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Heaton Park event 134 19th May 2012 |
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Volunteers galore as parkrun feels the BUPA effect!
After the previous week’s record numbers Heaton parkrun had a much reduced field on Saturday, although there was no shortage of Volunteers and some top quality at the front of the field.
With the highly popular BUPA Great Manchester 10K Run taking place on Sunday it was no surprise that plenty of parkrunners were resting their legs the day before. Across Greater Manchester there was a drop of one third in attendance from the week before, 600 runners in all, which is testament to parkrun’s success in getting people involved in running.
Well done to everybody who took part in the BUPA run. I saw plenty of you around Manchester on Sunday and everybody seemed pretty happy with their efforts. The conditions were ideal for running and my hero won, so a good day all round.
 parkrunners check out the Sweatshop stall at the BUPA 10K
Volunteers - The reduced numbers had some benefits at Heaton where the course had plenty of room and the queues at registration were much shorter than usual. The main benefit was the number of Volunteers, 23 in all according to the website, which must be some sort of record. Thanks to you all for stepping up, particularly those volunteering for the first time. It looks like you had a good time judging by Darren’s photos (he’s a volunteer too), which you can see via the Photos tab at the top of the page or on Heaton parkrun’s Facebook page.
Our Volunteers are GREAT!!!
With all the jobs covered, regular organizers Rick Bennett and Damian Brooks were able to take to the course for a rare parkrun of their own.
  Rick goes it alone while Damian looks for canine assistance
First timers and visitors - Our field of 216 included 35 first timers with 28 of them enjoying their first ever parkrun, ranging from a group preparing for the Total Warrior challenge to youngsters running with their families. We also welcomed former Whitefield residents Gillian and Gerry LANGAN on parkrun tour from their usual run at Gunpowder just outside London.
 The LANGANS loved the friendly welcome at Heaton
parkrun is definitely family-friendly
This week's winners - It was good to welcome back Dave NORMAN (SM30-34) of Altrincham & District AC for his second Heaton parkrun. Dave was a popular winner of the Manchester Marathon 3 weeks ago and, not surprisingly, was first home on Saturday in 16:29. Liam David MOORE (JM15-19) of Leigh Harriers & AC, was second in 17:08, with 7 time winner Robin TUDDENHAM (VM40-44) of Todmorden Harriers & AC third in 17:32.
 Dave NORMAN shows the style that has brought him so much success
Emma FLANAGAN (SW20-24) of Rossendale Harriers & AC returned for her 12th win of the year in 20:08. Shauna MURPHY (SW30-34) was second for the second week running in 21:21, and Katie IRELAND (SW20-24) third in 22:29 on her parkrun debut.
Annual Points Competitions - With just 3 more runs to count in the annual points competitions, Jim O'CONNOR (Salford Harriers and AC) is well in front of the Men’s standings with 3074 pts but things are still to play for in the other places. Marek SYNOWIEC is clinging on to second with 2459 pts, but Phillip MEADE has moved into third, just 20 points behind on 2439 pts.
In the Women's competition Sheila JONES (Radcliffe AC) leads with 3718 pts, followed by Barbara SHUTTLEWORTH on 3136 pts and Anna MCENTEGGART (run in england) with 2900 pts.
Prizes for the top 3 will be awarded at our 3rd birthday celebrations on 16th June, when there will also be awards for:
- The best 3 Veteran runners outside the top 3 (Male and Female)
- Most Runs in the Year by a Junior (Male and Female)
- Volunteer of the Year
- and, hopefully, some spot prizes.
So, make sure you don’t miss it!
Age Grading - The best Age Grade score of the day went to Mike SHARKEY (VM50-54) who was graded 80.25 % for his time of 18:59 in his first run at Heaton since last June. Sheila JONES (VW55-59) had the best age grading for a lady with 77.86% for her time of 23:34.
This week's PBs - We passed a landmark this week with the 25,000th Heaton parkrun being completed. That honour fell to Craig CLARK in 72nd place. Appropriately, Craig marked the occasion with a new Personal Best.
In addition to Craig’s effort, there were 41 other new PBs this week, with the following highlights:
- Stephany BARR made it 3 PBs in 4 runs and has improved by over 8 minutes in her 10 runs this year
- Lorna JACKSON has improved by over 5 minutes this year and Saturday’s effort was her 4th PB in 5 weeks
- Frederick GETZ grabbed his 4th consecutive PB
- Wilson HILDEBRANDO is on an impressive run of 3 PBs in 4 runs after clocking up 28 runs in all
- Gary ROBSON and Nicola FLETCHER-HILL were amongst those getting a 2nd consecutive PB
- Alan McENTEGGART benefitted from a switch to the ‘fast’ dog and bagged his 3rd PB of the year in his 56th run.
Well done to everybody getting a PB this week. 
parkrun Clubs - Well done also to Sheila WETTON who became the latest entrant to the parkrun 50 Club this week. Sheila ran her first parkrun at Heaton in January last year and has improved her time by over 10 minutes during her 50 runs.
Sheila will be receiving her red 50 Club shirt in due course but the good news is that some of you will be getting your shirts much sooner. We have taken delivery of the latest batch and they will be available to collect at Heaton on Saturday for the following people:
10 Club (Juniors)
(We also have 10 Club shirts for Teegan BRADY and Michael BROWNE which we have had for some time)
50 Club
- Peter MORGAN; Richard MASON; Brian TAYLOR; Marek SYNOWIEC; Alan McENTEGGART; Catherine BUTLER; Christian LONEY; John MEARA.
(We also have a replacement shirt for Sarah WORTHINGTON)
100 Club
- Andrea SCHOLEY; Duncan SHUTTLEWORTH; Charlie WHITE; Greg BARBER; John BUCKLEY.
We hope you will be there to receive your shirts on Saturday.
These shirts are for those people who qualified and responded to the email from ray@parkrun with their details up to and including Friday 27th April. If your name is not on this list and you believe it should be please let me or Damian know on Saturday.
And finally... - if you fancy a slightly different different challenge, why not try the 3rd UK Backward Run being held in Heaton Park this Sunday 28th May. The 1 mile event with prizes for for Men, Women, Vets and Teams of 4 costs £15 to enter and is in aid of Forever Manchester and The Heroes Project. Full details at www.reverserunning.com
 It's not as easy as it looks, you know!!
See you all on Saturday by the lions.
Duncan
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Heaton Park event 133 12th May 2012 |
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Nervous start gives way to sunshine and smiles!
A beautiful sunny morning on Saturday meant record numbers yet again for Heaton parkrun, although there were anxious moments for the organizers before the start. Disaster was averted, though, and Event number 133 turned out to be another great success.
    
With minutes to go before the scheduled start of Saturday’s run, the non-appearance of Volunteer Coordinator Damian Brooks was giving some cause for concern, especially as there was a shortage of volunteers and Damian not only had the marshalls' bibs but also the timing equipment and all the finishing tokens! Unable to raise him by ‘phone (a hunt for the lost mobile was the reason for the lateness), Run Director Rick Bennett was a picture of calm as a record 337 runners gathered in front of him, anticipating their latest parkrun fix.
With a sense of timing bettered only by Sergio Aguero the following day, Damian rolled into town and delivered the goods, much to everybody’s relief. The search for the mobile had been fruitless but, in an ironic twist, it later turned up at the bottom of the bag of parkrun bibs! 
Volunteers – big thanks to everybody who helped out this week by volunteering. We were short of numbers so particular thanks to the mother and daughter teams of Nicola and Gracie Nuttall and Sarah and Martha Bowman for stepping in at the last minute. Sarah even managed to take some pictures of this week’s run as well. 
There is no shortage of volunteers for next week – hardly surprising as lots of people are resting up before the big BUPA Manchester 10K on Sunday. It’s great that many of you are taking this opportunity to volunteer, but please try to make volunteering a regular part of your parkrun experience throughout the year. It makes Damian’s life a lot easier and can be a lot of fun as well – contact heatonhelpers@parkrun.org if you want to be included.
    Volunteering is good fun!
Funnel Management – one area where we need extra volunteers is around the finish funnel. It’s great that we are getting bigger and bigger crowds at parkrun but it can bring added pressure around the finish line with so many people finishing close together. We will try to put more volunteers into that area to make things go smoothly but all runners can help by following some simple rules:
- If you enter the finish funnel you have been allocated a time so please make sure you pass right down the funnel – do not duck out!
- Keep in finishing order all the way down the funnel.
- If you don’t want a finishing token make this clear to the volunteer that is handing them out. We can then set aside the token that relates to your time and that position will be shown as Unknown in the results.
- If you have finished running or are a spectator please don’t distract the Volunteers who are working on the finish funnel.
Many thanks.
Please help us make the finishing funnel work!
Run Director's Briefing – another plea which has been made before but unfortunately needs to be repeated is for parkrunners to show some respect and listen in to the Run Director’s briefing before the run starts. The volume of chatter is rising again and many people are just unable to hear what is being said. It isn't too much to ask for your attention for a few minutes before the run so, for everybody’s sake, please keep the noise down! 
 Even the megaphone can't raise Rick's voice above the noise!
parkrunner of the month – amongst the announcements that were made this week was the identity of the Sweatshop parkrunner of the month for April. The prize of a brand new pair of shoes donated by sponsors Sweatshop is given to a parkrunner that the committee believes has shown commitment, improvement and persistence. Richard DUDDELL had a brief flirtation with parkrun last year but started again in earnest in January 2012. Since then he has run 14 times with 9 PBs, including 3 PBs in his 4 April runs, and has improved his time by over 7 minutes. Richard celebrated with his family and friends at Heaton on Saturday and said that he was very pleasantly surprised by the award.
Congratulations Richard!
All smiles as Richard enjoys his Sweatshop award with family and friends
This week’s run – our new record of 337 runners were led home this week by Ben RIDDELL (SM25-29) of Salford Harriers and AC in 15:42, his third win in 6 appearances. Steven MADEN (SM25-29) (Unattached) was second in 16:49, with Martin SCHOFIELD (SM30-34) (Unattached) taking third in 18:00, just a second outside his personal best in his 11th run at Heaton.
Leading the ladies home this week was parkrun first timer Laura NASH (SW25-29) of Salford Harriers and AC in 20:47. She was followed home by Shauna MURPHY (SW30-34) (Unattached) in 21:11 and Gillian DOOLAN (VW40-44) of Stockport Harriers & AC, returning after her Manchester Marathon exertions to take third in 21:44.
Laura Nash (l) and Shauna Murphy (r) enjoy the sun after this week's run
Well done to our leading runners this week.
Annual Points Competitions - With just 4 weeks to go in the Men's annual points competition Jim O'CONNOR (Salford Harriers and AC) is home and dry in first place with 2982 pts. Marek SYNOWIEC remains second with 2459 pts, but has missed the last 6 events and is in danger of falling out of the leading places. Similarly, Christian LONEY has missed the last 4 events and this week is overtaken by Duncan SHUTTLEWORTH who moves into third on 2364 pts (surely that can't last!), closely followed by Philip MEADE, with Christian, John O’REILLY and Simon PHILLIPS still all in contention.. This could go into ‘Fergie time’!
In the Ladies’ annual points competition Sheila JONES (Radcliffe AC) is busy rehearsing her winner’s speech with 3623 pts, but things can still change behind her where Barbara SHUTTLEWORTH lies second on 3049 pts and Anna MCENTEGGART (run in england) is third with 2807 pts.
Birthday Celebrations – all the prizes will be awarded at our 3rd Birthday celebrations which will take place immediately after the run on Saturday 16th June. The theme for the day will be the Olympics, so make sure you turn up in true medal-winning style.
Record numbers - This week’s bumper turnout means that we have set new attendance records at Heaton no fewer than seven times this year. Our 337 runners contributed to a total of 1,805 at the nine parkruns taking place in Greater Manchester this week, with new records also set at Bolton, Pennington Flash, South Manchester and Worsley Woods. The 10th parkrun in our area will be starting soon at Marple and we were delighted to welcome the organizers of that latest venture this week as they picked up some tips. Good luck with the new run.
Preston parkrun also started this week, so there is plenty of variety on the doorstep and not too far afield if you fancy a change from Heaton.
Our 41 first timers this week were swelled by those visitors from Marple but also included 31 runners having their first ever taste of parkrun. Welcome to all our new people and we hope you become regulars at Heaton or one of the other parkruns.
parkrun Clubs – parkrun awards t-shirts to runners who reach 50, 100 and 250 parkruns and also to Junior runners who reach 10 runs.
Congratulations to young Callum WALSH on his 10th run this week.
My apologies for failing to mention that last week John BUCKLEY reached the significant milestone of 100 parkruns at Heaton Park, only the third person to achieve this. Well done John! 
PB corner – we had another 98 new Personal Bests this week, bringing the total to 6,695 since we started 3 years ago.
· Many people are on a run of consecutive PBs but none more so than Jonathan SACKS who has now improved his time in each of his last 6 outings.
· Martin and Joanna RANDALL, Heaton regulars now after previously running at Cardiff and Poole, both scored new best times.
· Heather SCHOFIELD grabbed a 4th consecutive PB since switching from South Manchester.
· Fay WHITE put in a great effort to duck under 40 minutes for the first time with her 3rd consecutive PB.
· Young James McENTEGGART continues his amazing recent run. Having waited since June 2010 he now has three consecutive PBs and a new best under 30 minutes for the first time.
· Even younger George BOWMAN followed up last week’s great performance by knocking another 2:40 off his best time – that’s a 6 minutes and 45 seconds improvement in 2 weeks! – and also went under 30 minutes for the first time. Amazing!!
Congratulations to everybody clocking a new best time this week.
 No PB for Jonathan Huck this week, but he put everything into his run!
BUPA Great Run Manchester 10K – I know that lots of you have been using parkrun to help in your preparations for this year’s BUPA Great Run. I hope the exertions on ‘Angina Hill’ will stand you in good stead and I look forward to hearing your stories in due course.
A special mention this week to Laura GREENSMITH who only started running recently and has her sights set on the BUPA 10K to raise awareness of the Nystagmus Network – www.nystagmusnet.org. Laura was delighted with a new PB this week and is improving all the time – keep up the good work and we hope to see you and lots of your fellow 10K participants at Heaton parkrun long after the BUPA run is over.
 Laura is gearing up for the BUPA 10K
Last thought - Heaton parkrunners have now clocked up 124,640 kilometres around the park. Next week somebody will complete the 125,000th kilometre. Could it be you?
Have a great week and I’ll see you all again at the Lions on Saturday morning - any time before 9 will do, Damian!!.
Duncan
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Heaton Park event 132 5th May 2012 |
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Marathon heroes return to record numbers!
Heaton parkrun welcomed back some of its marathon heroes this week, whilst record numbers witnessed one of the quickest ever ladies on the course and some very young parkrunners made their mark.
After the horrendous Manchester Marathon conditions last week it was a relief to see a good number of our runners return to parkrun in fighting form and with plenty of stories to tell. It was a fairly relaxed return for most of them, although Andrew MUDD had retained enough energy to land a new PB this week. Congratulations again to you all for your efforts – you really did earn the t-shirt!
Heroes all!! Lto R Maureen Brettell, Catherine Butler, Maxine Grimshaw, Terry Henstock
More Marathon survivors. Lto R Greg Dimelow, Sheila Jones, Sue Bean, Andrea Lennon
This week's run - 45 first timers, including 36 having their first ever taste of parkrun, helped Heaton to set yet another attendance record, with 329 runners completing the course. Only a few weeks into the ‘Barcode Only’ regime, our Unknown runners were down to 23 this week, so it looks as though the message has got through. Thanks to everybody for bringing those barcodes and making the result processing so much easier.
 Excitement mounts as the start nears!
This week's leading runners - There was an outstanding performance in the Ladies event this week with Heaton debutant Sarah TUNSTALL (SW25-29) of Kendal AAC taking first place (and second overall) in 17:46 – that’s the third quickest time ever by a lady around the park. Sarah also scored the highest female age grading of the day with 83.30%. Impressive stuff!
Anna BLOMFIELD (VW50-54) of Rochdale Harriers & AC was second lady in 20:42 and Nicola J NUTTALL (VW40-44) of Trawden AC, was third in 20:54, her 5th consecutive PB and dipping under 21 minutes for the first time.
Only one person could beat Sarah this week and that was David LOCKETT (VM45-49) of Salford Harriers and AC who grabbed his second win in 3 weeks in 16:39, and also took the highest age grading of the day with 85.79%. Martin SCHOFIELD (SM30-34) was second in 17:59, a new PB by one second, and William MARTIN (SM35-39) of Horwich RMI Harriers, was third in 18:41, lowering his PB by 41 seconds in the process.
 Dave Lockett shows winning form
Points Competitions - In the Men's annual points competition Jim O'CONNOR was the only one of the top three to run this week and retains his lead with 2888 pts. Marek SYNOWIEC holds on to 2nd with 2459 pts whilst Christian LONEY is not far behind in 3rd with 2337 pts.
In the Women's annual points competition Sheila JONES has a commanding lead on 3531 pts, followed by Barbara SHUTTLEWORTH on 2972 pts and Anna MCENTEGGART with 2723 pts.
Both competitions conclude on 9th June and a brand new battle for points begins the week after on 16th June when we will be celebrating Heaton parkrun’s 3rd birthday.
This week's Personal Bests - With 329 runners completing the course, it’s no surprise that a massive 109 new Personal Bests were recorded. Congratulations to all of you. I’ve tried to wade through and find some highlights and apologies if I have missed you out.
- There was lots of activity around the 30 minute mark this week. John BLACKBURN followed up last week’s long awaited PB by slicing another 31 seconds off and smashing through his 30 minute target. Amongst those joining him were Brenda PEMBERTON, with her 4th consecutive PB, Linda WRIGHT with a 3rd consecutive best and also Gracie NUTTALL, Gillian WHITE, Mairead HUGHES and Liz LONG.
- Gareth LLOYD and Lorna JACKSON both clocked third consecutive PBs. Tim BROOKS and Richard DUDDELL went one better, whilst Jonathan SACKS grabbed his fifth.
- Graham HARRISON has improved by over 4 minutes since Christmas and Saturday saw his 6th consecutive PB performance.
- Katie PARKER took another 26 seconds off with her 5th PB of the year whilst Callum KNIGHT has 4 PBs in his last 5 runs.
All of this week’s achievements are excellent but none more so than that of our youngest junior runner to join the 10 Run Club. George BOWMAN has missed only one run since starting parkrun with his family in February and on Saturday he completed his 10th run in 32:35, a PB by an incredible 3mins 45 seconds. All that, and he’s only 6 years old!
Not to be outdone, older sister Martha BOWMAN also grabbed a PB as she too completed her 10th Heaton parkrun in the week of her 9th Birthday.
 George and Martha Bowman take a well earned rest after their PB efforts!
Well done to all the Bowmans and thanks for finding the time to take some photos and put them on the Heaton parkrun flickr site as well. If anybody else has pictures from parkrun please feel free to load them onto flickr so we can all enjoy them. Click the photos tab at the top of the page and follow the link to Heaton parkrun flickr group for more shots from this and previous weeks.
Volunteers - Volunteer numbers were very healthy again this week, with marshalls appearing in all sorts of places where we don’t normally see them! Thanks to all of you, it’s great to see so many people getting involved in this way. We will be announcing the Volunteer of the Year, amongst other awards, at our 3rd birthday event on Saturday 16th June. Make sure you're there to give the winner a big cheer.
Finally this week, congratulations to Greg Barber on getting married at the weekend. Greg was the first Heaton parkrunner to complete 100 parkruns and he even managed to squeeze in a quick 5K at Wythenshawe parkrun before the happy event! That's dedication!
That’s all for now. Have a great running week and I look forward to seeing you all again at Heaton on Saturday.
Cheers,
Duncan
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Heaton Park event 131 28th April 2012 |
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The calm before the storm!
Event number 131 for Heaton parkrun took place in cool, breezy conditions but that couldn’t prevent a Salford Harrier from achieving a very fast winning time and a host of other runners from grabbing PBs.
 They're off!!
Saturday’s conditions were idyllic compared to those at the Manchester Marathon the following day when a number of our parkrun regulars attempted to battle their way through torrential rain and numbing cold. Massive congratulations to those of you who managed to finish the race and commiserations to any who were forced to drop out. Marshalling at the 26 mile point meant I could see just how tough conditions had been for you and you have my utmost respect for your achievement. I hope you’ll all be back smiling at parkrun soon!
 Manchester Marathon entrant Terry Henstock prays for good weather - it didn't work!
This week's winners - Back at Heaton parkrun there was a runaway winner on Saturday as Ben RIDDELL (SM25-29) of Salford Harriers and AC, took first place in 15:47 – Ben is the 5th fastest Heaton parkrunner of all time. Andrew VAUSE (SM35-39) of Garstang RC, was second in 17:29, a new PB and a time which could easily have been a winning one on another week. Adam SLODOWICZ (SM25-29) (Unattached) was third in 17:58, again a PB and Adam’s 4th in consecutive parkruns.
 Ben Riddell after his winning effort
Emma FLANAGAN (SW20-24) of Rossendale Harriers & AC, was first woman home yet again in 19:41 – her 19th win overall at Heaton and her 11th of this parkrun year. Nicola J NUTTALL (VW40-44) of Trawden AC, was second in 21:20, clocking up a 4th consecutive PB, with Shauna MURPHY (SW30-34) (Unattached) chasing hard for third in 21:30.
The Points Competitions - With 6 weeks to go in the annual points competition, Jim O'CONNOR continues to lead the Men’s list on 2795 pts. Marek SYNOWIEC has fallen further behind but retains second with 2459 pts, whilst Christian LONEY is hanging on to third with 2337 pts just 39 points ahead of John O’REILLY. The last qualifying run for this year’s competition will be on 9th June so things could easily change before then.
 Jim has a few choice words for anyone threatening his title!
In the Women's annual points competition the bookies have stopped taking bets on Marathon survivor Sheila JONES who has an unassailable lead on 3443 pts. Barbara SHUTTLEWORTH will be determined to hold on to second on 2906 pts with Anna MCENTEGGART continuing to provide stiff opposition in third place with 2623 pts.
New record and top age grades - Jean DOLAN made her second visit to Heaton parkrun and lowered the VW60-64 age category record again with a time of 24:09. This also brought her the highest age grading of the day with 83.92 % . Congratulations Jean!
John O'REILLY (VM60-64) was the highest graded male with 82.83 % for the time 19:42.
First timers and Volunteers - Given that many people were resting before the marathon we had a very respectable turnout of 297 runners this week. The 34 Heaton first timers included 29 making their parkrun debuts. We were pleased to welcome Helen Kay’s parents, John and Eva Cook, visiting from South Wales to take part in the marathon. John ran with Helen and declared the course “delightful”, whilst Eva’s kind offer to marshal was seized upon by Damian who promptly banished her to the furthest point on the course! I know John and Eva had a tough time in the marathon on Sunday so I hope Heaton parkrun provided some good memories of their time in Manchester.
 Eva heads off to the furthest marshalling point with a native guide!
Volunteer numbers were high again. It’s good to see lots of new people offering their services and making their contribution to the parkrun experience. Please spread the word. Remember, you can run on a Saturday because somebody else has given up their opportunity to run in order to volunteer. It’s only fair that we all take a turn.
Thanks to the Bowmans again for their photos this week.
 Our volunteer tail-runners plan their tactics
This week's Personal Bests - the improvements that our runners are making continue to amaze me. This week there were another 94 new Personal Best performances, and I hope the other 93 were as chuffed as I was!
· At opposite ends of the field, Jonathan SACKS and Jim SMITH both notched up their 4th consecutive PBs
· Tim BROOKS and Richard DUDDELL both have 3 consecutive best times, with Richard making over 4 minutes improvement during his 8 PBs this year
· Mark KNIGHT has also improved by over 4 minutes during his 7 PBs this year
· Howard MAYERS and Chris BUCKLEY both showed great form to break 20 minutes for the first time
· Father and daughter Stephen and Emma BOWMAN both clocked up new best times whilst young Laura NUTTALL’s second consecutive PB shows that she’ll soon be challenging mum Nicola for one of those top finish places
· Muzahid KHAN’s recent persistence resulted in him taking almost a minute off his best time in his 13th run
· John BLACKBURN had a big smile as he moved closer to breaking that 30 minute barrier with his first PB since September last year
· And it looks like there is no stopping young James McENTEGGART who followed up last week’s first PB for almost 2 years with a further 22 second improvement this week.
Keep up the great work guys!!
 Jim Smith heads for another PB
 Howard Mayers looks pretty pleased with his morning's work
 Steve Bowman gets some last minute coaching before his latest PB run!
 There really is no stopping James McEnteggart
50 Club - There were two more entrants to the 50 Club this week.
Anthony GRIMLEY becomes the fourth member of the family to qualify for the 50 club shirt, with all of his runs being at Heaton. There must be some confusion on laundry day in their house! 
Dez MITCHELL has run 26 times at Heaton since his first appearance back in August 2009, as well as trying out most of the other local parkruns as he clocked up the 50.
Congratulations to both, and I hope your t-shirts will be here soon.
Heaton parkruns 3rd Birthday - Heaton parkrun started on 20th June 2009, so we will be celebrating our 3rd birthday this year on Saturday 16th June. The last two birthday bashes have certainly been memorable occasions and we have attracted so many new parkrunners over the past 12 months that I’m sure this year’s event will be bigger and better than ever. In addition to the usual run on that day we will be making a number of presentations and, hopefully, having a great picnic in the park. So make a note in your diaries, bring your families and friends along and pray for sunshine!
If anybody also fancies celebrating Heaton's 'actual' birthday on Wednesday 20th June by doing a Freedom Run in the park on that day/evening let me know.
That’s all for now. See you next week.
Duncan
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Heaton Park event 130 21st April 2012 |
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Heaton parkrunners triumph over the puddles!
With the running world’s attention on the London Marathon, Heaton parkrun still attracted 288 runners this week and some fine performances from our junior runners.
Heavy overnight rain meant there were some tricky puddles to negotiate around the lake, but soggy feet couldn’t prevent 70 runners from gaining new Personal Best times and there was even a new Age Category record from a talented young athlete.
This week’s results - In the men’s event David LOCKETT (VM45-49) of Salford Harriers and AC, was first in 16:42, also bagging the best age grading of the day with 85.53%. An unknown runner was in second place, although our number of Unknowns dropped to 21 this week, a big improvement on last week’s first enforcement of the 'Barcode Only' rule.
Young Joe OLDFIELD (JM15-19) of Ribble Valley AC, was third in 17:56, with first timer Glen GOODWIN(VM45-49) of Accrington Road Runners fourth in 18:37.
Jim O'CONNOR returned after three weeks absence to strengthen his hold on first place in the Men’s points competition on 2706 pts. Neither second placed Marek SYNOWIEC (2459 pts.) nor third man Christian LONEY (2337 pts.) ran this week, allowing John O’REILLY and Philip MEADE to make ground with just a few weeks of the competition left. It's going to be tight!
There was a superb parkrun debut performance from Amelia WOOD (JW14) of Ribble Valley AC, who was first woman home in 18:58, setting a new JW14 age category record and achieving the highest female age grading of the day with 82.86%. Amelia’s clubmate and fellow first timer, Georgina SMITH (JW14) of Ribble Valley AC, was second in 21:06, with Nicola J NUTTALL (VW40-44) of Trawden AC continuing her excellent recent form with a third consecutive PB in third place with 21:24.
In the Women's annual points competition Sheila JONES is disappearing into the distance with 3343 pts. Barbara SHUTTLEWORTH is maintaining dogged pursuit on 2821 pts, whilst Anna MCENTEGGART ‘s dog-assisted pursuit sees her third on 2533 pts after claiming yet another PB this week, her fourth in her last 6 runs.
First timers – We welcomed 35 first timers this week, with 30 having their first taste of parkrun. We hope the puddles don’t put you off from returning! Amongst our visitors were Bolton regulars, Philip and Sally ORMISTON and Londoner Dave THOMAS, proudly wearing his 50 Club shirt on an excursion from Valentine’s parkrun.
Last week’s comments about wearing parkrun shirts seemed to have an effect as several red numbers had been retrieved from the darker recesses of wardrobes. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a lucky colour for Heaton veteran Stuart DRISKILL who had to pull up with an injured leg in his 95th run. We hope you get back on track soon, Stuart, ready to pass the fabled 100 mark! 
This week’s PBs - Club colours and puddles couldn’t stop 70 of you from setting new PBs this week, with some of the best performances again coming from our regular junior runners.
· Laura NUTTALL, in her 16th run, took 35 seconds off with her first PB since November 2011
· Callum KNIGHT notched up a third consecutive PB, taking off another 53 seconds in his 38th run
· Paul GRIMLEY, in his 67th run, scored an impressive 44 second improvement
· James McENTEGGART, also in his 67th run at Heaton, drew inspiration from his mother’s improvement to record his first PB since June 2010.
To balance things up a little there were also best times for David TOMKINSON and Jim SMITH, both in the VM70-74 age category.
In between, there was a 7th consecutive best time for John PJML LEDDY, a 5th consecutive best for Graham HARRISON and a 4th for Geoff AIREY. Becky ASKEY completed her 4th PB in 6 runs and is closing in on that 30 minute goal, whilst Lorna JACKSON cracked that particular target this week with her 3rd PB in 4 runs.
There was definitely a family feel to the PB performances this week and I’m sure there celebrations in the Nuttall, McEnteggart and Grimley households. Well done to all of you!
Volunteers – we had a fabulous turnout of 15 volunteers this week, so there were plenty of extra marshalls out on the course giving lots of encouragement to our runners. Please give the volunteers a friendly wave and a word of thanks as you pass – it makes their day!
Darren was also back taking photos this week but, as yet, he hasn’t uploaded any to the Heaton parkrun flickr site. I’m sure they will be there soon so keep checking back to see if you feature this week.
Manchester Marathon - after the warm-up event in London this week, the real Marathon will be taking place in Manchester next Sunday and there will be a strong parkrun presence on the course. Good luck to the following Heaton parkrunners who are taking part (injuries permitting):
Sheila JONES, Terry HENSTOCK, Peter MORGAN, Greg DIMELOW, Rhyse CATHCART, Susan BEAN, Maureen BRETTELL, Jamie COOK, Greg BARBER, Steve GALLAGHER, James BURBIDGE, Pat DONOHOE, Ian OAKES and Jules LOWE.
I’m sure there are others as well, so have a great time all of you. Barbara and I will be amongst the marshalls and I’m sure there will be plenty of other parkrunners on the sidelines to cheer you on.
Sweatshop Running Community – finally an apology from the Sweatshop team for any confusion on their advertising poster displayed at Heaton parkrun. The SRC meets and runs from the Sweatshop store in the Arndale Centre, Manchester on Tuesday evenings at 7pm. Apologies to those who thought their runs took place in Heaton Park.
That’s all for this week. I hope you all dry out in time to do it all again next Saturday. See you at the lions!!
Duncan
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