who will be in the lead in October?? 

Below are all the stats from today:

Men's placings:
Nick SHASHA (SM35-39) of Walthamstow AC, was first in 16:48 - first win in second appearance.
Andrew Alasdair BROWN (SM25-29) of London Heathside Runners AC, was second in 17:31 - 1 previous win.
Christopher ILES (SM30-34) (Unattached) was third in 18:10.

Current standing in the Men's annual points competition:
Mark JEFFORD (Road Runners Club) 1179 pts.
Scott MCMILLAN (Unattached) 1173 pts.
Alun NASH (Unattached) 1106 pts.

Women's placings:
Emma SHERWOOD (SW25-29) (Unattached) was first (33^rd overall) in 22:01 - first win in 6^th appearance.
Lena FESTERLING (SW25-29) (Unattached) was second (41^st overall) in 22:49.
Jinaka UGO (VW35-39) (Unattached) was third (44^th overall) in 23:25.

Current standing in the Women's annual points competition:
Alison ROSE (Unattached) 1059 pts.
Lydia DOBSON (Unattached) 899 pts.
Helen SMITH (Unattached) 891 pts.

The following runners recorded the best Age Grade scores:
Nick SHASHA (SM35-39) was graded 79.46 % for the time 16:48 (first overall).
Mark JEFFORD (VM45-49) was graded 78.12 % for the time 18:17 (5^th overall).
Simon STEBBINGS (VM40-44) was graded 74.86 % for the time 18:14 (4^th overall).

This week there were 105 runners, of whom 24 were first timers and 30 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of 10 different athletics clubs took part. 

 At this time of year is is always a good idea to reflect on the past and the future. I think we can safely say that there it has been another successful year for Finsbury parkrun. We had 50 events this year and hundreds of runners taking part. The runners are so important to parkrun and all have their own unique story as to why parkrun is important to them. 

Congratulations to all are winners this year; that is not just those who came at the front but those who achieved a PB or  the milestone of 50 runs. 

Well done to our points competition winners Ross Giggins and Michele Griffiths. 

Overall, thank you to all who make the parkrun community what it is. Without doubt the volunteers have been fantastic in their unwavering support this year. Special thanks to Jinaka, who has directed many races this year, Mark and Rajiv who have both stepped in to maintain the consistency of the run. Without doubt volunteers make the run possible and I thank everyone for their continued support. 

We head into the New Year and plan to continue to build on the success in 2011. My parkrun resolutions are to try and maintain a more consistent web presence via this website. Furthermore, I am hopeful to continue to build the team of event directors who can manage the event. If you are keen to assist with either of these please get in touch at finsburyhelpers@parkrun.com. My other resolution is to run more regularly - we will see how that one goes!!

I am looking forward to Finsbury parkrun in 2012 and hope you are too. Happy running and Happy New Year.

Below you will find the New Year Eve results;

Men's placings:
Tom ALDRED (SM30-34) of London Heathside Runners AC, was first in 16:35 - 4^th win in 5^th appearance.
James PARKER (SM25-29) of Highgate Harriers, was second in 17:43.
Nick GOLD (SM35-39) of Highgate Harriers, was third in 18:43.

Current standing in the Men's annual points competition:
Mark JEFFORD (Road Runners Club) 887 pts.
Alun NASH (Unattached) 838 pts.
Scott MCMILLAN (Unattached) 822 pts.

Women's placings:
Helen SMITH (VW40-44) (Unattached) was first (11^th overall) in 22:06 - 9^th win in 29^th appearance.
Michele GRIFFITHS (VW45-49) (Unattached) was second (19^th overall) in 24:15.
Amanda JONES (SW20-24) (Unattached) was third (20^th overall) in 24:20 - 3 previous wins.

Current standing in the Women's annual points competition:
Alison ROSE (Unattached) 794 pts.
Michele GRIFFITHS (Unattached) 778 pts.
Helen SMITH (Unattached) 691 pts.

The following runners recorded the best Age Grade scores:
Tom ALDRED (SM30-34) was graded 78.39 % for the time 16:35 (first overall).
James PARKER (SM25-29) was graded 72.81 % for the time 17:43 (second overall).
Nick GOLD (SM35-39) was graded 72.40 % for the time 18:43 (third overall).

This week there were 40 runners, of whom 5 were first timers and 5 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of 5 different athletics clubs took part.

Finsbury parkrun started on 31st October 2009, and since then 1,854 different runners, including participants from 163 athletics clubs, have completed 7,250 runs covering a total distance of 36,250 km, and there have been 1,879 new Personal Bests.

The Women's course record is held by Hayley BEARD who ran in a time of 18:04 on 9th April 2011 (event number 69).
The Men's course record is held by Ben MOREAU who ran in a time of 15:07 on 25th September 2010 (event number 43).
The Age Grade course record is held by Ben MOREAU who recorded a 85.34 % run (15:07) on 25th September 2010 (event number 43).

Today's full results and a complete event history can be found on the Finsbury parkrun Results Page.

I  

 Due to the London Feis concert at Finsbury park on the 18th June this event will have to be cancelled.

Why not visit another local event that week; 

http://www.parkrun.org.uk/hampstead-heath/

http://www.parkrun.org.uk/hackney-marshes/

http://www.parkrun.org.uk/pymmes/

http://www.parkrun.org.uk/grovelands/

 Well done to all our runners who completed the Runfree event this year. We had brilliant weather and enjoyed a nice picnic and some Lucozade Sport Lite. Although we did not have massive attendance figures we did have our Finsbury parkrun community spirit out in force. It is great testiment to the parkrun ethos; its ability to develop a running community around the events.

I hope everyone enjoyed the event and I look forward to next year's runfree event.

Below are the results for event 77.