This week’s parkrun marked our six month anniversary, and to mark the occasion we set another record attendance of 38 – that’s one more runner than last week. So numbers are growing slowly but surely. Let’s hope that this trend continues when the mornings start getting colder!   

First timer Maarten Van Der Hoeven was the winner this week with a blistering time of 17.25. Andrew Eastment was second in 18.38 and Robert Perry was third in a PB of 19.02. 

Another first timer was the first woman home; Sally Haffenden set a time of 22.27. Geraldine Eastment was second in a PB of 22.54 and Tania Lipparelli also set a PB for third place with 24.53.

There were a total of 17 PBs this week; Andrew Smith broke 20 minutes, Bob Oliver broke 29 minutes, and Janet Ley and Mary Slade broke 30 minutes.  

Christmas and New Year

Some super keen runners have been asking whether we are planning to hold a parkrun on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. We are very happy to do so - our only concern was that it would just be the two of us there, while everyone else was at home opening their presents! We’ll have to do something special to mark the occasion, so feel free to make suggestions. 

Parkrunners at Large

Plenty of parkrunners have been out and about putting their parkrun training to good use. 

Joe and Janet Dray were two thirds of a relay team taking on the sprint event at the London Triathlon. Joe did the 20k bike leg and Janet used her parkrun expertise to do the 5k run – and even managed to get interviewed for Channel 4 (she appears at about 17 minutes in).  The team were raising funds for RNIB.

Colin and Lauren took part in the Rainforest 10k and both set PBs, despite the hilly course – all Greenwich parkrunners who complain about the slight incline at Avery Hill Park should try a Finsbury Park parkrun some time. 

If you are taking part in an event, we’d love to hear about it, especially if you can send us a picture. It’s great that people are using parkrun as part of their training. 

Volunteers

This week’s volunteers were Theresa Hull, Wole Odele, Justin Greenslade, Colin Armstrong and Lauren Hillier. Thanks once again to all those runners who’ve responded to our appeal for volunteers – we’re now in the enviable position of being oversubscribed for volunteers most weeks. We’ll be sure to take everyone up on their kind offers to volunteer over the next few weeks.    

Don’t forget you can follow us on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenwich-parkrun/334947533794 

and twitter at: www.twitter.com/Greenwchparkrun   

Congratulations to Steve, who has taken part in 17 Greenwich parkruns - the highest attendance by any of our runners. Steve is our of our most consistent and supportive runners and fully deserves this prize - well done Steve!

We'd like to thank Hugh Brasher of Sweatshop for his generosity and to congratulate Stev on his achievement. Steve's prize is a new pair of running shoes fitted at the local Sweatshop.

Gabriella Eastment was the first female runner this week, with a PB time of 26.03.  Gabriella's Mum and Dad have got nine victories at Greenwich parkrun between them, and have obviously passed on their talent to Gabriella (and also to Jack, who set a PB of 26.04 this week, and to five-year-old Joseph who continues to amaze all the other parkrunners!).  Lauren Hillier was the second woman in a PB time of 26.23 and Annabelle Hadlow was third in 29.02. 
 
Andrew Eastment was the first man in a time of 18.22, which also meant that he had the best age grading this week - 80.31%.  First timers Steven Pairman and John Cronin were second and third with times of 19.24 and 19.36 respectively. 
 
9 runner set PBs - special congratulations to Wole Odele who broke the 23 minute marker this week. 
 
Thanks to this week's volunteers; Colin Armstrong, Sally Slade, Mary Slade, Theresa Hull, Stephen Hull and Phillip Lloyd.  Please email GreenwichHelpers@parkrun.com if you are interested in volunteering in future.  We'll add you to the email list so you'll get details of the training session that we hope to run in the near future. 

This week's run was a three-way battle between three excellent runners in the VM50-54 category.  The competition between the three meant that they all set PBs.  Stephen Smythe was first in a time of 18.14, just ahead of Andrew Eastment in 18.20 and Laurence Duffy was third with 18.43.  Stephen's age grading was 82.18%, which is our highest ever score for a male runner. 
 
Geraldine Eastment was the fastest woman, with a PB of 22.56.  Pat Halstead (who holds the record for the highest age rating for a female runner) was second in 23.14 and first timer Amy Bhandari was third in 24.49.
 
Record Attendance
 
There was a record attendance of 37 runners this week - thanks to all our regulars and first timers for turning out!  17 runners set PBs - special congratulations go to Andrew Smith (sub 21 minutes), Keith Borrett (sub 23), Iva Heinemann (sub 30) and Bob Oliver (30 minutes exactly).  
 
Volunteers
 
Thanks to all our volunteers this week and to all those who have promised to volunteer in future.  There will be a training session to be held once the new cafe is open (any week now...) so that would-be volunteers can familiarise themselves with all the equipment.  Watch this space for more details.