Run report 05/01/2019 – by Jane Tew

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Event 61, 5th January 2019

A tourist’s tale

It’s a funny old game, this parkrun tourism lark … I’m nearly 300 miles from home, and the first person I chat to when I arrive at Hyndburn knows my neck of the woods pretty well and used to live less than 30 miles away from me! That was a good start to my day, and in parkrun terms at least, my day continued in much the same vein. Thank you all for welcoming me to Hyndburn, I loved the run, the people, and of course the cake!

My usual parkrun at Hove Promenade offers me pebbles, promenade, and sometimes a pig being taken for a walk. At this time of year one of my occasional volunteer roles carries the unofficial title of Pebble Patrol, which depending on the timing of high tide, either takes place on a Friday evening or very early on a Saturday morning to ensure the course is pebble-free by 9am. So not surprisingly grass, mud, hills and tree roots are not really my thing although I’m learning to love them as I get to more and more parkruns around the country.

My own parkrun journey started almost exactly two years ago when a fellow football fan happened to mention to me that he liked to do parkrun in conjunction with away trips to football matches. Little did he realise that he’d accidentally sparked a flame and an obsession was born! It’s now essential for me to tick off a new parkrun whenever I tick off a new football ground … no doubt there’s a name for this type of obsessive “ticking things off”! Although I’m visiting from Sussex I’m an Ipswich Town fan … but let’s not mention the football shall we, let’s just say parkrun was the highlight of my day and it all went downhill after that.

The stats …

We had 20 people doing their very first parkrun. Congratulations to you all, here’s your very first parkrunner name-check, hopefully your first of many … Paul Dignan, Michelle Havers, Thomas Dignan, Angela Taylor, Mark Harder, Anne Marie Florentine, Stuart Meeks, Logan Meeks, Jo Charalambous, Mel Sinclair, John Gordon, Louise Chew, Harriet Tomlinson, Sara Louise Hogan, Ashley Chew, Paula Birch, Alannah Birch, Jennifer Naylor, Michelle Carr, Jeff Goshawk.

We also had 21 people visiting from elsewhere, most of whom were comparatively local but a few more far-flung including myself and one other from the south coast.

27 runners bagged a PB today – well done everyone!

Our only milestone runner today was Steve Teasdale doing his 50th run, who so nearly got a double celebration but missed out on a PB by 4 seconds.

Finishing at the front this week …

  • Josh WOODSTOCK (VM40-44) in 20:22
  • John Stanley BASSINDER (VM50-54) in 20:36, visiting from Poole in Dorset
  • an Unknown runner crossed the line 3rd (#dfyb)

And for the women …

  • Katie IRELAND (SW25-29) in 22:26, in 7th position overall
  • Sophie PILKINGTON (SW25-29) in 23:01, in 11th position overall
  • Jane MAGEE (VW 50-54) in 23:36, in 16th position overall and with a new PB

Today's full results and a complete event history can be found on the link to Hyndburn results page

 

Run Report 22/12/2018 by Anthony Howe

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Hyndburn event 59, 22/12/18

The first day of the Christmas holidays, so what was a maths teacher from North Wales doing at 9am in Accrington? It's a long story...

Having discovered parkrun almost 4 years ago, just after it reached North Wales, I started running at Conwy regularly – sometimes as fast as I could, other times taking it easy or occasionally pushing my son in his buggy. Then I discovered touring.

Initially there was only one other parkrun near where I live, so I ventured across the border a few times. After a while I learnt of a variety of challenges to try to complete. Running all the parkruns in a region to become a regionnaire sounded appealing, and the North West is much easier to get to for me than South Wales, so that became my aim.

Additionally, someone came up with the idea of running at different numbered events. As I ran mainly at Conwy when I began, I have a lot of event numbers below 65, but a few gaps.

So, I was visiting Hyndburn parkrun to get a 59 for my Wilson Index and tick off another new venue in the North West. Plus my son has now graduated from a buggy and is closing in on a place on the Most Events page, so he was very pleased to be going one ahead of his sister.

We arrived in reasonable time for the start, parked up and got ready. It's always good after a long drive to find open toilets, especially when you have young children. We managed to catch most of the first timers briefing, then headed to the start. It was at this point I was a bit perturbed (I don't usually use words like this but thought it would make me sound clever) when we had to cross some muddy/wet grass. I was fine with it, but hoped my son wouldn't fall in the mud or that I wouldn't tip my other son out of his buggy. Fortunately, we made it to the start in one piece.

We started at the back, tried our best to avoid the stream running across the path right at the start, and headed up the first hill (If you've ever run at Conwy you'll know that everywhere else counts as hilly). My son was keen to stay ahead of the tail walker, and was happy when eventually we managed to pass another runner and leave them behind. It was great to see all the marshals at various points around the course, cheering us on, and all the runners and volunteers in festive outfits.

I certainly enjoyed sliding with the buggy around muddy corner, as well as running through the trees in the rain as we got to the end of the first lap. As we passed the football pitches some of the faster runners were passing us as they approached the finish, whilst we had another lap to go. The second lap was just as much fun as the first, except a bit wetter and a bit slippier. We also heard the tail walker catching up to us, which made my son even more determined not to be caught. A few more high fives on the way round, then my boy did his usual sprint finish and left me behind at the end.

A huge thank you to all the volunteers for running the event, they were all so friendly and encouraging. It was also great to be able to have a hot drink afterwards, and speak with one or two other runners. We had a fantastic morning – the course was great and everyone was so friendly. I'm sure that I will be back one day to try and run the course by myself. I'll just have to see which event numbers I am missing.

First finisher this weekend was Glen Goodwin of Accrington Road Runners, with his first time under 20 minutes here. Gill Boyer was first female finisher in 24:11. There were 14 first timers this week, and another 16 people achieved PBs.

Milestones this week at Hyndburn parkrun – 3 people were running their 50th parkrun and earning a red T shirt. David Smith (41 times at Hyndburn), Patricia Henry (33) and Bryn Barnes (3 runs here). Well done to you all.

 

Anthony Howe A1534294

 

Run Report 13/10/2018 – by Karen Hurrell

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It was a wet and blustery day at Hyndburn for its 50th parkrun on 13 October 2018. I was there because it was my NENDY (nearest event not done yet) and I didn’t have time to travel far. Not being sure of the road conditions, I set off early and arrived in plenty of time to find the volunteers gathering near the club house. Inside I found toilets and a little kitchen which provides hot water for drinks.

Just for once I didn’t miss the first timers briefing, which was given by Sarah, the RD. Eleven of us were running the course for the first time: three first-timers and eight tourists, including two visitors from Surrey and myself from Haigh Woodland. Then we all lined up at the start to hear the announcements and safety notices.

The main item of news was of course the Community Project of the Year award presented the previous evening to Clayton Chargers and Hyndburn parkrun, which was proudly on display alongside the cake and coffee. Congratulations to you all!

A combination of the weather and other events meant that the 75 participants were the second fewest so far, the lowest number being on 9th December last year when there were only 60 runners in the snow. However the tree cover sheltered us from the worst of the rain and the wind was really only noticeable at the top of the hill. Fallen leaves made it a bit slippery underfoot, but I can't say I noticed much in the way of mud.

First finisher was Shaun Livesey from Blackburn Harriers with a time of 18:50 and first female finisher was Tracey Ireland from Rossendale Harriers with a time of 26:57. Both were running at Hyndburn for the first time.

In third position, Kieran Horrigan had the highest age grade of 75.32% (and a time of 20:56) on his third visit to Hyndburn.

Ten people got new PBs. These were: Jonathan English, Wayne Rushworth, Tina Shipperbottom, Jennifer Murphy, Chris Haddock, Tom Whiteside, Julia Naughton, Steven Gilleard, Philip Sykes and George Solomons. Well done all of you.

Personally I had quite a slow run, but that just gives me the chance to get a PB next time! Hot drinks and cake at the end were very welcome before heading out into the wind and rain.

Thanks to all the volunteers for an enjoyable run and best wishes for your first anniversary next week. I am sure I shall be visiting you again before long.

 

parkrun for people with disabilities and long term health conditions

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parkrun has a project in place to improve accessibility to its events to encourage more people with disabilities and long term health conditions to participate, with the aim of improving health and well-being by promoting physical activity and social engagement. What's more, parkrun takes away any worries about finishing last, with volunteer Tail Walkers providing support and encouragement for anyone who chooses to walk the 5k course.

Marie has fibromyalgia, and has been participating in parkrun for a year.

“I first took up jogging when a new couch to 5k started in my area. From that I heard about parkrun, and the 2 ladies who set up the c25k group were setting up a new parkrun in Hyndburn, Lancashire. So I offered to help out as a volunteer as well as to do the run.”

“As I had already run 5k in the past, I was not that intimidated by the distance of parkrun, and knew that it did not matter how long it took me to complete it. The atmosphere and support at parkrun is amazing, all the marshals are so brilliant, cheering you on around the course, and even other runners give you high 5s and encourage you round the course.”

“parkrun has not only helped with my fitness level but also increased my circle of friends, through volunteering and running, I get to meet some amazing people of all abilities. I still try and go out with my original group that I met doing c25k doing around 3.5km twice a week and then parkrunning every other week. I have to regulate myself through the week to make sure I am fit enough to take part, however if I am having a bad day I still get up and go along as I know I can walk instead of jog. The exercise is great for my fibromylagia as it keeps me moving at my own pace, gets me out into the open air and gives me a reason to get out of bed on a Saturday morning.”

“For anyone hesitant about joining parkrun I would say to just give it a go. The gentle exercise is great and everyone is so supportive, just because it is called parkrun does not mean you have to run the distance, you can run, jog, walk, skip, or crawl!! Although some people manage to do it in 15 minutes, this does not mean you will be thought any less of if it takes you 50 minutes. You will be supported every step of the way - just don’t forget your barcode!”

Exercise plays an important part in helping to manage the health and wellbeing of fibromyalgia. Recognising this benefit, the PROVE project (parkrun: Running or Volunteering for Everyone) has started a group for people with arthritis and musculoskeletal conditions, and to reach out to non-parkrunners living with similar conditions to make them aware of what parkrun has to offer. There is also a closed facebook group for people to share stories, advice and tips on parkrun, exercise and their condition in a supportive manner. This can be found by searching for ‘parkrun arthritis’ on facebook.

Links for:

parkrun www.parkrun.org.uk

PROVE project www.parkrun.org.uk/news/2016/03/14/government-funding-to-help-parkrun-boost-health-of-disabled-and-excluded-groups

Facebook group for arthritis & MSK www.facebook.com/groups/parkrun.for.arthritis.and.MSK.conditions

marie

Marie (centre) with 2 parkrun volunteers. Photo by Louise Greenwood

 

Blackburn Road Runners Hit Town – Special Run Report

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Blackburn Road Runners Takeover 15th September 2018

A couple of months ago I noticed a request on our club newsletter to organise a"takeover" for a local parkrun so I thought I'd give it a whirl.  Hyndburn parkrun is a fairly new parkrun course (this was their 46th event), it's one of our nearby parkrun courses and is one that I really enjoy running. So I was put in touch with their Run Director, we chose a takeover date and I was giving a list of jobs roles that I needed to fill on the day.

 

One thing I do love about our running club is that we have a very supportive core membership who are readily available to step up to the occasion, whether that be supporting at races, organising club events (running and social) and getting involved in one-off requests such as this. I had to have a minimum of 23 volunteers for the "takeover" to be effective and, boy, did our club step up to the challenge.

 

Fifty club members arrived en masse at Hyndburn with children, dogs, cow bells, foam hands and even a drum(!) and were sent out across the course to the regular marshalling points. We had extra hands on deck for timekeeping, barcode scanning, funnel management and photography and I nominated myself as Run Director for the day!

 

I was really nervous on the day because, even though we had guidance from the regular team, I really wanted to ensure that the event went without a hitch and that our club was well represented.  I didn't need to worry on either score because, on the surface, everything ran smoothly and any little hiccups were ironed out with support from the regular Run Directors who were there to keep an eye on things.

 

On the day, we had the above-mentioned 50 volunteers, 128 runners - 26 of whom were visiting Hyndburn parkrun for the first time with 9 of these lacing up their trainers for their first parkrun ever! An astounding 40 course PBs were recorded on the day too!

 

One amazing achievement that was celebrated on the day was from regular parkrunner, Karen Shackleton. This was Karen's 322nd parkrun and her husband, Barry, had worked out that when she hit 1.69 miles on the course, she would have run 1000 - yes, one thousand - parkrun miles!  It was an honour to have cheered Karen on her accomplishment!

 

Many parkrun events struggle to maintain a bank of regular volunteers week on week and I wanted our runners to appreciate the effort that goes on to organise a parkrun instead of turning up a 8.50am, chasing a PB around the 5km course, having a slice of cake and going home to continue their weekend. I definitely will strive to have more of a volunteer/run balance.

 

On behalf of Blackburn Road Runners, I can say that it was a pleasure to takeover Hyndburn parkrun for the day. I hope we can come and takeover again in the future.  

Nickie O'Hara

Guest Run Director/Blackburn Road Runner

 

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