Run Director: Hugh BOYLE
There’s always that extra-special vibe around at the Greenwich parkrun on the eve of the London Marathon and event 434 was no different. A sunny and breezy Avery Hill park was teeming with runners and volunteers from as early as 8:15 for a change. Marathon volunteers arrived early to pick up their accreditation IDs and kit, and seasoned parkrun tourists descended on the only parkrun in the borough where the London Marathon starts. A total of 267 people ran, jogged and walked the course, aided by 26 volunteers. 24 of the finishers were first time visitors to Avery Hill, made up mostly of seasoned tourists with 7 people recording their first ever parkrun. There was even some cake on offer to people after the run.
Despite the slight breeze, running conditions were near perfect at 15°C with 38 people recording PBs. The frontrunners led the way with the first 4 finishers all setting new marks. In fact all top 3 male and female finishers either set new PBs or equalled an existing one. Of the mere mortals who’ve run at least 20 times here, Sally CARR’s 23rd PB in 75 runs, was the standout performance. She was ably backed up by Darren ATTRIDGE’s 8th PB in 56 runs and Robert DEVANEY who got his 5th PB on his 50th milestone run. Keith FARQUHAR got his latest PB on his 31st run, Rachel NORMAN after 26 runs and Martin JOHNSON and Barry HADINGHAM, both after 24 runs.
Milestones
Congratulations to Run Director, Mavis WILLIAMS as she reached the 250 run milestone with her fastest run since September! She dipped under 30 minutes for the first time since then with 29:32.
Congratulations also to Robert DEVANEY who set a new PB of 27:38 to stake a claim for the 50 club tshirt.
Male Placings
The 3 fastest males all finished in new record times. Laurence HILL (SM20-24) finished in 17:10 on his 5th run here, Martin JOHNSON (VM35-39) in 18:22 and Will ROOSE (SM30-34) was 4th overall in 19:37.
Female Placings
Victoria BASQUILL (VW45-49) of Serpentine RC was first to finish (3rd overall) to record her 10th PB of 19:28 on her 46th run here. Alexandra CLAESSENS (JW11-14) of DofE equalled her PB of 21:09 which was set last week, to finish 2nd and 20th overall, and Vicky ROPER (VW40-44) set a new PB of 21:40 to place 3rd and 23rd overall.
Full results and a complete event history can be found on the Greenwich parkrun Results Page.
Massive thanks to the 26 volunteers who helped to make it all happen: Alan B COX • Wole ODELE • Ian KING • Simon HANCE • Hugh BOYLE • Terry WOOTTON •: Paul TILL • Georgia TILL • Keith HIGGINS • Mark JENKINSON • Derek HOPKINS • Linsey HOPKINS • Nicholas JORDAN • Ian SCOTT • Colin MACKENZIE • Pippa BELL • Ben HOWARTH • Luca TREADWELL • John SPENCER • William MATTHEWS • Oliver MAY • Liam LOCKWOOD • Curtis MAY • Thomas MARSH • Gavin HOSE • Luke BOYTON
Particular mention to Linsey, Derek, William, Mark, Pippa and Ben who will be logging 26.2 miles on Sunday. Linsey and Derek got the two Greenwich parkrun marathon volunteer places in our raffle and Linsey brought some particularly yummy cakes to say thanks to all Greenwich parkrunners for their marathon places.
A "before" picture of one of Linsey's cakes
Best wishes to everyone running the London marathon and the mini-marathon tomorrow. As per tradition, all the runners and volunteers at both the marathon and mini-marathon are invited to come down with their medals for a group picture ahead of next week’s run.
Greenwich parkrun started on 6th March 2010. Since then 6,944 participants have completed 58,525 parkruns covering a total distance of 292,625 km, including 9,441 PBs.